By Emma Berry
With Tattersalls riding high on the back of blockbuster October Yearling and Horses-in-Training Sales, its management team would be entitled to approach the December Sale––which can be relied upon for its show-stopping moments––in a somewhat buoyant mood.
The Newmarket trading house starts its sales year with something of a whimper in February but the curtain is brought down with a roar when a week of fillies and mares provides moments of pure theatre for which the Tattersalls ring is perfectly designed.
A rewind to 2013 is required for the record-breaking sale which featured the most expensive broodmare ever sold in Europe. Immortal Verse (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}), who brought the hammer down at 4.7 million gns, made her memorable appearance just 24 hours after Oaks winner Dancing Rain (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) fetched 4 million gns. Last year's sale didn't fare badly either, with 46.5 milllion gns turned over at an average of 68,402gns. If recent trade for horses in training is any sort of barometer, then we can expect to see more international visitors to Tattersalls than ever while sterling remains in the doldrums following Britain's decision to leave the EU.
Every sale needs a headline act and this year that title rests on the shoulders of Hazariya (Ire) (Xaar {GB}). Two years ago she left the Aga Khan's broodmare band to join Newsells Park Stud for a sum of €480,000 when offered at Goffs. Since then her already appealing breeding record has been enhanced by her son Harzand (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), who is about to retire to Gilltown Stud to stand alongside his sire as a fellow Derby winner. Newsells Park now consigns the 14-year-old former Group 3 winner in foal to Invincible Spirit (Ire) as lot 1826.
Though she may sparkle brightly, Hazariya is far from the only gem among the 1,057 horses catalogued for the four-day mare sale which begins on Nov. 28. Lumiere (GB) (Shamardal) lit up Newmarket last year when winning the G1 Cheveley Park S. and her dam, the perhaps prophetically named Screen Star (Ire) (Tobougg {Ire}), is catalogued to sell from Mark Johnston's Kingsley Park as lot 1837, becoming the last of seven mares in the sale to be put through the ring in foal to last year's Derby and Arc winner Golden Horn (GB).
Another proven producer is Juddmonte's Posteritas (Lear Fan) (lot 1810) who, as well as being a Listed winner herself, is the dam of G1 Prix Jean Prat winner Mutual Trust (GB) (Cacique {GB}) among her five black-type performers. Selling in foal to Kingman (GB), Posteritas is one of 58 fillies or mares in the Juddmonte consignment, which also includes G1 Yorkshire Oaks winner Quiff (GB) (Sadler's Wells), who is lot 1734 and is in foal to Holy Roman Emperor (Ire).
Almost matching the Juddmonte draft for strength in numbers is Jamie Railton's consignment of 57, whose star performer is almost certain to be Karl Burke's dual Group 1-winning sprinter Quiet Reflection (GB) (Showcasing {GB}), being offered as a filly in training as lot 1868. Also consigned as a racing prospect is 4-year-old Irish Rookie (Ire) (Azamour (Ire) (lot 1840), offered by her trainer Martyn Meade for whom she won the Listed Montrose S. at Newmarket and finished runner-up in the G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches.
Out of training following a tendon injury but offering an impressive racing record is the 5-year-old Euro Charline (GB) (Myboycharlie {Ire}) (lot 1848), who was campaigned by Marco Botti and Team Valor to win the GI Beverly D S. and take second in the G1 Dubai Turf on World Cup night.
Outnumbering all other consignors numerically is Godolphin, which continues its significant reduction in breeding stock by offering 74 fillies and mares at Park Paddocks, following on from the 77 being sold at Goffs ten days previously. For anyone wishing to find a foundation mare, or enhance a small broodmare band, they could do worse than to sift through some of the pedigrees of the mares on offer from Sheikh Mohammed's operation.
The first to sell at Tattersalls will be GI EP Taylor S. winner Folk Opera (Ire) (Singspiel {Ire}) (lot 1460) who has thus far produced two minor winners but has an unraced juvenile and a yearling by Dubawi (Ire) still to come, not to mention a Shamardal colt foal. The 12-year-old is offered in foal to Golden Horn (GB). The only mare to be offered in foal to Dubawi (Ire) at the sale is Godophin's10-year-old G2 Park Hill S. winner The Miniver Rose (Ire) (High Chaparral {Ire}) (lot 1541).
Baroda & Colbinstown Studs consign the only two mares in the catalogue carrying to the rising star of the American stallion ranks, Uncle Mo. Lot 1750 is the four-time winner and Listed-placed Louve Des Reves (Ire) (Sadler's Wells), the dam of three winners, including Group 3-placed Omar Bradley (War Front). She is followed by State (Johannesburg) (lot 1812), a 7-year-old half-sister to multiple G1 Dewhurst S. winner and young sire War Command (War Front) who has delivered fillies by War Front in her three years at stud to date.
