Tag: Tattersalls December Mare Sale

by Chris McGrath and Emma Berry

NEWMARKET, UK—The subject of many bloodstock headlines prior to the Tattersalls December Mares’ Sales, Beach Frolic (GB) (Nayef) proved eminently deserving of the attention, even if she was denied the standing-room-only reception usually reserved for the stellar lots during this typically blockbuster session. A depleted ‘Covid’ gathering greeted her on her arrival in the ring, but the bidding was soon opened at a million gns by Julian Dollar, with Rob Speers and online bidders also getting involved in the earlier rounds. Eventually, as is so often the case at this level of the market, it was Coolmore’s MV Magnier who had the greatest reserves, and his bid of 2.2 million gns from outside in the dark of Park Paddocks proved to be the decisive one.

“She’s a lovely mare and she has already bred an exceptional racehorse,” said Magnier of the dam of this year’s champion 3-year-old Palace Pier (GB) (Kingman {GB}), and whose yearling colt was sold at October Book 1 for 320,000gns.

“The yearling by Highland Reel (Ire) that Jamie McCalmont bought is very nice horse, too,” Magnier continued. “She is a special mare, and they don’t come up for sale very often. Palace Pier is an exceptional horse and she is a good producer. I would say that we will cover her with Galileo (Ire).”

He added, “I would also like to say that Lady Carolyn Warren has done an amazing job all the way through with this mare.”

Lady Carolyn Warren and her husband John co-bred Beach Frolic and Palace Pier with the late Duke of Roxburghe and consigned the 9-year-old mare (lot 1731) in foal to Blue Point (Ire) through their Highclere Stud. Her sale proved an emotional moment, not just in parting with a star broodmare but also in the ending of a partnership with the late duke, who was a longtime friend to the couple and whose Floors Stud completed a partial dispersal during the same session.

“I’m not usually emotional, but she was an amazing mare and it has been such a story and a long journey,” said Lady Carolyn. “John bought her grandmother Miss d’Ouilly for very little and the whole family has given us so much pleasure. We just hope for Coolmore and the team that she will produce a champion for them. I’m sure she will.”

John Warren added, “It was a little bit of coming to the end of an era. We’ve been closely involved with Floors Stud for 35 years so this whole week has been rather poignant. I’m so glad that the Duchess and [son] George are keeping some nice mares and carrying on the work of a special friend. We had a close friendship which went beyond the horses.”

He added, “We put a huge emphasis on how the horses are raised and that’s why the team at the stud are so important. We all know how hard it is to breed a top-class horse but when it pays off it is really special. Palace Pier has given us so much pride.”

Lady Carolyn also paid tribute to her staff at the stud. She said, “This is for all the team at Highclere, who do such an amazing job, day in, day out, every morning, all the care and all the attention. She looked magnificent and this is for everybody.”

‘Need for Speed’ Fuels Sonaiyla Demand

The sale of Beach Frolic was not enough to prevent significant year-on-year slides in most indices of the day’s trade, unsurprisingly in such a precarious economic environment. But auctions like this are all about the long view and vendors kept the faith in the value of their best offerings: of the 11 occasions when the hammer came down above 500,000gns, three proved to be bought in and one lot was unsold. The clearance rate of 79% was virtually unchanged on the equivalent session last year. Aggregate business was down 30%, from 35,759,500gns to 24,969,000gns, yielding an average of 134,242gns, down 31% percent from 195,407gns, and a 60,000gns median similarly down from 90,000gns.

Taking a step back from such transient detail, you might argue that frenzied competition for Sonaiyla (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) was a more instructive snapshot of the state of the European breeding industry–with no less aristocratic a farm than Moyglare going as far as 900,000gns in its thirst for the commercial speed associated with her sire.

But perhaps the bigger story was the remarkable work of Paddy Twomey, who took custody of Sonaiyla after she was culled by Aga Khan Studs at the Goffs November Sale only a year ago, sold to BBA Ireland for €110,000. At that stage, she had won a maiden and a seven-furlong handicap for her previous trainer. Twomey, equipping her with tongue-tie and visor, brought her back to win a listed sprint at Cork. After just holding out over seven in a handicap, she dropped back in trip for consecutive podiums in group company–most notably when beaten a length into third in the G1 Derrinstown Stud Flying Five S.

