Sea The Stars filly shines at 260,000gns at December Yearling Sale

Yearling buyers had their last chance to dance at Tattersalls on Monday as the opening stanza of the nine-session December Sale was topped by a well-related Sea The Stars filly at 260,000gns.

Matters boiled down to Tom Goff of Blandford Bloodstock and Alex Elliott, who were standing at the top of the left and right staircases opposite the rostrum respectively. Having entered the fray late in the piece, it was Elliott who struck the decisive bid.

The filly, bred by Airlie Stud and offered through Whatton Manor Stud, is a sibling to three winners, most notably her Group 1-winning brother Fifty Stars who won the Australian Cup before retiring to Sunnyhill Stud to stand in partnership with Jack Cantillon’s Bloodstock.Racing. Fifty Stars is not the only top flight winner among the filly's siblings as her half-brother Whiskey Sour landed the Grade 1 Future Champions Novice Hurdle.

“She’s going to go to Ralph Beckett for Valmont,” said Elliott. “She’s a Book 1 filly who missed that sale because she got a slight injury, but we still had to pay a Book 1 price for her. We’ve got a good Sea The Stars filly this year called Trust The Stars who won a Newmarket maiden and, hopefully, she could be an Oaks type. That’s the three-year-old, middle-distance profile we’re looking for and hopefully this filly can develop into a Classic type too.

Alex Elliott: 'We still had to pay a Book 1 price for her'Credit: Laura Green

“She’s got the pedigree and she was bred on a foal share by Airlie Stud who are fantastic breeders. I love trying to buy off them, often you can’t, but they’re so organic and they get such great results. The mare has a Sea The Stars [filly] foal, she’s in foal to Sea The Stars and she’s going back to Sea The Stars, so there’s a lot to happen in the pedigree.”

The Valmont colours have become an increasingly common sight throughout 2022 having been carried by the likes of Oh So Sharp Stakes runner-up Lose Yourself and Captain Wierzba, from whom Rossa Ryan was controversially unseated following an elbow from Christophe Soumillon in the Prix Thomas Bryon.

Elliott continued: “Hopefully she’s one we can race then breed from in time. We’ve bought 32 yearlings and that’s 33 now, and there’s 60 horses in training but we’re trading too as we’ve sold a few horses. We’re just trying to play the game.”

The Sea The Stars sister to Fifty Stars tops the December Yearling Sale at 260,000gnsCredit: Laura Green

Later in the session Elliott secured the Ten Sovereigns half-brother to Barbill from Croom House Stud on a bid of 110,000gns. The youngster will also carry the Valmont colours but will head into training with Paul and Oliver Cole, which maintains an association that began with the smart juvenile Sunningdale.

That son of Gleneagles, a 50,000gns yearling, was owned in partnership by Valmont, Magnier and Paul Cole and was sold on to Abdullrahman Al Said for 300,000gns at the Autumn Horses in Training Sale.

The session saw 130 of 151 offered lots find a buyer for a clearance rate of 86 per cent. Turnover was down 11 per cent at 4,501,500gns, albeit 15 fewer lots changed hands than in 2021, while the average was virtually unchanged at 34,627gns. The median was clipped in by 19 per cent at 22,000gns, having been 27,000gns 12 months ago.

Turnover on Monday took the total spent on yearlings at Tattersalls in 2022 to a huge 211,572,800gns, breaking the 200 million guineas mark for the first time and comfortably eclipsing the previous best set in 2018.

Colts by Dubawi and Frankel stand out

The Shadwell draft was one of quality over quantity as the two-strong offering included the Dubawi colt out of the Listed-winning and Group 2-placed Fadhayyil who brought a bid of 180,000gns from Yeomanstown Stud. The colt is a sibling to two winners, including the Australian Group 2 scorer Turaath.

“We bought him to reoffer him at the breeze-ups,” said Yeomanstown’s David O’Callaghan. “We liked him a lot and thought he was very fast looking. Obviously he’s by a top stallion and out of a very good mare and we don’t get too many opportunities to buy this type so we said if he didn’t make a silly price we’d step in.

The Dubawi colt out of Fadhayyil sells for 180,000gnsCredit: Laura Green

“Thankfully he fell just within our range. He’ll come back to one of the breeze-ups, maybe the Craven or maybe France, we’ll just see. I haven’t breezed one by Dubawi before but he looks quick so let’s hope he goes okay.”

Also set for a breeze-up campaign is the Frankel half-brother to Peace Envoy after the Glenvale Stud-consigned colt was knocked down to Tally-Ho Stud at 130,000gns.

No Nay leads the way

It took just five lots for the six-figure mark to be broken as Michael Donohoe of BBA Ireland went to 155,000gns for the No Nay Never colt out of Lady Corsica from The Castlebridge Consignment. Donohoe dropped €5.625 million on 19 mares on behalf of Yulong Investments at last week’s Goffs November Breeding Stock Sale and the No Nay Never colt is set to race in the silks of the operation’s principal, Yuesheng Zhang.

