Sea The Stars Filly In Front as Yearling Season Concludes

NEWMARKET, UK–That's a wrap for the yearlings of 2022, with the late-season curtain-up for a fortnight of sales of all ages at Park Paddocks netting 4,501,500gns from the exchange of 130 fledgling racehorses.

Figures dipped a little from last year's slightly larger catalogue, but there was still plenty of money about for the 'right' horse, with a number of those towards the top of the list having missed an earlier engagement at Tattersalls for a variety of minor reasons. The average of 34,627gns was pretty much on a par with 2021 figures, but the median fell by 19% to 22000gns. The clearance rate dropped two points to 86%.

Combined tallies for the yearling sales of October and December weighed in at 204 million gns, a significant increase on the previous record for those fixtures of 167 million gns in 2018, and that doesn't take into account the latest addition to the Tattersalls yearling calendar, the Somerville Yearling Sale, which this year turned over 7.7 million gns.

Alex Elliott talked of paying a “Book 1 price for a Book 1 filly” and that was certainly the case for the day's leading light [lot 80], a filly by the Sea The Stars (Ire), who was bred by the Rogers family at Airlie Stud and consigned on their behalf by Whatton Manor Stud.

Elliott has been busy recruiting yearlings for Valmont this season, and this latest purchase took the juvenile team for 2023 to a total of 33. Ralph Beckett, who has sent out 11 runners for Valmont during 2022, will take charge of the full-sister to Fifty Stars (Ire), who was eventually secured with a bid of 260,000gns.

“She fitted the profile: she was a Book 1 filly but she missed out [on that sale] as she had a slight injury prior to Book 1, so she was a Book 1 filly in December and we had to pay a Book 1 price for her,” said Elliott, who noted that Valmont now has 60 horses in training.

“We had a good Sea The Stars filly this year called Trust The Stars, who won a Newmarket maiden, and she is hopefully going to be an Oaks filly, and that is the type of middle-distance, three-year-old profile we are looking for.”

He continued, “She was a foal share but she was bred by Airlie Stud and they are such good breeders and I love buying from them; they are so organic and they get such great results. The mare is in foal to Sea The Stars, she has a Sea The Stars foal, and she is going back to him so there's a lot to happen for us. Hopefully she is one that we can race and breed from in time.”

The filly, bred on the same cross as Oaks winner Taghrooda (GB), is a daughter of the Sadler's Wells mare Swizzle Stick (Ire). The unraced mare's most prolific offspring is the aforementioned Fifty Stars, whose major victories in Australia include the G1 Australian Cup, two running of the G2 Blarney S., and the G2 Ajax S.

Sea The Stars was also on the shopping list of Peter and Ross Doyle, who signed for lot 69, from Gestut Fahrhof, at 145,000gns. The colt out of the French listed winner Sequilla (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) could well be seen back in the same ring next spring as he was bought on behalf of breeze-up consignor William Browne of Mocklershill.

Emphasising the range of horses on offer at the breeze-up sales these days, this year's St Leger winner Eldar Eldarov (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) was a graduate of the Arqana Breeze-up Sale, and either that auction or the Craven were mooted as possible destinations for another Dubawi colt who was bought for 180,000gns by Yeomanstown Stud.

Lot 154, who was offered by his breeder Shadwell, is out of the Listed City of York S. winner Fadhayyil (Ire) (Tamayuz {GB}), whose first foal Turaath (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) has won two stakes races in Australia, including the G2 Let's Elope S.

“Obviously he's by a top stallion and out of a very good mare,” said Yeomanstown's David O'Callaghan. “We don't get too many opportunities to buy this type so we said if he didn't make a silly price we'd step in. Thankfully he fell just within our range.”

Breezing is also on the horizon for the Frankel (GB) half-brother to the Group 3 winners Peace Envoy (Fr) (Power {GB}) and Our Last Summer (Ire) (Zamindar), who was picked up by Tally-Ho Stud for 130,000gns from the Glenvale Stud draft.

Yulong Investments has been a staunch supporter of the European bloodstock scene in recent years and its principal Zhang Yuesheng was a significant participant at last week's Goffs November Breeding Stock Sale when spending more than €5 million on mares to support the operation's young stallion Lucky Vega (Ire). Along with bloodstock agent Michael Donohoe, the the Yulong team was active again at the December Yearling Sale, snaring one of the earliest lots into the ring [6] for 155,000gns. 

Offered by the Castlebridge Consignment for breeder Michael Enright, the dark brown colt is the first foal of the unraced Lady Corsica (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), a sister to GI Belmont Derby winner Deauville (Ire). The six-year-old mare was sold in the same ring two years ago for 310,000gns when carrying the colt.

Donohoe, who confirmed that the colt will go into training with Karl Burke, said, “I had previously bought the dam for client Michael Enright so I know all about her. I had seen [the colt] as a foal and a yearling, he was entered in Book 1 but was going through a growing stage then and was withdrawn.”

The Australian appetite for European bloodstock shows no sign of abating and Annabel Neasham, a regular buyer at the Horses-in-Training Sale, expanded her remit to add a December yearling to her export list from Newmarket. Agent Stuart Boman of Blandford Bloodstock conducted the bidding on behalf of the trainer and Nathan Bennett of Bennett Racing for lot 24, a Ten Sovereigns half-sister to Sibaaq (GB) (Dark Angel {Ire}), who races for the same team in Australia and was picked up at Tattersalls last autumn. A four-time winner in the UK for Mark Johnston, the four-year-old is yet to win in Australia but has finished placed on four occasions.

“This is a bit of longer-term project,” said Boman after bidding 120,000gns for the Barton Stud-bred filly who is also a half-sister to Group 3 winner The Happy Prince (Ire) (Rip Van Winkle {Ire}). “Sibaaq has already won over half a million in prize-money. He has worked out very well and this filly has huge residual value.”

He added, “She was in the October Book 2 Yearling Sale, but did not make it due to a minor issue. It makes sense and we think Sibaaq is up to Group class in Australia.”

Mark McStay of Avenue Bloodstock stepped in to buy the Lope De Vega (Ire) half-brother to G3 Prix Paul de Moussac winner Azano (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) for 150,000gns for an undisclosed client. The colt [lot 113] hails from an Aga Khan family which includes Azamour (Ire) and The Autumn Sun (Aus) and was bred by Elysian Bloodstock. 

A sole purchase on the day for the Hong Kong Jockey Club came for lot 112, a colt by Invincible Spirit (Ire) out of the Frankel (GB) mare Aspirer (GB), a Juddmonte-bred daughter of Prix de Diane winner Nebraska Tornado (Storm Cat) from this family of Irish Derby winner Westover (GB) (Frankel {GB}). Consigned by Norris Bloodstock for breeder Eric Chen, he brought the hammer down at 100,000gns.

Leading the day's pinhooks was lot 84, a colt by Harry Angel (Ire) bought for 26,000gns last year by David Hegarty of Hegarty Bloodstock and resold for 92,000gns to Richard Frisby. His dam Thankful (GB) (Diesis {GB}) has a clean sheet thus far from her six offspring to take to the track who are all winners, headed by the listed-placed Morning Post (GB) (Acclamation {GB}).

Action returns to sale ring at Park Paddocks at 10am on Wednesday with the start of  the four-day Tattersalls December Foal Sale.