After seeing off sustained competition for lot 1717, first from Demi O’Byrne and then from Joseph O’Brien, Fiona Craig of Moyglare candidly declared, “Basically, it’s a need for speed! I think that’s why everyone else was bidding on her too. She has something that we find hard to breed, and there is that Group 1 placing. She is a pretty filly, too, and she’s an outcross. She can go to anything. I am so struggling with all our mares, and [aside from her own sire Dark Angel] she can go to any of the top 15 stallions by stakes winners, which makes her invaluable. She can go to Galileo (Ire), Frankel (GB), Dubawi (Ire), Kingman (GB), Sea The Stars (Ire), anything.

“Now we go forwards. Knowing me, I will get a two-mile horse out of her! But hats off to Paddy, he did some amazing job.”

Twomey was modest about his role. “We enjoyed racing her, she’s a very clean filly and very easy to train,” he said. “Rory [Collins, of Ennistown Stud] was my first owner, and this was the plan for her starting off: I’m a trader by nature, and a leopard never changes his spots.”

Hard to Imagine a Better Mare

A corresponding craving for speed drove demand for a similar package in the 4-year-old Kurious (GB) (Kuroshio {Aus}), who was also sold for 900,000gns as lot 1737 after winning listed and Group 3 sprints at Sandown for Henry Candy, while leased to Hot To Trot Racing.

Purchaser Charlie Vigors of Hillwood Bloodstock pointed to her unraced dam, Easy To Imagine (Cozzene), as a quite extraordinary mare. Two of this filly’s siblings have won Group 1 sprints, Tangerine Trees (GB) (Mind Games {GB}) landing the Prix de l’Abbaye and Alpha Delphini (GB) (Captain Gerrard {Ire}) the Nunthorpe S.

“Like for like, she must be one of the best producers of recent times,” he said. “I mean no disrespect to the stallions she’s been to, but she is far outperforming her covers. I’m delighted to get this filly, as a listed and Group 3 winner out of such a fantastic mare, and slightly amazed that we were able to–though we had to stretch a bit. She’s for the same clients who sold their Lope De Vegas well [i.e. through Hillwood, including a 900,000gns colt (lot 320)] at the October Sale. They are British-based and have reinvested. We’ll see how the spring unfolds before we decide on stallions.”

Hot To Trot lease their runners from breeders, including this filly’s consignor Whitsbury Manor Stud and its clients. Breeder Marie Matthews bought Easy To Imagine from Gainsborough Farm for just 5,200gns in 2002–a remarkable price, given that she is out of a Grade I-placed daughter of Danzig.

For all the premium on speed, it was good to see that there is still an appetite for Classic families and their depth of stamina and class-judging, at any rate, from the 500,000gns paid by Haras d’Etreham for the unraced 2-year-old Silver Horn (GB), offered by The Castlebridge Consignment as lot 1720. A resident of the Waddesdon Stud dispersal, she is out of the venerable Magnificient Style (Silver Hawk), dam of the champion Nathaniel (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) among half a dozen group/graded winners.

Patience Rewarded in Time Saver

Celebrating a successful 850,000gns bid for Time Saver (GB) (Frankel {GB}) (lot 1727), Richard Brown of Blandford Bloodstock remarked that horses like this only come on the market “very rarely”. And you knew exactly what he meant: the 4-year-old, though unraced, is a half-sister to Juddmonte’s Group 1 winners Timepiece (GB) (Zamindar) and Passage Of Time (GB) (Dansili {GB}), herself dam of the young sire Time Test (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}).

Yet she was actually sold in this ring last year to Aquis Farm for very nearly as much, at 750,000gns–and had since gained the bonus of a covering by Kingman (GB).

“I didn’t think we would actually get her,” admitted Brown. “We went a long way for her last year, when we thought she was the stand-out in the Juddmonte draft. Obviously she’s come back in foal to a very exciting stallion. It is a phenomenal family: there was a Grade I winner in America the other day, right down the bottom of the page, and Time Test is a young stallion I have a lot of time for. It’s just a very active pedigree and I am delighted.”

Brown added that the mare, presented here by Genesis Green Stud, will proceed to the Cumani family’s Fittocks Stud. “We knew she was going to be hard to buy, so we put a partnership together made up of some British-based owner-breeders,” he explained.

