A wondermare’s daughter, the Book 1 bonanza and a Classic winner who made five million not once but twice: the ten most expensive lots from a sensational 12 months of sales

1. Bay filly Pierro - Winx (Street Cry)

Sold by Coolmore Stud

Bought by Woppitt Bloodstock for A$10,000,000 (£5,204,180 at time of sale)

The eyes of the world were on the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale on April 8, when the Pierro filly out of wondermare Winx came under the hammer. Few, if any, yearlings have been the subject of quite so much hype in the lead up to a sale, and it is safe to say this youngster did not disappoint. 

After a gasp-inducing round of bidding that saw the price take several million-dollar increases at a time, the gavel fell at A$10,000,000, a sum that smashed the Australian yearling record. 

Debbie Kepitis, one of Winx’s part-owners, broke down in tears after landing the successful eight-figure bid. “She's Australian forever and she's going to be just fabulous,” said an emotional Kepitis. “Hopefully she'll do a Winx, but it doesn't matter if she doesn't.”

The owner-breeder said she would be sending the record-breaking acquisition into training with the man who guided Winx so expertly through her racing career, Chris Waller. 

Free-spending US owner John Stewart filled the role of underbidder at A$9 million, a price he had remarkably signalled he was prepared to bid on social media in the build up to the sale. 

He later posted on X: “Mission accomplished. I said before that my goal was for the filly to stay in Australia. Congratulations to Debbie Kepitis and everyone in Australia! The Winx filly is right where she belongs. I hope I played a small part in discouraging some of the international players out of the auction.”

2. You Got To Me

Newsells Park Stud

Amo Racing for 4,800,000gns (£5,040,000) 

One of the biggest stories of the bloodstock year was the massive impact Kia Joorabchian had on the sales scene, a point underlined by Amo Racing appearing as the purchaser of three lots on this list. 

You Got To Me in the Park Paddocks ring when selling for 4,800,000gnsCredit: Laura Green

His multi-million pound recruitment drive was capped by the acquisition of Irish Oaks winner You Got To Me, who became the most expensive thoroughbred sold at auction in Europe in 2024 when she fetched 4,800,000gns at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale. 

The Classic-winning daughter of Nathaniel holds immense potential as a broodmare, but Joorabchian said the filly would return to Ralph Beckett and aim to enhance her race record before her breeding career gets under way. 

“We’ve got to compete,” Joorabchian said in the aftermath. “We’ve been trying to compete for many years and we’ve burnt so much cash trying to do it by trying to pick the next 'one'. But why try to pick the next one when you have 'the one'?”

3. Sparkling Plenty 

Patrice Cottier

Al Shaqab Racing for £5,000,000

The other Classic-winning filly on this list has the unusual honour of featuring on the top ten prices not once but twice. Sparkling Plenty first changed at the Goffs London Sale, or at least a 50 per cent share did, after one of the year’s more bizarre episodes. 

Sparkling Plenty wins the 2024 Prix de Diane - a day later she was at the centre of extraordinary sales scenes in London

The daughter of Kingman was offered in Kensington Palace Gardens barely 24 hours after she won the Group 1 Prix de Diane. A three-way bidding battle broke out between Amanda Zetterholm and Narvick International agent Emmanuel de Seroux, both of whom were taking instructions over the phone, and Joorabchian, who stood besides Nottingham Forest Football Club owner Evangelos Marinakis.  

Zetterholm struck the jaw-dropping bid of £8.1m that brought the gavel down, but it transpired she had been acting on behalf of the vendor, owner-breeder Jean-Pierre Dubois. A lengthy round of negotiations broke out right beside the crowd of revellers enjoying the pre-Royal Ascot hospitality. It then emerged that Al Shaqab Racing, who had not even been involved in the three-way tussle, had stepped in to buy 50 per cent of Sparkling Plenty at a value of £5m. 

“I’ve auctioneered for 39 years and worked for an auction house for 42 years, and I’ve never seen anything quite so complicated as this has turned out to be,” said Goffs’ Henry Beeby. “It’s certainly a day I won’t forget.”

4. McKulick 

Elite Sales

Narvick International for Grand Stud for $6,000,000 (£4,726,830)

Things proved much more straightforward when Belmont Oaks winner McKulick was offered at Fasig-Tipton’s ‘Night of the Stars’ Sale in November, when the daughter of Frankel brought the hammer down at $6m. 

McKulick at the Night of the Stars Fasig-Tipton Sale in KentuckyCredit: Fasig-Tipton Photo

That transaction, the biggest in North America in the last 12 months, sees the well-bred filly head to Japan to begin her breeding career at Yoshiyuki Ito’s Grand Stud. 

“Her physique,” said agent De Seroux on what appealed most about McKulick. “She's a beautiful filly and she's by Frankel, the best stallion in the world. She's a Grade 1 winner; she's fantastic.”

5. B f Frankel - Aljazzi (Shamardal)

Newsells Park Stud

Amo Racing for 4,400,000gns (£4,620,000)

Statements of intent don’t come much bigger than Amo Racing rocking up to Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale and securing four of the top six lots. Joorabchian and partners’ Book 1 spend took in 25 lots at an outlay of 22,940,000gns, headed by this blue-blooded Frankel filly at a sales-topping 4,400,000gns. 

The Frankel filly out of Aljazzi sells for 4,400,000gns at Tattersalls Book 1Credit: Edward Whitaker

Joorabchian outbid Japanese trainer Mitsu Nakauchida for the second-most expensive yearling ever sold at Tattersalls, and later indicated she would head into training with Ralph Beckett. 

