The Tattersalls December Mares Sale is the week in the calendar when Newmarket can be guaranteed to host high-end players from all corners of the world. In fact, few auctions worldwide are as international as this particular one, which has the sold the dams of G1 winners in Europe, America, Japan and Australasia over the past year alone.
Domestically, Tattersalls have celebrated the likes of Winter and Barney Roy, whose dams Laddies Poker Two and Alina were bought for 100,000gns and €65,000 by Seskin Stud and Eliza Park International respectively.
However, Eltimaas, for example, was picked up for just 20,000gns by Gary Mudgway prior to producing top American sprinter Drefong while Sitara, subsequently dam of Melbourne Cup winner Rekindling, was bought for 10,000gns by Robert Pocock. Cup Cake, the dam of another world traveller in Suedois, was bought for 17,000gns by Investment Rustningen AB in 2007. Neither of that trio cost the earth, which just goes to show the range of mares and fillies on offer throughout the week.
Having said that, Tattersalls have once again attracted a feast of top-class race fillies and proven producers to cater for the top end of the market. In addition, they are set to offer the final round of the Ballymacoll Stud dispersal, which got off to such a rousing start during the company’s October Yearling Sale as the source of 2,744,000gns worth of stock, led by a 1.7 million guineas daughter of Kingman.
Outlined below are a likely few who should shine when they come under the hammer when the sale begins its four-day run on Monday (December 4).
1549) INTRICATELY
3yo Fastnet Rock - Inner Realm (Galileo)
It was at this sale in 2015 that John Murrell and his wife Chantal Regalado-Gonzalez played a prominent role in proceedings as the vendor of Oaks heroine Qualify, who sold through the Castlebridge Consignment for 1,600,000gns to John Ferguson on behalf of Godolphin.
Two years on and the pair promise to enjoy another good December Sale due to a number of high-profile entries - again through the Castlebridge Consignment - led by Intricately, who secured a slice of history last autumn when becoming the first G1 winner to be trained by Joseph O’Brien in the Moyglare Stud Stakes.
Intricately, who is out of a half-sister to champion Rock Of Gibraltar, is joined in the draft by Zhukova (1868), a Fastnet Rock daughter of Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Nightime who won the G1 Man O’War Stakes by wide margin in May, and G3-winning sprinter Only Mine (1864), who hails from the highly productive Truly A Dream family.
The Castlebridge Consignment
1709) PENELOPA
7yo Giant’s Causeway - Lady Linda (Torrential)
The 2013 G1 Preis der Diana heroine, this mare is one of only two G1 winners catalogued in foal to Frankel. The other, Premio Lydia Tesio winner Eva’s Request, sells as Lot 1693.
Penelopa won two races in Germany in the colours of her breeder, Litex Commerce, capped by the Preis der Diana, in which she denied Epsom Oaks runner-up Secret Gesture.
A daughter of proven damsire Giant’s Causeway, Penelopa is out of the G3-placed Lady Linda, herself a half-sister to American G2 winners Sir Cherokee and Miss Isella.
Penelopa already has two foals on the ground; a yearling filly by Invincible Spirit and a filly foal by Oasis Dream.
Britton House Stud. In foal to Frankel
1797) BIRDWOOD
4yo Oasis Dream - Concentric (Sadler’s Wells)
When Birdwood was purchased at this sale last year for 150,000gns by Newsells Park Stud, her Nathaniel half-sister, Enable, was still listed as an unraced 2yo.
Timing can be everything in this business and, when Enable broke her maiden at Newcastle just two days before Birdwood went through the ring, it most likely gave Newsells Park’s general manager Julian Dollar that extra confidence to pursue Birdwood in partnership with London Thoroughbred Services.
Since then, of course, Enable hasn’t looked back, sweeping the G1 Arc, G1 Oaks, G1 Irish Oaks, G1 King George and G1 Yorkshire Oaks to seal her place among the greats of recent years. Recently crowned Cartier Horse of the Year, she stays in training for 2018.
