Tattersalls December Mares Sale

It's a rare Jeff Smith colour-bearer that has not been bred at his successful Hampshire nursery of Littleton Stud, but shopping around for new blood can pay dividends for breeders, and in the case of Alcohol Free (Ire), there have been handsome dividends indeed.  Four years ago, the weanling daughter of No Nay Never caught the eye of Littleton Stud manager David Bowe at the Goffs November Sale, where she was bought from her breeder Churchtown Stud for €40,000. By the time the four-time Group 1 winner exits from her...

The catalogue for the Tattersalls December Mares Sale, headlined by five Group 1-winning fillies in the Sceptre Sessions alone, is now online. A total of 1,054 lots have been entered to sell from Nov. 28-Dec. 1, with the Sceptre Sessions set for Nov. 28-29. Leading the high-quality catalogue is four-time Group 1 winner Alcohol Free (Ire) (No Nay Never) (lot 1904); dual Group 1-winning miler Saffron Beach (Ire) (New Bay {GB}) (lot 1878); G1 Nunthorpe S. heroine Winter Power (Ire) (Bungle Inthejungle {GB}) (lot 1865); and the Group 1 winners...

Group 1 winner Pearls Galore (Fr) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) will be offered at the upcoming Tattersalls December Mares Sale from Nov. 28 to Dec. 1. Part of the boutique Sceptre Session on Nov. 29, the G1 Matron S. winner has five group and listed races to her credit for breeder Andreas Putsch's Haras de Saint Pair and trainer Paddy Twomey. A daughter of Group 3 winner Pearl Banks (GB) (Pivotal {GB}), Pearls Galore is a half-sister to G3 Grosser Preis der Mehl-Mulhens-Stiftung winner Lucky Lycra (Ire) (Olympic Glory {Ire}) and...

G1 Pretty Polly S. heroine La Petite Coco (Ire) (Ruler Of The World {Ire}) will be offered during the Tattersalls December Mares Sale from Nov. 28-Dec. 1. The Paddy Twomey trainee will go through the ring during the elite Sceptre Session on Nov. 29. Also, a winner of the G2 Blandford S. and G3 Give Thanks S., the 4-year-old races in the colours of Team Valor. Bred in Ireland by Bernd and Ute Schone, the filly is out of a half-sister to G1 German Derby winner Laveron (GB) (Konigsstuhl {Ger})....

By Chris McGrath and Emma Berry NEWMARKET, UK--If the opening session was a mere warm-up for bigger and better things to come on Tuesday, then we are likely to be in for some red-hot trade as the stellar names come rolling out. For Monday's trade was, as we have seen at so many auctions throughout 2021, up across all sectors, with buyers from Japan, Australia, France, Britain and Ireland all participating in the day's leading ladies. We are well used to the spending power of Japanese buyers, particularly various members...

NEWMARKET, UK--The Arqana Breeding Stock Sale may not start until Saturday but there is plenty of French-flavoured fare to be served up at the Tattersalls December Mares' Sale this week in Newmarket. The partial dispersal from Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al Thani's select band of broodmares based at Haras des Cruchettes in Normandy provides an obvious point of interest, with two young Group 1 winners among the eight mares to be sold through the Newsells Park Stud draft. "The connection was natural because Newsells has been boarding all our mares...

In what feels like the blink of an eye, we are now embarking on the final sale of the year at Tattersalls. The Newmarket auction house generally doesn't do things by halves and, if recent sales are anything to go by, the next two weeks at Park Paddocks will include plenty of show-stopping moments, with the mares' catalogues in particular being bolstered by several significant dispersals.  Before we get to that, however, we have one final day of yearlings to contend with. The December Yearling Sale can offer a second...

Led by Group 1 winner Amazing Maria (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}), 24 mares and fillies owned by Sir Robert Ogden will be offered at the upcoming Tattersalls December Mares Sale, which runs from Nov. 29-Dec. 2. In foal to Oasis Dream (GB), the heroine of the G1 Falmouth S. and G1 Prix Rothschild in 2015, will be offered by Barton Stud, as will her 23 compatriots, on Nov. 29-30. Matt Coleman of Stroud Coleman Bloodstock will be overseeing the consignment. The draft entails 17 broodmares-14 in foal--and seven fillies in training,...

NEWMARKET, UK—Tattersalls' chairman Edmond Mahony was realistic enough to acknowledge that the 2020 December Mares' Sale "lacked a little of the depth of recent renewals" but, in a surreal year, it is understandable if owners and breeders perhaps decided to hold onto horses rather than enter them for a sale against an uncertain financial backdrop.  Furthermore, given that at times it looked doubtful that this sale would even be able to proceed during a second English lockdown, that fact that the bloodstock industry has been able to engage in business...

It has been quite the year for Bated Breath (GB), the Juddmonte stallion who could be all too easily overlooked against some of his more in-vogue stud mates but who nevertheless continues to provide a decent ratio of stakes winners. One of his most reliable performers in this regard is Breathtaking Look (GB), who heads to the Tattersalls December Mare Sale (lot 1662) from Diomed Stables. Her combination of speed, class and consistency gives the 5-year-old a profile with a commercial outlook. Of her six victories for trainer Stuart Williams...

The first chapter of the story of Palace Pier (GB) (Kingman {GB}) was written 20 years ago when John Warren bought the listed winner Miss d'Ouilly (Fr) (Bikala {GB}) from Jean-Luc Lagardere at the Tattersalls December Sale for 50,000gns. The Night Shift foal she was carrying at the time became known as Night Frolic (GB), and she has established her own important branch of an accomplished family at Highclere Stud.  For Palace Pier, the tale is far from complete. This season's champion miler will remain in training for 2021, but...

The final day of the Tattersalls December Mare Sale is usually a low-key affair. Take last year for example. That Thursday, 78 mares were sold for just shy of 280,000gns, a sum that wouldn't come close to buying even one of the headline acts during the sale's blockbuster Tuesday session. But Tattersalls prides itself on catering for all levels of the market and plenty of smaller breeders stay through to the end of the sale in the hope of finding a bargain. That was indeed the case for Domenico Zammitti,...