Another in the catalogue with a distinctly American page is Zenyatta's half-sister Eblouissante (Bernardini) (lot 1759) who fetched $2.1 million when sold at Keeneland in 2013. Offered by the National Stud for St George Farm, she is carrying to Dansili (GB) after producing a colt by Oasis Dream (GB) early this year.
Looking ahead to the company's final sale of the year, Tattersalls' Marketing Director Jimmy George said, “Our 250th year has lived up to all hopes and expectations so far and it would be wonderful to end on a similar note. We have three very good catalogues––the yearling day is a sale of real quality with 17 horses eligible for the Book 1 Bonus. Then there are four days of top-class foals for pinhookers and end-users alike.
“These are followed by the fillies and mares. It's very rare to be able to offer the dam of a dual Derby winner in the same year of his wins so Hazariya is an obvious standout but the record of the sale for producing Classic winners and Group 1 winners internationally––that diversity and quality––is what keeps people coming back from all over the world to look for top-class breeding stock.
“The support we receive from the leading owner-breeders in providing quality mares and fillies is crucial to the success of the sale, as is the fact that there is something for everyone at every sector of the market.”
Foals And Yearlings
Of course the December Sale is far from being just about breeding prospects. The first week starts with a day of yearlings on Monday, Nov. 21 and after a 'dark day' continues with five sessions of foals from Nov. 23 to 26.
A stand-out on paper among the 200 yearlings assembled has to be lot 166, a Frankel (GB) half-brother to Godolphin's dual Group 1 winner Hartnell (GB) (Authorized {Ire}), who is consigned by Highclere Stud. He is one of three Frankel yearlings in the book, while Galileo has two yearlings catalogued. Also of interest is Rathasker Stud's Invincible Spirit (Ire) half-brother to multiple Group winner Gregorian (Ire) (Clodovil {Ire}) (lot 101).
Gregorian is one of a swathe of stallions with their first foals on sale this winter and he and his contemporaries will be profiled in a separate feature in the coming week. In fact, the durable grey, who was such a valiant servant to Princess Haya in his racing days, has the first of 1,135 foals to go through the ring at Tattersalls as the foal section gets underway on the first Wednesday of the December Sale. The number catalogued has been trimmed from last year, which included an extra half-day session and recorded an aggregate of 33,565,000gns from 803 foals sold from the 1,277 offered.
A theme that has remained familiar through this year's October Sale was the top-of-the-table dominance of Dubawi (Ire) and last year's foal sale saw three by the Darley sire lead the way at prices of 800,000gns, 720,000gns and 625,000gns. Top of those was West Blagdon Stud's filly out of High Heeled (Ire) (High Chaparral {Ire}). The Group 3 winner's foal this year is another filly, by Juddmonte's Dansili (GB) (lot 985), the sire of James Wigan's G1 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf heroine Dank (GB), one of the stars among the West Blagdon graduates.
This time around there are four Dubawi weanlings catalogued, including lot 1017, a colt from Al Eile Stud's pride and joy, the dual Classic winner Finsceal Beo (Ire) (Mr Greeley). The mare's Frankel filly foal fetched €1.8 million when sold as a foal at Goffs two years ago, while another sibling, Ol' Man River (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}), topped the Goffs Orby Yearling Sale at €2.85 million and subsequently won the G2 Beresford S. for Aidan O'Brien.
A Galileo filly topped the foal section of Fasig-Tipton's November Sale earlier this week and the champion sire's sole offering at Tattersalls is also a filly (lot 957) out of Castlefarm Stud's homebred Group 3 winner Lady Springbank (Ire) (Choisir {Aus}).
Frankel is represented by a quintet of foals and another young stallion whose yearlings were all the rage at BBAG's main yearling sale in September, Maxios (GB), has a good showing in Newmarket with six of the young son of Monsun (Ger)'s foals on offer.
Through the likes of Group 1 winner Marcel (Ire) (Lawman {Fr}) and multiple stakes winner Washington DC (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}), the team at Oghill House Stud has proved that their sales offerings should always be given respect. Two years ago the Hyland family topped the December Foal Sale with a colt by Sea The Stars out of the unraced Danehill Dancer (Ire) mare Chiosina (Ire) who has produced four winners from her five runners, including dual Listed scorer Mixed Intention (Ire) (Elusive City). A select draft from Oghill House contains not only a full-brother to the 2014 sale-topper (lot 996) but also a brother to Washington DC who sells as the next lot (997).
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