Precious as the blood is, Juddmonte are certainly sharing it around. Two other daughters of the dam Clepsydra (GB) (Sadler’s Wells) were sold the previous day, for 200,000gns and 160,000gns, respectively; and nor is there much of a wait for the next, with the 3-year-old Brinjal (GB) (Kingman {GB}) going under the hammer as lot 2002 in Wednesday’s session.

Further Adventures Await Defoe’s Dam

One way or another, things have not quite worked out for Dulkashe (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}) since she produced a first foal no less distinguished than G1 Coronation Cup winner Defoe (Ire) (Dalakhani {Ire}). But while now rising 12, that distinction still counted for plenty as she entered the ring as lot 1605, consigned by Miltown Park Stud. With a Churchill (Ire) foal aboard, she raised 525,000gns from David Redvers of Tweenhills.

“Daughters of Pivotal that have thrown Group 1 winners are not terribly common,” Redvers said, naturally meaning in the sales ring and not on the track. “She’ll go into our core group of mares, who will be split between Kameko, Zoustar (Aus) and one or two outside stallions. We’ll sit down and see who we think will suit her best: the idea was to get the mare first, and then the stallion. But while we’ll give it long hard think, I’d say Kameko would be a distinct possibility.”

Though herself a winner in the same yellow and black silks carried by Defoe, Dulkashe was bought at this sale in 2015 for 90,000gns by Faisal Al-Thani–at a time when her ill-fated son was still only a yearling. Defoe broke many hearts at Roger Varian’s yard when suffering a fatal injury on the gallops in July.

Dulkashe’s own dam was by another elite broodmare sire in Riverman and, while proving light in black-type progeny, she is a sibling to a stack of group performers and/or producers, including the dam of that splendid campaigner Mubtaker (Silver Hawk), who won the G2 Geoffrey Freer S. three times and also chased home Defoe’s sire in the 2003 Arc. The third dam, meanwhile, was a half-sister to Scottish Rifle (GB) (Sunny Way {GB}), who won the G1 Eclipse S. for that delightful Jockey Club stalwart, Sandy Struthers.

Floors Stud Finale

A part-dispersal which began with a select batch of six Book 1 yearlings—two millionaires among them—drew to a close as seven mares from Floors Stud took to the ring on Tuesday afternoon. The till receipts show a total of 1,308,000gns for the septet, at all levels of the market, but as a reminder of the immensely popular man who bred them, they represent a priceless legacy.

The 10th Duke of Roxburghe, best known in the bloodstock world as the owner-breeder of the brilliant filly Attraction (GB) (Efisio {GB}), died last August, prompting a gradual reduction of the stock at his farm in the Scottish Borders.

The legs that carried Attraction to her five Group 1 victories were famously wonky, but her aim was true and, through her own exploits and those of her offspring, which include now two stallion sons, the name of Floors Stud has been elevated to a new level, particularly as a proud front-runner for breeding in Scotland.

That name will continue, as Virginia, Duchess of Roxburghe, and her son George Innes-Ker have retained five mares, including Attraction and her daughters Cushion (GB) (Galileo {Ire}), Titivation (GB) (Montjeu {Ire}) and Motion (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}). And, while all dispersals carry with them an air of poignancy, the opportunities they present for other breeders to buy into coveted bloodlines counterbalance such woes with the promise of the continuation of those lines, albeit in the hands of others.

“It was sad as well as being exciting for the future, for the buyers,” said Innes-Ker, the youngest son of the late duke. “I know Dad would be extremely proud of the team at home. The mares looked incredible and he would have been extremely proud of the effort they’ve put in.”

He added, “We are keeping five mares and we are trying to keep the Attraction name going as Dad’s legacy. Attraction is carrying a Kingman filly this year and he would be over the moon with that. We’ll also have Cushion, Motion, Titivation and Blinking. Blinking is a 95% blind mare who Dad was completely in love with, so keeping her was essential.”

While Attraction’s daughters have been retained, two of her half-sisters were among the horses sold at Tattersalls for Floors through Kiltinan Castle Stud, with 10-year-old Fusion (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire}) (lot 1691) going to Mount Richard Stud for 11,000gns. Two years her elder, Federation (GB) (Motivator {GB}) (lot 1693) was sold in foal to Starspangledbanner (Aus), fetching a bid of 60,000gns from JS Bloodstock in Japan, where her 2-year-old son Hitoyogiri (GB) (Shalaa {Ire}) won on debut in September.