“I think you can say that his sights have been raised and he wants to compete at the top level,” agent Alex Elliott said after Joorabchian’s headline acquisition. “He knows you’ve got to buy them at the top level. All the top teams select the best horses, it’s just a case of who blinks first. Fair play to Kia and Mr Marinakis, they certainly didn’t blink, although I think I might have done a few times!”

6. B c Wootton Bassett - Park Bloom (Galileo)

Lodge Park Stud 

Amo Racing for 4,300,000gns (£4,515,000)

Joorabchian was back in action two days later when he purchased the most expensive yearling colt ever sold in Europe, outbidding Coolmore at 4,300,000gns for a son of Wootton Bassett out of a winning sister to Oaks heroine Was. The record-breaking youngster is set to be trained by Karl Burke. 

The Wootton Bassett colt out of Park Bloom sells to Amo Racing for 4,300,000gnsCredit: Laura Green

“Every member of my team, when they saw that horse, they all said we can’t leave without him, so we decided we weren’t going to leave without him,” said the Amo man, adding: “Of course you get the odd Vandeek or Perfect Power, but if we really want to develop and get to the next level, your stallions and your mares have got to be strong. We’d spent the money [previously] but we didn’t have that strength. This year we’ve changed our strategy and decided we needed to have that strength in pedigree.”

7. Sparkling Plenty 

Haras de Bouquetot

Oceanic Bloodstock for MV Magnier and partners for €5,000,000 (£4,124,150)

Less than six months after she was offered at the London Sale, Sparkling Plenty was back on the public market at the Arqana Breeding Stock Sale. 

Although there was nothing like the shemozzle that followed her first turn in the ring, there was drama of a different kind as she topped the charts at €5m, the biggest price ever witnessed in the Deauville sales ring. 

Star of the show: Prix de Diane heroine Sparkling Plenty sells to Oceanic Bloodstock and MV Magnier for €5 millionCredit: Zuzanna Lupa

Sparkling Plenty was knocked down to Coolmore’s MV Magnier, who was sat between Michel Zerolo of Oceanic Bloodstock and the filly’s breeder and co-owner Dubois. The Coolmore representative explained the Classic winner had been sourced on behalf of a new partnership, and would head to the United States to begin her breeding career – as well as potentially adding to her race record first.  

“Justify deserves to get a mare like that, he’s looking like he could be one of the best sires in the world right now, so we’ll look forward to racing the progeny out of her,” he said. “We’ve bought her for a new partnership. It’s very rare to get the chance to buy a mare like this and we’re very lucky to have the people that we have to enable us to do it.”

This was the second time in 2024 a European bid board had shown a price of €5m. However, even that hefty seven-figure sum was not enough to tempt connections to part with Gouache, as Goliath’s dam was sensationally led out of the ring unsold during the Goffs November Sale. 

8. Ramatuelle

Bedouin Bloodstock

MV Magnier for $5,100,000 (£4,015,750)

Another Group 1-winning filly joining Coolmore’s all conquering broodmare band is Prix de la Foret winner Ramatuelle. Although she was trained in France, the daughter of Justify was sold at Fasig-Tipton, where she fetched many multiples of the €100,000 she cost agent Arthur Hoyeau as an Arqana August yearling. The $5.1m signing is scheduled to visit Wootton Bassett in 2025. 

Ramatuelle takes her turn in the ring at Fasig-TiptonCredit: Fasig-Tipton Photo

“She's a lovely filly, and in fairness to Christopher Head, he's done an incredible job with her," said Magnier. "Arthur Hoyeau, in fairness, spotted her as a yearling, and everybody else didn't really. She's a very good filly, and well done to them.”

9. Ch c Curlin - Cavorting (Bernardini)

Indian Creek, agent for Stonestreet 

Whisper Hill Farm for $5,000,000 (£3,937,000)

The third US entrant on this list is North America’s most expensive yearling of 2024, with Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill Farm going to $5m for the top lot at the Keeneland September Sale. 

The Curlin colt out of Cavorting tops the second day of Keeneland's September Yearling Sale when making $5 million to Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill FarmCredit: Keeneland Photo

The seven-figure Curlin colt is out of a three-time Grade 1 winner in Cavorting, while his three winning siblings, all of whom have black type, include his full-sister Clairiere, who won four elite-level races, including back-to-back runnings of the Ogden Phipps Stakes. 

The youngster became the highest-priced September Sale colt since Meydan City sold for $11.7m in 2006. 

“I knew he was going to be a lot,” said Pope. “He should be the sales-topper because he's the best horse in here. We need colts to become stallions, to get the numbers all working. They're what makes it work. This is not a short game in any manner, unless you're just once or twice and get out, like day trading, but it's a very long story. You can't be faint of heart in this at all.” 

10. B f Siyouni - Shambolic (Shamardal)

Newsells Park Stud

Godolphin for 3,700,000gns (£3,885,000)

In a sign of just how strong Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale was, the Siyouni half-sister to Fillies’ Mile winner Ylang Ylang is the third lot from that event to make the year’s top ten. 

The Siyouni filly out of Shambolic goes to Godolphin for 3,700,000gns at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling SaleCredit: Laura Green

Godolphin outbid Coolmore at 3,700,000gns to secure the filly, who was bred by Merry Fox Stud and Newsells Park. The latter operation enjoyed a remarkable end to 2024 as the team were responsible for consigning three of the year’s ten most-expensive offerings. 

“The market for fillies seems to have absolutely ballooned,” said Godolphin’s Anthony Stroud. “When the market is up to such an extent it’s very difficult to anticipate what value these horses will make. I’m surprised by how buoyant it's been, but when you get all these organisations coming in, it’s really propelled the market to a different stratosphere.”

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