Sea the Stars

NEWMARKET, UK -- Among a boutique offering, a half-sister to two Group 1 winners, by the champion sire-elect, was always going to be a standout and the 18-year record for the top price at the Tattersalls December Yearling Sale duly fell to Clara Stud's Dark Angel filly, who was sold for 900,000gns. Solo De Lune (Ire) (Law Society), now best known as the dam of Irish Oaks winner Moonstone (GB) (Dalakhani {Ire}), held the previous record at 775,000gns back in 2006 as part of the Britton House Stud dispersal. That...

If there is one criticism about this bloodstock game of ours, it's the fact that we never seem to need a second invitation for a backslap and oftentimes we can portray things as being rosey in the garden when the opposite may well be true. Not at Goffs on Wednesday where the highest-ever turnover, average and median was achieved at the November Foal Sale.  Even the biggest of hitters in this business, like Coolmore's MV Magnier and Baroda Stud boss David Cox, admitted to being genuinely bowled over not only...

The Wednesday session of the Goffs November Foal Sale is quickly living up to its lofty billing as, just over an hour into the action at Kildare Paddocks, a Sea The Stars (Ire) colt consigned by Baroda Stud was knocked down to Godolphin for €1,000,000.  The colt boasts a glittering pedigree being a full-brother to Teona (Ire). Trained by Roger Varian, Teona won the G1 Qatar Prix Vermeille before lighting up the Tattersalls December Mares Sale last year when knocked down to Juddmonte for 4.5 million gns. It was Juddmonte...

The unmistakably charismatic Stradivarius (Ire) became one horse to buck the trend of the top stayers being shuffled off to National Hunt studs after glorious careers on the Flat when his owner-breeder Bjorn Nielsen elected to stand him at the National Stud in Newmarket. In his first two seasons there he has covered 220 mares and now foal judges and pinhookers will have their first chance to set eyes on a bunch of his debut crop at Tattersalls in just over a week's time, when 14 of his 80 weanlings...

Weatherbys has published its Bloodstock Sales Review Part 1 for 2024 which shows that dual champion sire Frankel (GB) has achieved the highest average price of any stallion at the yearling sales in Europe so far this year. With 31 yearlings sold, his average price was 711,398gns (€859,013) from a 2022 covering fee of £200,000. Frankel is now the joint-most expensive stallion in the world, with Dubawi (Ire), at £350,000. His most expensive yearling was the filly out of the Group 2 winner Aljazzi (GB) (Shamardal), sold by Newsells Park...

Sea The Stars (Ire) will stand at his highest-ever fee of €250,000 at Gilltown Stud in 2025 after a season in which his 28 stakes winners included the G1 Grand Prix de Paris winner Sosie (Ire) and promising juvenile The Lion In Winter (Ire), who is currently favourite for next year's 2,000 Guineas. His fellow Aga Khan Studs stallion Siyouni (Fr) headlines the roster at Haras de Bonneval in Normandy where his stud fee for next year will remain unchanged at €200,000.  Zarak (Fr), currently the second-leading sire in Europe...

The Sea The Stars (Ire) colt out of Holy Amaretta (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}) is the new market leader at  the Goffs Orby Sale after Anthony Stroud bid €900,000 on behalf of Godolphin for lot 267. Consigned by Norelands for his breeder, the Tsui family's Sunderland Holdings, the colt is the second foal of his six-year-old unraced dam, who has been mated exclusively with Sea The Stars since retiring to stud. The mare is a daughter of Gestut Schlenderhan's Amarette (Ger) (Monsun {Ger}), whose most notable descendants include Group...

Quality came to the fore on day one of the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale when one of only two Sea The Stars (Ire) colts on offer this week went the way of agent Billy Jackson-Stops and trainer George Scott for €130,000. The Castlebridge-consigned colt was one of five yearlings to break the six-figure mark on a day where an 86% [down 2% on 2023] clearance rate provided some encouragement to middle to lower tier operators. However, many of the key metrics dipped further, most notably the 17% drop in...

'If Carslberg did weekends' was the caption on Tom Marquand's social media post beneath a photograph of the jockey with his wife, Hollie Doyle, after she had won her second Group 1 of the year aboard Bradsell (GB) (Tasleet {GB}). Marquand had himself lifted both of Leopardstown's Group 1 races the previous day with two of the best three-year-olds currently in training, Economics (GB) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) and Porta Fortuna (Ire) (Caravaggio). Their mantelpiece may soon need reinforcement.  There are few sports in which men and women take each...

King Power Racing's Bellum Justum (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) was the recipient of a letter-perfect steer from Frankie Dettori, split horses with less than a quarter-mile to race and held off a rails rally from GI Saratoga Derby hero Carson's Run (Cupid) to take out the GIII DK Horse Nashville Derby Invitational at Kentucky Downs. Last to make the first corner with a truncated run from the start, Bellum Justum was no better than third-last turning down the backstretch as Navy Seal (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) showed the way, but...

By Brian Sheerin, Emma Berry and Adam Houghton DEAUVILLE, France -- Just 24 hours after John Stewart's Resolute Racing lit up Arqana when snapping up a Wootton Bassett (GB) filly for €1.4 million, it was another American-based buyer who commanded top lot status at the August Yearling Sale when bloodstock agents Alex Solis and Jason Litt struck the winning bid of €730,000 for lot 187, a Sea The Stars (Ire) filly out of an unraced half-sister to the multiple Group 1 winner The Fugue (GB) (Dansili {GB}). While Solis and...

This past week the racing has come a distant second in the minds of many when set against the tragedy that has befallen the family of racing commentator John Hunt. Such an appalling act of cruelty is impossible to contemplate, especially when it concerns someone who is so popular and respected. In any workplace there are divisions and squabbles. What unites the racing press room in Britain is the unquestionable fact that John is not only a talented professional but a thoroughly decent man; a friend to so many.  He...