'As individuals I don't think anyone will be disappointed' - full steam ahead for Culworth Grounds at the Somerville Sale

It takes some effort to manage both yearling prep and a first-season sire's covering season, but Sophie Buckley and the Culworth Grounds Farm team have come through with flying colours and are now looking ahead to the Tattersalls Somerville Sale. 

The Banbury-based Culworth Grounds has a promising team of six heading to Park Paddocks for the two-day sale which starts on Monday, ranging from progeny by exciting first-season sires Sergei Prokofiev and Earthlight to the evergreen heavyweight Invincible Spirit. 

First up is a filly by leading first-season sire Sergei Prokofiev and out of the placed Dawn Approach mare Aqrab (lot 19). Aqrab is a granddaughter of Oaks heroine Eswarah, while her daughter should be an exciting prospect given her profile and physique. 

Buckley says: "Annoyingly my Havana Grey is out and she'll now go to December [Yearling Sale], but I've got a nice Sergei Prokofiev filly for a client. Sergei is the leading first-season sire at the moment, which is helpful, and she's a very nice individual, a very good walker and very correct. 

"She's also Great British Bonus-registered and it's nice to have one by a popular first-season sire."

Buckley consigns a colt by Darley's Prix Morny and Middle Park Stakes winner Earthlight (168), whose first crop of runners contains Prix de Cabourg winner and Prix Morny third Daylight. 

The youngster is out of the five-time-winning Fastnet Rock mare Hamley and from the family of Criterium de Saint-Cloud victor Linda's Lad and, under the fourth dam Dockage, Rail Link, winner of the Arc in 2006. 

Culworth Grounds Farm's Tasleet filly out of LolamotionCredit: Culworth Grounds Farm

There is also a filly by Tasleet (248), sire of recent Nunthorpe winner Bradsell, Prix Jean Romanet runner-up American Sonja, and the £350,000 sale-topping colt at last week’s Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale. She is out of the winning Equiano mare Lolamotion, a daughter of US Grade 1-placed Ocean View. 

Buckley says: "Next up after the Sergei Prokofiev filly is the Earthlight and he's a nice colt. The dam was rated 99 and she ran between the ages of two and eight, so she was very solid, consistent and hardy. 

"We've also got a Tasleet filly, who has been very much helped by Bradsell and American Sonja, though in any case I think Tasleet is a solid sire. Again, she's a very good and fast-looking individual."

There is another progeny of a first-season sire in the shape of the colt by Starfield Stud's Queen Elizabeth II winner King Of Change (304). He is a half-brother to two winners and out of Nefetari, a Kodiac mare from the family of Ripon Champion Two Yrs Old Trophy winner and Middle Park Stakes third Auditorium. He was bought by Buckley for just €5,000 at the Tattersalls Ireland Sapphire Sale last winter. 

"I pinhooked the King Of Change colt as I really liked him as a foal and the sire has done really well for the breeze-up boys," she says. 

"He's the only King Of Change in the catalogue; I think King Of Change will be a sire of slightly later horses, but he's already had a couple of decent winners. 

"I also had a helpful update from the mare as her two-year-old Golden Furius was Shaman's first winner and he's also run in a Listed race. I'm hoping this one might be a nice Richard Hannon-type horse."

The draft is completed by fillies by Territories (347) and his sire Invincible Spirit (356), the latter out of a Listed-placed Medaglia D'Oro sister to White Moonlight and out of Fitful Skies, a Group 3 winner at Hanover who was also second in the Grade 1 EP Taylor Stakes. 

The well-related Invincible Spirit filly is another to be offered by Culworth Grounds at the Tattersalls Somerville SaleCredit: Culworth Grounds Farm

"Territories is a very solid stallion and he's had another Group 1 winner recently in Lazzat, and there's also Regional with Ed Bethell," says Buckley. 

"He's a statistically good sire, the dam [Quandreviendrastu] is two runners from two winners and it's a solid black-type pedigree. The filly looks a bit like Dream Ahead, she's GBB-registered as well and is hopefully a nice one for the sale.