In between that pair was lot 1692, Lady Glinka (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who sold to Sean Browne for 17,000gns. Carrying to Time Test (GB), the 12-year-old is a full-sister to English and UAE group winner Mikhail Glinka (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), while her dam, Lady Karr (GB) (Mark of Esteem {Ire}), is a full-sister to English highweight and G1 Derby winner Sir Percy (GB) (Mark of Esteem {Ire}).

It was the young Redoute’s Choice (Aus) mare Deep Inside (Fr) (lot 1696) who took top billing when bought by Anthony Stroud for 425,000gns. A winner in France, she is a half-sister to the G3 Park S. winner Chrysanthemum (Ire) (Danehill) and, even more enticingly, she was sold in foal to the in-demand Lope De Vega (Ire) and has a colt foal by Kingman (GB) to run for her.

Twitch (Ire) (Azamour {Ire}), a daughter of the aforementioned Blinking and from another signature Floors family which includes the Hong Kong champion Viva Pataca (GB), was signed for by Cormac McCormack at 240,000gns. The 8-year-old mare (lot 1694), whose Siyouni yearling filly was sold to Ed Dunlop in October, was sold carrying a foal from the first crop of 2000 Guineas winner Magna Grecia (Ire).

Twitch was followed into the ring by Merry Jaunt (Street Sense) (lot 1695), a daughter of the GI Yellow Ribbon S. winner Light Jig (GB) (Danehill) who is in foal to Night Of Thunder. She will now join the broodmare band at Tally-Ho Stud, having been bought for 230,000gns.

Completing the draft as lot 1697 was Hibiscus (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), the full-sister to GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Line Of Duty (Ire) who is carrying a May-conceived foal by Siyouni (Fr). The daughter of disqualified 1000 Guineas winner Jacqueline Quest (Ire) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}) was bought by Hugo Merry for 325,000gns.

Elaborating on their plans for their retained mares in the future, Virginia, Duchess of Roxburghe, said, “Attraction and Blinking are going to Sara Cumani at Fittocks, who has looked after them so well [when in Newmarket to foal], and we knew that was where Guy would want them to go. Then the other three are going to Watership Down Stud.”

The success of Attraction clearly left a big impression on the young George Innes-Ker, who, standing alongside his sister Isabella, added, “I remember so vividly being a 7-year-old and watching Attraction win, and Dad’s excitement when she won the Guineas. Dad had five attempts to have children who loved racing and it took him until the last one.”

River Catches a Rising Tide

Perhaps the giddiest updates in the catalogue concerned Tisa River (Ire) (Equiano {Fr}), who was once culled by Godolphin to Milton Bradley for just £3,000 and spent a couple of seasons in sprint handicaps off a rating in the mid-40s.

By the time she came to this sale two years ago, her half-sister Iridessa (Ire) (Ruler Of The World {Ire})) had just given her page a lift by winning the G1 Fillies’ Mile. Hugo Merry duly gave 60,000gns for her, on behalf of the owners of Kessaar (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}), who had commissioned him to find a handful of mares to support their young stallion in his new career at Tally-Ho Stud. That has proved to be a quite wonderful investment.

First Iridessa proceeded to win three more elite prizes, culminating in the GI Filly and Mare Turf at the Breeders’ Cup; and the next two foals have suddenly completed the transformation of their dam Senta’s Dream (GB) (Danehill) into something of a blue hen for the Whisperview breeding operation of Aidan and Annemarie O’Brien. The juvenile filly Santa Barbara (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) looked a brilliant prospect on her debut; and then, since the catalogue was published, Order Of Australia (Ire) (Australia {GB}) pulled a Breeders’ Cup success of his own out of his hat with that revelatory display in the GI Mile.

This remarkable run prompted Blue Diamond Stud Farm UK to give 400,000gns for Tisa River, carrying a foal by Blue Point (Ire), as lot 1680.

“When opportunity knocks, you have to grab it,” said Tony Nerses. “It’s not very often that a half-sister to two Breeders’ Cup winners comes onto the market, so we’re delighted to get her. She’ll be heading to our boy Decorated Knight (GB), and I’m sure he’ll be very happy to spend some time with her.”

Merry’s satisfaction for his patrons, meanwhile, is topped off by his enthusiasm for the Kessaar colt delivered by Tisa River during her brief sojourn, apparently “a really lovely foal”.

