The DARK ANGEL half-sister to Group 1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardère winner CAMILLE PISSARRO sold for 900,000 guineas at a record-breaking renewal of the Tattersalls December Yearling Sale that also saw Yulong purchasing under the name of Willingham.
Three of the five highest prices in the history of the sale were recorded today including the record top lot, whilst the turnover, average and median all set new benchmarks and wide margin year on year increases.
Lascelles Strikes for Record Breaking Dark Angel Filly at 900,000 Guineas
Henry Lascelles was the successful bidder at 900,000 guineas on the DARK ANGEL filly out of ENTREAT after seeing off a plethora of bidders including underbidder Yuesheng Zhang, Oliver St Lawrence, Will Douglass and Jason Kelly. The sale represented a record price for a yearling at this sale surpassing the 700,000 guineas set in 2006 for the subsequently named MOONSTONE, who went on to Classic glory in the Group 1 Irish Oaks.
Consigned by James Cloney’s Clara Stud, the filly is a half-sister to this season’s Group 1 winning two-year-old CAMILLE PISSARRO and a three-parts sister to the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup winning sire GOLDEN HORDE.
"She has got an amazing pedigree, two of her siblings will be stallions and there is a lot of Pivotal coming through," commented Lascelles. "She is not going to be an early type, she will be a broodmare of the future and has been bought for a British owner-breeder. She will be trained in England but plans have yet to be made. She is a big girl and will take a bit of time, but the mare is an amazing producer. We thought with that pedigree, we would have to get to that sort of price."
Breeder and consignor James Cloney said: "She was due to sell in October Book 1 but, typically, just as you get the update you get a set back - she got cast in her box two days before her sale date! These things happen but it is great for Tattersalls to put on today and deliver this result."
He added: "She’s some mare, she just pours pure class into her stock. It’s an emotional rollercoaster with her but when she does it, she does it so well. As breeders we’re all dreamers, and you do kind of dream for this to happen. It’s unbelievable that it just keeps happening with this mare. It’s kind of exciting, especially because Entreat has travelled to Justify so we’re expecting a nice foal by him in early January. She’s back with me now, she came back home in May, so she’ll be getting an extra scoop of nuts this evening!
"With her, I feel she’s so unique. Sometimes you get mares who produce good racehorses but they don’t perform at the sales. But in my eyes, and I think in a lot of peoples’ eyes, she ticks every box because she’s able to throw the stock and then they go and back it up. There are not too many mares with two Group 1 winners under their belt, or four Stakes winners, especially all by different stallions.
"She stamps her stock no matter what stallion she goes to. This is a big strong filly and I’d draw a lot of comparisons with Camille Pissarro. I know I might sound biased but I actually thought she might be that little bit stronger at the same stage."
A winning daughter of PIVOTAL, ENTREAT was purchased by BBA Ireland on behalf of Cloney for just 14,000 guineas at the 2016 Tattersalls July Sale.
Sea the Stars Filly Sells for 400,000 Guineas
Bloodstock agent Jamie McCalmont secured the SEA THE STARS own-sister to Classic prospect SEACRUISER for 400,000 guineas after seeing off underbidder Anthony Stroud for the Norelands consigned filly. She is out of the IFFRAAJ mare CRIMEAN QUEEN, a half-sister to the Group 2 Royal Ascot winners BRONZE CANNON and ACROSS THE STARS, and to the dam of last year’s Group 1 Ascot Gold Cup winner COURAGE MON AMI.
"She has been bought for Marc Chan," revealed McCalmont. "He has the brother Seacruiser who we hope will be a really nice horse for next year. We bought Sir Dinadan from Norelands last year and Seacruiser, and Green Impact was raised there. It was a farm that was founded by Harry [McCalmont] and my grandfather so there is a lot of sentiment but more importantly, it seems to be working."
Of this filly, he added: "She is a lot more short-coupled than her brother, he looks like a real mile and a half horse. Marc wants to start breeding horses and Sea The Stars is a great broodmare sire, and if the brother ends up really good, it will be really nice to have a sister. Marc is really happy, he really wanted this filly."
The Ralph Beckett trained SEACRUISER was a 200,000 guineas purchase at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale and holds an Irish Derby entry having broken his maiden impressively at Newmarket on his second start.
Yulong Strike for Sea The Stars Colt at 375,000 Guineas
Another yearling by SEA THE STARS became the fifth highest price in the history of the sale when selling for 375,000 guineas to the bid of Yuesheng Zhang with the organisation's general manager Vin Cox signing as Willingham, the location of the local stud farm purchased by the Yulong team recently.
Cox said: "We felt he is a very likeable horse, by a stallion who is doing a particularly good job and he is out of a Group winning racemare. He fits the plans we are trying to put together to get a good batch of horses to go to the races. We will break him in and we will worry about a trainer further down the line."
Of international plans, he added: "We will start him off in the UK, obviously we have an enterprise in Australia and if he fits the bill further down the line that is a possibility, but the short and medium term is in Europe."
The Barton Stud consigned colt is out of the KODIAC mare CLOUDY DAWN, winner of the Group 3 Prix de Lieurey and out of a half-sister to the Group 1 Prix du Moulin winner GREY LILAS, herself the dam of dual French Classic winner GOLDEN LILAC.
The sale represented a major pinhooking triumph for his owners having been purchased for 100,000 guineas at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale.