"I suppose the highlight on paper is the last one, the Invincible Spirit out of Rainband. The dam is black type and has a Baaeed colt at foot so it will be a very well looked after pedigree. She's her first foal and is racy with a good walk. 

"Overall, they're a good Somerville-type bunch. We've picked them as individuals and, as individuals, I don't think anyone will be disappointed."

The Somerville Sale's profile has soared to new heights recently through the Group/Grade 1 exploits of Bradsell and US star Anisette, while this year's Duchess of Cambridge Stakes winner Arabian Dusk is another high-profile graduate. 

Buckley is certainly an advocate, having sold horses at the auction when it was known as the Tattersalls Ascot Yearling Sale.

"I consigned six last year, they all sold and sold well, there's a good variety of buyers, and they get plenty of people in from around the world," she says. 

"I sold at the original Ascot Sale every year and it's always been a successful sale for me. There have been some very good horses out of it too. That's the key for buyers, that they can come and get a decent horse for a not extortionate price."

There is no rest for the wicked and the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale is not far over the horizon. Culworth Grounds Farm will be represented throughout the Park Paddocks bonanza, with an Australia filly from the brilliant Moyglare family of Polished Gem, Kyprios and Free Eagle, and a Sioux Nation colt out of Prix Marcel Boussac third Rainbow Springs heading to Book 1. 

Buckley says: "We've got two for Book 1 this year, including a very nice Australia filly, and then there are five for Book 2 and 11 for Book 3."

As if the never-ending circuit of sales is not enough to handle, Buckley has also overseen the debut season of the stud's first stallion, El Caballo. 

The Whitsbury Manor Stud-bred five-year-old son of Havana Gold won an impressive six of his ten races for the Karl Burke yard, most notably the Group 2 Sandy Lane Stakes at Haydock.

Buckley reports him to have adapted seamlessly to his second career and says: "He's got on very well, he's very fertile and covered around 100 mares, so hopefully there's a good enough start to get him up and running. 

"He's very good in the covering shed, which makes it very easy, so he's the perfect stallion for a first-time stud. He made it much easier for us."

Selling at the Somerville Sale begins at 10am on Monday and some of the highlights look to be the Earthlight half-sister to Grade 1 Natalma Stakes winner La Pelosa (235) from Hazelwood Bloodstock, Kildallan Farm’s Inns Of Court half-brother to high-class sprinter Believing (279), and Barton Stud’s Dandy Man half-brother to Windsor Castle Stakes winner Ain't Nobody (47). 

Starman had the most expensive yearling by a first-crop sire to sell at last week’s Goffs UK Premier Sale, the £220,000 half-brother to the Listed-placed Assertively, and there is a half-sister by the Tally-Ho Stud sire to Group 3 Palace House Stakes winner Seven Questions (154), consigned by the County Westmeath operation.  

Progeny of high-class mares include the Lucky Vega colt out of Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes winner Gilded, offered by Oghill House Stud (156), and the Jamie Railton-consigned Kameko colt who is the first foal out of multiple Group 3 winner Rose Of Kildare (366), 

The Castlebridge Consignment offers a Palace Pier filly out of Group 3 Firth of Clyde Stakes winner Queen Of Bermuda (349), and a Time Test filly out of fellow Group 3 winner Spirit Of Appin (409).

Tattersalls Somerville Sale factfile 

Where Park Paddocks, Newmarket

When Two-day sale begins on Monday, with both sessions starting at 10am

Last year’s stats From 305 lots offered, 271 sold (89 per cent clearance rate) for turnover of 8,646,000gns (up ten per cent year-on-year), an average price of 31,904gns (up five per cent) and a median of 27,000gns (up four per cent) 

Notable graduates Anisette (sold by Manor Farm, bought by Avenue Bloodstock for 26,000gns); Bradsell (sold by Bearstone Stud, bought by Highflyer and Harry Dunlop for 12,000gns); Arabian Dusk (sold by Whitsbury Manor Stud, bought by Mags O'Toole and Oak Tree Farm for 80,000gns); Making Dreams (sold by Manor Farm, bought by Nick Bradley Racing and Karl Burke for 33,000gns)

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