The Group 1 winner TEONA, offered in foal to FRANKEL, became the third highest priced mare ever to be sold at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale when realising 4,500,000 guineas, while Group I winning mares by champion Australian sires Fastnet Rock and Zoustar sold for 2million guineas plus.
The stella day of trade saw 10 lots sell for 1,000,000 guineas or more, including six above 2,000,000 guineas. Turnover for the session topped 48,000,000 guineas, the third highest turnover for a day in European auction history behind last year’s record December Mares Sale figure on this day.
The second part of the ‘Sceptre Sessions’ saw the 38 sold lots realise a total of 34,135,000 guineas, taking the two-day total for the second renewal of the December Mares Sale initiative to 39,125,000 guineas at an average of 752,404 guineas.
Juddmonte Farms Buy Teona for 4,500,000 Guineas
The top price during the second edition of the Sceptre Sessions was the Group 1 winner TEONA who realised a price of 4,500,000 guineas to the bid of Juddmonte Farms’ Simon Mockridge. Underbidders included Paul Shanahan and Anthony Stroud. Consigned by Barton Sales for Rabbah Bloodstock, the daughter of SEA THE STARS won the Group 1 Prix Vermeille and also finished third in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf for trainer Roger Varian and owner Ali Saeed.
TEONA was sold in foal to FRANKEL on a March covering, her first pregnancy, and is out of AMBIVALENT, winner of the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes and the Group 2 Middleton Stakes.
"She is the best mare in the sale. She is a Group 1 winner out of a Group 1 winner, and they are very difficult to find," said Mockridge. "She is a beautiful addition for us. She has a great pedigree, she is by Sea The Stars, who has made a fantastic start as a broodmare sire and has had five Group 1 winners, she will fit in very well.
"She is an outcross to Frankel, which is ideal and what we are looking for. And yes, she will be going back to Frankel!"
When asked if the final price was expected, he added: "You always have to stretch when you want to buy the best, it is competitive. It was very strong bidding for her, I did think that around about 3,500,000 guineas to 4,000,000 guineas we might get her. You have to make that extra stretch - that is something we have learnt, it is all very well trying to value them before but when you come to the moment you have to be a little stronger."
Bargain Buy Via Sistina Sells for 2,700,000 Guineas
VIA SISTINA provided a dream result for her owners Stephen & Becky Hillen when selling for 2,700,000 guineas to an online bid from Evergreen Equine despite the determined efforts of Oiwake Farm’s Masashi Yoshida and JS Company’s Keisuke Onishi. The five-year-old daughter of FASTNET ROCK was consigned by Grove Stud, having been purchased by Hillen for just 5,000 guineas at the Tattersalls December Yearling Sale.
VIA SISTINA’s subsequent price uplift is due to the form she has shown on the track which includes victories in the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes and Group 2 Dahlia Stakes as well as her unlucky second on her most recent start in the Group 1 Champion Stakes as Ascot, where her jockey dropped the whip a furlong out. She is out of the unraced GALILEO mare NIGH who is a half-sister to KINGSGATE NATIVE, winner of both the Group 1 Golden Jubilee Stakes and the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes.
Hillen, who was outside the ring and receiving congratulations from all, said: "It was amazing to watch! It has been tremendous from day one - she was with Jamie Magee to be broken in and he has had a lot of good stock through his hands - he rang me in February and said she is the biggest but she gets up the gallop better than anything else!
"She was just so big and he did say she could be breezed as she worked so well, but I said that we needed to race her. She did not go into training until August because her pedigree said to wait."
Of the uplift in value, he said: "It has been a dream! I thought that she'd bring in 2,000,000 guineas plus, that cross is sensational. She was a Group 1 winner, but arguably she ran great in the Champion Stakes and she was still improving all the time. It is nice now to see her almost certainly be retired sound and go to stud. I was fine watching her sell - I thought that if we don't get what we want for her, we can still race her so it was a celebration either way."
Recalling VIA SISTINA’s 5,000 guineas purchase, he said: "I would have given a lot more for her at the time, she was a foal share and neither side wanted her. She needed a fair bit of imagination and often when you buy this sort, most of them turn out to be no good. But she always just had something, she was an unbelievable walker but was just a bit of a frame. I am always patient with my horses, any trainer will tell you that I never put them under pressure, I might have my opinions from time to time, but I will wait and wait and wait!"