The impact of Senta’s Dream at the Breeders’ Cup, meanwhile, compounds that of her dam Starine (Fr), whose success in the Filly and Mare Turf kept alive the name of her otherwise forgotten sire Mendocino.

Limelight Falls on Lady

The appearance of the European Sales Management draft at this sale always guarantees fireworks. Sure enough, their advent in the ring early in the evening kept bids revolving dizzily for aggregate turnover of 2,192,000gns across eight lots sold.

Top billing went to Lady in Lights (Ire) (Dansili {GB}), who has now lived up to her name despite a track career in which she beat just one of 16 rivals in two starts. The G1 2000 Guineas success of her half-brother Magna Grecia (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) had enabled her to realise 250,000gns in the same ring 12 months ago, when acquired by Blandford Bloodstock from Rabbah; and two important developments in the meantime had enabled her to double her value as lot 1707, David Cox of Baroda Stud signing a 520,000gns docket.

One was a covering by No Nay Never; the other was the emergence of her half-brother St Mark’s Basilica (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) to win the G1 Dewhurst S.-a performance that qualifies him as one of the leading fancies to emulate Magna Grecia in the Guineas next spring.

“She’s a lovely mare and obviously has a very active pedigree,” said Cox. “She has been bought for a client, and we look forward to selling some nice yearlings out of her. We’ve had no thoughts about stallions yet, but No Nay Never is a great sire so we look forward to seeing what she produces to sell as a yearling.”

Another in the draft to benefit from a No Nay Never foal in utero was Elysea’s World (Ire) (Champs Elysees {GB}) (lot 1705), secured for Katsumi Yoshida at 450,000gns. A €25,000 Arqana October yearling, she had been exported to the United States after winning at Chantilly as a juvenile and, after multiple graded stakes success, advanced her value to $500,000 when sold to Abbondanza Racing at Keeneland November two years ago; and has kept up the good work since.

Carisbrooke’s Quality Blood Transfusion

Much of this sale is driven by the fact that even crumbs off the table can be precious if the chef is using the right cook book. Lot 1486 was a case in point, as a rare cull from the Moyglare family of Irresistible Jewel (Ire), Mad About You (Ire) and company.

Sure enough, Yvonne Jacques of Carisbrooke Stud went to 450,000gns for Mia Maria (Ire) (Dansili {GB}), a winning 4-year-old sister to G3 Meld S. winner Carla Bianca (Ire).

“Lots about her,” Jacques said. “Her page, and the fact that she is in-foal to Lope De Vega. That means a lot, as we are big fans of his. We are just trying to get quality, quality, quality with our broodmares, and obviously she’s one we hope will be very lucky for us over the years to come.”

She was flanked by Cathy Grassick, who added: “Yvonne really is a big fan of Lope De Vega, as she has the own sister to Phoenix Of Spain (Ire). She’s a fan of Dansili, too, as her [homebred] filly Stylistique (GB) won a listed race in France the other day. They’re not making Dansili fillies anymore, so it is fantastic to get something that combines all those factors, she ticks a lot of boxes.

“Fiona Craig [of Moyglare] was saying they have only ever sold four fillies from this family. One was Candle Lit (Ire) (Duke Of Marmalade {Ire}), whom I bought for Clodagh McStay, so I have bought two of the four. It is a family you just can’t go wrong with.”

Craig would later credit this sale for her tenacity in giving as much again for Sonaiyla (Ire). “We sold well,” she said then. “Hopefully we bought well too.”

A Breathtaking Coup

It’s always gratifying to see the acute eye of a trainer at Book 3 level yield the kind of dividends achieved by Stuart Williams with Breathtaking Look (GB) (Bated Breath {GB}), a 42,000gns discovery in this ring as a yearling in 2016 before achieving a rating of 109 with two group wins in the silks of his brother-in-law Jonathan Parry.

And the 5-year-old secured her purchasers their due reward when knocked down, as lot 1662, to Katsumi Yoshida’s Northern Farm for 400,000gns. “She has shown a lot of ability,” observed Shingo Hashimoto, the stud’s manager of international affairs. “Her race record is very strong, and she is a big, tall, strong filly, which is very attractive to us.”

This was not the first time Williams and Parry have pulled off something like this, the 80,000gns Book 2 yearling Oakley Girl (GB) (Sir Percy {GB}) having sold to Kerri Radcliffe at this sale in 2017 for 925,000gns. And, in fairness, Breathtaking Look’s first three dams are stakes performers or producers.