The youngster is the first foal out of Lady Corsica, an unraced daughter of Galileo whose siblings include her full-brothers Deauville, winner of the Grade 1 Belmont Derby, the Group 3 Newbury Arc Trial scorer The Corsican and the Group 2-placed Tides Of War.

Michael Donohoe: 'I know all about this colt'Credit: Alisha Meeder

“I know all about this colt as I bought the dam [for 310,000gns] for a client of mine in Michael Enright,” said Donohoe. “I bought her in foal carrying this colt so I’ve seen him as a foal and I’ve seen him as a yearling. He was entered in Book 1 but was going through a bit of a growing stage so they withdrew him, but I told Mr Zhang about him this morning, he liked him so we said we’d give him a go.

“He’s going to go into training with Karl Burke. He trains a southern hemisphere-bred filly for Mr Zhang called Lady Hamana, she’s run well a couple of times, including when fourth in a Listed race in France last time when things didn’t work out.”

McStay lands ‘nicest horse here’ at 150,000gns

The Lope De Vega half-brother to Group 3 scorer Azano boasted one of the catalogue’s stronger pages and duly brought one of the session’s biggest prices when he was signed for by Avenue Bloodstock at 150,000gns.

Offered by The Castlebridge Consignment, the colt is out of Azanara, the dam of two winners and also a Hurricane Run half-sister to Astarabad, who won the Group 1 Prix Ganay before going on to sire a host of talented National Hunt runners such as Whisper, Traffic Fluide and Cheltenian.

“He’s a very nice colt," said Avenue Bloodstock’s Mark McStay. "Dick O'Gorman, who helps me at the sales, identified him on Saturday. He told me that, in his opinion, he’s the nicest horse here and when I saw the horse I agreed. He’s been bought for an existing client and is a horse who ticked all the boxes. He’s by a proven sire, out of a proven mare and was recommended by the consignor Bill Dwan.”

Sea The Stars set for breeze-up spin

Leading German operation Gestut Fahrhof brought three lots to Park Paddocks and the draft was topped by the 145,000gns Sea The Stars colt out of Sequilla who was knocked down to Ross Doyle. Anthony Stroud, standing with Peter Harris, filled the role of underbidder.

“He’s a nice horse and has been bought for Willie Browne to take breezing,” said Doyle. “He comes from a good home and is out of a good mare and Sea The Stars is such a good stallion. I’m a big fan of German pedigrees as they produce tough, hardy horses. As he always does, I’m sure Willie will bring him back here and get him to breeze very well.”

The Sea The Stars colt out of Sequilla who sold for 145,000gnsCredit: Laura Green

The late-March colt is out of Sequilla, a daughter of Siyouni who landed the Listed Prix Amandine during her time in training with Andre Fabre. Sequilla joined the Fahrhof fold having been picked up for €110,000 at the BBAG September Yearling Sale in 2016.

The three Fahrhof lots sold for receipts totalling 228,000gns.

Australian action

No Nay Never’s first-crop son Ten Sovereigns was responsible for the second lot to head into six-figure territory as Stuart Boman of Blandford Bloodstock went to 120,000gns for the filly out of Maid To Dream offered by Barton Stud.

The filly, a half-sister to Group 3 Renaissance Stakes winner The Happy Prince and the Listed scorer Ziegfeld, is set to join another of her siblings by heading to the Australian stable of Annabel Neasham.

“I’ve bought her for the owners of Sibaaq, who we purchased here last year [for 75,000gns], in Nathan Bennett of Bennett Racing,” said Boman.

“She’ll be trained by Annabel Neasham in Australia so it’s a bit of a longer-term project, but Sibaaq has won half a million dollars in prize-money, which is quite extraordinary. The state of prize-money in Australia is phenomenal, although this filly has huge residual value regardless of what she does on the track.

“She was in Book 2 but didn’t make it to that sale because of a minor issue. I saw her at the stud a couple of weeks ago and liked her and she makes a lot of sense as we think Sibaaq is up to winning Group races.”

Australian interests have made a significant impact at recent Tattersalls auctions, most notably the Autumn Horses in Training Sale, where Boman secured the second top lot, the 675,000gns Fancy Man, on Neasham’s behalf.

Stuart Boman: 'The Australians are buying more and more yearlings'Credit: Alisha Meeder

The agent noted the country’s growing influence on yearling sales, saying: “The Australians are buying more and more yearlings. I bought a Frankel in Book 2 last year who went down to Mick Price, he’s about to trial, so it’s a long process and effectively you have to write off their two-year-old year.

"She’s a nice filly but her knees are still a bit open so she’s a 12 to 18-month project. She’ll head to Australia to be broken in and then head to Annabel. She’s a genius so she’ll probably win a Group 1 with her!”

The filly was bred by the Barton Stud Partnership, who purchased the dam through Richard Frisby Bloodstock for 80,000gns in 2014.

The other yearling to bring six figures was the 100,000gns Invincible Spirit colt out of Aspirer who was bred by Eric Chen and sold to the Hong Kong Jockey Club.

Consigned by Norris Bloodstock, the youngster is the third foal out of the winning daughter of Frankel and Nebraska Tornado, sourced for connections by John Berry, who signed at 160,000gns at the 2019 December Mares Sale.

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