Sister to Chaldean Bound for Hillwood Stud After 2,500,000 Guineas Sale
One of the most exciting pedigrees in the catalogue was that of the four-year-old filly GET AHEAD, the Listed winning and Group 1 placed daughter of SHOWCASING who is a half-sister to the 2000 Guineas and Dewhurst Stakes winner CHALDEAN as well as an own-sister to the Group 2 Mill Reef Stakes winner ALKUMAIT.
Consigned by her breeder Whitsbury Manor Stud, GET AHEAD was knocked down to trainer William Haggas, signing as First Bloodstock, for 2,500,000 guineas after seeing off the determined efforts of underbidder Oliver St Lawrence, Oiwake Farm’s Masashi Yoshida and Blandford Bloodstock’s Richard Brown.
"She is for a new syndicate and goes to Hillwood Stud to board, she will be bred to this coming spring," said Haggas.
Hillwood Stud’s Charlie Vigors added: "It is very exciting to have such good mares as Primo Bacio and Get Ahead coming to the farm, and that these top pedigrees are staying in Britain."
Rosen & Chan Enjoy Prosperous Sale
Owners Andrew Rosen and Marc Chan have enjoyed some great racedays with their Group 1 winning fillies PROSPEROUS VOYAGE and LEZOO but both were offered at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale where they realised 2,400,000 guineas and 2,200,000 guineas respectively. Both were consigned by trainer Ralph Beckett’s Kimpton Down Stables.
The Group 1 Tattersalls Falmouth Stakes winner PROSPEROUS VOYAGE, who was also a narrow second in the 1000 Guineas behind CACHET, is headed to Japan after being purchased by Katsumi Yoshida's Northern Farm. She is a daughter of ZOFFANY out of the MIZZEN MAST mare SEATONE.
The Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes winner LEZOO was purchased by an online bid by Emmanuel de Seroux’s Narvick International after he saw off two separate parties of Japanese buyers. The three-year-old filly is by Champion Australian sire ZOUSTAR out of the Group 3 Firth of Clyde Stakes winner ROGER SEZ. De Seroux indicated that she would remain in Europe to be bred.
Jamie McCalmont, racing manager to Marc Chan and Andrew Rosen, discussed the sale of the pair:
"I am very fond of both of them, they are lovely girls and they have given us some great days out. It is an expensive hobby owning horses in Britain and unless you have stallion income coming in you have to do this."
When asked if the sale ring was always going to be the route taken, he added: "Yes and no, we did consider breeding, we were looking for a bit more for Prosperous Voyage and we debated breeding her to a top stallion and bringing her back next year, but all the top buyers are here and Tattersalls has done a great job bringing so many different groups of people here, the market speaks for itself."
1000 Guineas Winner Cachet Bound for Japan
Last year’s 1000 Guineas winner CACHET was the first to be offered as a filly in training at auction since RAVINELLA in 1988 and there were three separate Japanese buying groups who tried to purchase her, with Oiwake Farm’s Masashi Yoshida and JS Company’s Keisuke Onishi both being usurped by Katsumi Yoshida’s Northern Farm team who secured her for 2,200,000 guineas.
"Cachet is a 1000 Guineas winner, we felt something special from her and we are really excited that she is coming back to Japan," said Shingo Hashimoto of Northern Farm. "She might be covered in Europe, plans are not final yet, but she definitely has speed."
The daughter of ACLAIM is out of the TEOFILO mare POYLE SOPHIE and provided her owners Highclere Thoroughbred Racing with a day to remember with her 1000 Guineas victory for trainer George Boughey, having been purchased by Jake Warren for just 60,000 guineas at the Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale.
"It has been such a journey, the whole thing has been extraordinary," said Harry Herbert, manager of Highclere Thoroughbred Racing. "From Jake saying, ‘Uncle H, I’ve found this breeze up filly and I can’t wait to show you', through to this whole process."
Jake Warren added: "We just watched her being prepared to come into the ring and she stood like a rock and didn’t turn a hair. She was so cool in the ring and she’s been like that from day one. She’s been an amazing filly to be part of. She’s always had a special something about her and there was so much interest in her, she’s been run off her feet all week.
"For her owners, that’s special. She was £6,500 a share, and she was such a good two-year-old as well. It’s exciting, she was our first domestic Classic winner and the challenge is on, we’ve got to do it again now."
He added: "This is how you get access to racing. The dream is real - when you take a share, you can win the Guineas, you can sell a multi-million pound horse and you can be in it competing with the best in the world. And her shareholders have achieved that."
The Tattersalls December Mares Sale continues at 9.30am on Wednesday, 6th December.