“We’re really sad to see her go,” Williams admitted. “She’s been a delight for us: really tough, consistent and genuine. ‘Ralph’ [as Parry is known] does breed, but with one worth that much, you need to put a big stallion on her and it is just a lot of money.”

“They can send her to a stallion outside of our budget,” Parry concurred. “Hopefully she can go to one of the best, and breed the best. I go to Japan a couple of times a year on business, so maybe I’ll be able to go and see her.”

Another on her way to Japan is Can’t Buy Me Love (War Front), who made 330,000gns from Lake Villa Farm when consigned by Norelands Stud as lot 1701. The 4-year-old, in foal to No Nay Never, is out of Grade I winner and dual Classic runner-up Together (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). She was second in both her starts for Graham Motion at Gulfstream last year.

Revolution in Russian Value

The failure to sell a Camelot (GB) filly out of an unraced Cape Cross (Ire) mare at the Orby sale last year has ultimately proved the prelude to a proper “touch” for a partnership from Sylvester Kirk’s Cedar Lodge Stables.

The filly, bought in for €28,000 when offered by co-breeder Camas Park Stud at Goffs, ended up being registered in the silks of Mrs. Johnny McKeever as Russian Camilla (Ire). By the time she was entered for this sale, she could be advertised as a full-sister to Russian Camelot (Ire), a dual Group 1 winner in Australia this year prior to finishing third in the G1 Cox Plate. After the publication of the catalogue, moreover, Russian Camilla put her head over the parapet at Kempton-and won.

There was a corresponding improvement in demand, then, when she was cashed in here as lot 1667 for 300,000 gns to Michel Zerolo, acting on behalf of Peter Brant’s White Birch Farm.

“Reasonably obvious, really,” said Zerolo with a smile. “She’s a full-sister to a talented horse, a pretty filly from a beautiful family, and hopefully there will still be some improvement in her.”

That will be the responsibility of Jean-Claude Rouget, who takes on the filly now. Her family, of course, was there all along: the dam is out of a stakes-winning own sister to Stagecraft (GB) (Sadler’s Wells), with all that entails. All credit, then, to Jeremy Brummitt for putting the pedigree back on the world map by picking out Russian Camelot for Danny O’Brien in what was a fairly pioneering enterprise: he cost 120,000gns in Book 1 here as a yearling.

Aperitif Has Swiss Flavour

Highlight of a relatively somnolent morning session, aptly enough in view of the banquet to follow, was a young mare named Aperitif (GB) (Pivotal {GB}), who made 300,000gns from Matt Coleman of Stroud Coleman Bloodstock as lot 1555.

Carrying a first foal, by Ten Sovereigns (Ire), the 4-year-old was offered by Lordship Stud as a rare opportunity to get into their uber-brisk “Swiss” family: Aperitif, a dual winner herself, is out of multiple stakes winner Swiss Dream (GB), who has already produced a smart sprinter in G3 Hackwood S. winner Yafta (GB) (Dark Angel {Ire}). Swiss Dream is out of another listed sprinter in Swiss Lake (Indian Ridge {Ire}), who further produced group sprint operators in Swiss Diva (GB) (Pivotal {GB}), Swiss Spirit (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) and Swiss Franc (GB) (Mr Greeley).

Coleman was acting on behalf of Noel O’Callaghan of Mountarmstrong Stud. “Noel is really keen to get into these good families, and Pivotal mares are very hard to get hold of,” the agent reasoned. “She is from Lordship’s magnificent family, not only a family of racehorses but also of sales horses as well. She’s out of a very fast filly and from a very fast family, and no doubt the progeny will be sold commercially. She has Pivotal (GB), Green Desert and Indian Ridge (Ire) on her page: three of the best broodmare sires of all time so, hopefully, she has the ingredients to be a really good broodmare.”

Their strategy is typified by Fine Time (GB) (Dansili {GB}), bought for 420,000gns from the Juddmonte draft here two years ago. She’s a half-sister to Timer Saver, whose sale later in the session is recorded above.

“She was purchased with a similar idea: to get a mare with a fantastic pedigree, as Noel is trying to breed for Book 1,” Coleman said. “She was the last big one we bought, and her first yearling made 475,000gns in Book 1 this autumn.”

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