Badgers Bags A Belle

Badgers Bags A Belle… 
Australian interests are out in force in Deauville and made their presence felt early in the sale when Badgers Bloodstock signed at €230,000 for the unraced Aqua Bella (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) (lot 69). From the draft of the Wildenstein family’s Haras du Bois Roussel, the 3-year-old is out of the champion racemare Aquarelliste (Fr) (Danehill), herself a full-sister to the dual Grade I winner Artiste Royal (Ire). 

“She is for an Australian client of ours who keeps about 20 mares Down Under”, a delighted Tom Pritchard-Gordon explained. “She will be covered in Australia but we haven’t decided on the stallion yet.” He continued, “Oasis Dream is shaping up like a nice broodmare sire, and I absolutely love the dam side. There is so much happening in there, with plenty of fillies under the first dam, all in the best of hands. I think the page is going to grow even more solid in the next few years.” 

Indeed, Aquarelliste has produced seven fillies from 11 foals to date, two of which gained black-type status on the track, and they look set to maintain the family’s current appeal. At this sale five years ago, the non-winner Aquarelle Bleue (GB) (Sadler’s Wells) was purchased for €520,000 by Mandore International on behalf of Ling Tsui’s Sunderland Holdings. Last October at Tattersalls, her Sea The Stars (Ire) yearling filly went the way of Shadwell for 400,000gns.