Tamfana

Here's to the hardy souls still grafting away at the Goffs December National Hunt Sale. For the mostly Flat brigade, however, we can now hang up bobble hats and waterproofs, put the final catalogue on the shelf (sorry, iPad users, not quite caught up with you yet) and wonder what to do with ourselves until the February Sale comes around. Oh yes, Christmas, that will distract us for a few days. During the long and frenetic sales season there is little time for reflection, but as the dust settles on...

MV Magnier shelled out 2.6 million gns for Group 1 winner Tamfana (Soldier Hollow) (lot 1743) later in the Sceptre Sessions on Tuesday. Bred by Gestut Etzean and Hans Helmut Rodenburg, the Menuisier trainee won the 2024 edition of the G1 Sun Chariot Stakes for Quantum Leap Racing VIII and Friends. Tamfana was picked up by Jeremy Brummitt for €20,000 out of the BBAG September Yearling Sale in 2022. Offered by Quantum Leap, the four-year-old was Magnier's third purchase of the day, after the classy Porta Fortuna at 4.5m gns...

David Menuisier says that he is convinced his star mare Tamfana, who is one of the prize lots in the upcoming Sceptre Sessions of the Tattersalls December Mares Sale, is as good as ever.  The daughter of Soldier Hollow landed a memorable Group 1 triumph in the Sun Chariot Stakes at Newmarket last year and, ahead of the Sceptre Sessions, her trainer recalled how he realised she was something out of the ordinary from a very early stage in her career.  He said, "The way she won her maiden at...

A quartet of top-level winners headline the catalogue for the Tattersalls December Mares Sale, which takes place from Monday, December 1 to Wednesday, December 3. A total of 885 lots will be offered across the three days, with the cream of the crop set to go under the hammer during the fourth edition of the Sceptre Sessions scheduled for Monday, December 1 and Tuesday, December 2. Heading the stellar cast in 2025 are the four-time Group 1 winner Porta Fortuna (Caravaggio) (lot 1734), the first Cartier Champion Three-Year-Old Filly ever...

Tamfana, who won the G1 Sun Chariot Stakes a year ago this weekend, is to be offered during the Sceptre Sessions at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale, which begins its four-day run on Monday, December 1. Prior to that, she is set to race in Sunday's G1 Prix de l'Opera at Longchamp. Trained by David Menuisier for Quantum Leap Racing, the four-year-old daughter of former German champion sire Soldier Hollow broke her maiden at two, winning a Kempton maiden by nine and a half lengths before landing the G3 Prix...

Patience is an essential quality in any individual wishing to be a part of Quantum Leap Racing, but even the most ardent supporter of the successful syndicate will have been pushed to their limit by events of the past few months. It's one thing having to wait for your unraced juvenile to make his or her debut, but it's quite another having to wait for a filly like Tamfana to make her return to the Group 1 stage. It's the glorious uncertainty of what the future might bring versus the...

It is not beyond the realms of possibility that eight days after this year's BBAG Yearling Sale, the team behind the German sales company could be celebrating a British Classic winner.  Already runner-up in the Derby and third in the Irish Derby, Lazy Griff is now being aimed at the St Leger on September 13. The colt, bred by the Rodde family of Gestut Westerberg, graduated from the BBAG sale of 2023, when bought for €75,000 by Jeremy Brummitt, who was also responsible for finding G1 Sun Chariot Stakes winner...

Group 1 winner Tamfana (Soldier Hollow) is pleasing her connections in training and has been penciled in for the G1 Prix de l'Opera on Arc Day, Oct. 5. The winner of the G1 Sun Chariot Stakes in 2024 and third in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes last autumn is trained by David Menuisier for Quantum Leap Racing. Second in Sandown's G2 Mile in April, the 4-year-old turned in a seventh-placed finish in the G1 Lockinge Stakes in May and has not graced a racecourse since. "She's very well, we've...

Saturday, Newbury, post time: 14:35, BOYLESPORTS LOCKINGE STAKES-G1, £400,000, 4yo/up, 8fT Field: Checkandchallenge (GB) (Fast Company {Ire}), Dancing Gemini (Ire) (Camelot {GB}), Lead Artist (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), Notable Speech (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), Persica (Ire) (New Bay {GB}), Prague (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), Rosallion (Ire) (Blue Point {Ire}), Fallen Angel (GB) (Too Darn Hot {GB}), Tamfana (Ger) (Soldier Hollow {GB}). TDN Verdict: This is the best race run so far in 2025, with the brilliant miler Rosallion renewing rivalry with the almost-as-good Notable Speech as both make their seasonal debuts. Whereas the...

Continuing our series, Emma Berry rambles on about cakes, why she loves Baden-Baden, and her favourite BBAG graduate. Horse of the year: Tamfana There is a certain appeal to the BBAG September Yearling Sale. Nothing against Tattersalls, Goffs or Arqana, but I've spent so many hours in their sales rings over the years that, to a degree, familiarity breeds contempt. Not so at BBAG, where an eclectic eve-of-sale singalong with 'German Elvis' and a decent selection of Kuchen are guaranteed for the one day a year on which I am fortunate...

With €20,000, you could buy a full ISA top-up, a good second-hand car or a fancy kitchen. Or you might spend it on a filly capable of beating the illustrious Inspiral in a Group 1 race at Newmarket. If only it were so simple. On any Arc weekend, the focus is on the mighty breeding operations, the big spenders, the most famous silks. And while Bluestocking's win at Longchamp restated Juddmonte's eternal excellence at the elite end of the bloodstock game, the victory of another filly 24 hours earlier in the...

The sales action rolls on to Baden-Baden this Friday for Germany's major yearling auction, the BBAG September Sale. If the talk in the build-up is to be believed then there will be more overseas visitors than ever landing at Karlsruhe airport to make the short journey to the sales grounds and its neighbouring racecourse during a lively week of action in both spheres. They surely can't all be going solely for the excellent eve-of-sale barbecue, featuring the traditional jumbo bratwurst and Elvis impersonator. Far more important than that fun night...