Yet, even without the presence of Enable, this page - which is Juddmonte top to bottom - would be among the best on show since their dam, listed winner Concentric, is a half-sister to G2 winner Dance Routine, in turn the dam of G1 winner Flintshire, and a direct descendant of Juddmonte foundation mare Bourbon Girl.
Newsells Park’s draft also includes the G2-winning 2yo Restiadargent (1798), in foal to Frankel.
Newsells Park Stud. In foal to Lope De Vega
1826) ISLINGTON
18yo b m Sadler’s Wells - Hellenic (Darshaan)
One of the highlights of the anticipated Ballymacoll Stud dispersal, Islington was the champion 3yo filly of England in 2002 by virtue of wins in the Yorkshire Oaks, Nassau Stakes and Musidora Stakes and repeated as champion again in 2003, this time as leading older mare of Europe thanks to victories in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf and a second renewal of the Yorkshire Oaks.
Out of another Yorkshire Oaks heroine in Hellenic and the result of five generations of Ballymacoll breeding, Islington has bred five winners to date. She is set to be sold alongside her winning Oasis Dream daughters Angel Vision (Lot 1820; in foal to Invincible Spirit) and Canonbury (Lot 1819; in foal to Dark Angel) as well as her three-parts sister Justlookdontouch (1825), whose first foal is the classy listed winner Abingdon (Lot 1876).
Other Ballymacoll highlights include G2 winner Eleanora Duse (Lot 1823; in foal to Frankel) and G3 Musidora Stakes winner Liber Nauticus (1824; in foal to Harzand).
The Castlebridge Consignment. In foal to Kingman
1835) VOLEUSE DE COEURS
8yo Teofilo - Vadorga (Grand Lodge)
The first of only two mares catalogued in foal to Dubawi, this well-connected daughter of Teofilo was the resounding six-length winner of the 2013 G1 Irish St Leger for Dermot Weld.
That victory, which came at the expense of the likes of Red Cadeaux and Royal Diamond, marked the culmination of a rapid period of progression that had also included placings in the G3 Irish St Leger Trial and G3 Curragh Cup.
Although bred by the Irish National Stud, Voleuse De Coeurs actually belongs to the noted Lagardere family of Vadsa, also the ancestress of G1 winners Val Royal, Valixir, Vadamos and Valyra. Voleuse De Coeurs descends from Vadsa via Vadsa Honor, the dam of G1-winning miler Vahorimix.
Hazelwood Bloodstock. In foal to Dubawi.
1836) DIFFERENT LEAGUE
2yo b f Dabirsim - Danseuse Corse (Danehill Dancer)
This daughter of Dabirsim has taken her owners Con and Theresa Marnane on an incredible journey this year and now heads to Tattersalls with the promise of even greater things to come next season. Indeed, she is the highest rated 2yo to be offered at Tattersalls this century.
Bought for just €8,000 by Marnane as a foal, when her sire - today one of the hottest in Europe - was still an unknown talent, Different League won her first three starts for Matthieu Palussiere, including the G3 Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot, in which she held off Alpha Centauri to score. The pair pulled well clear of a field that included subsequent stakes winners Clemmie, Madeline and Actress.
She later held her own in G1 company, running a fast-finishing third against colts in the Prix Morny and second to Clemmie on her most recent start in the Cheveley Park Stakes.
An imposing, tough filly who has taken her racing well this season, she is as short as 16/1 for next year’s 1000 Guineas.
Different League’s winning half-sister Dream On Me, by Kendargent, is Lot 1740.
Amy Marnane Bloodstock
1843) AMERICA NOVA
13yo Verglas - Las Americas (Linamix)
America Nova might be one of the older mares on offer but she also provides the opportunity to acquire a multiple stakes producer.
A listed-winning 2yo herself, America Nova featured in the past year as the dam of G3 Princess Margaret Stakes winner Nyaleti, a tough 2yo who also ran placed in the G2 Duchess Of Cambridge, G2 Rockfel and G2 May Hill Stakes.
However, it is also to her immense credit that she managed to produce the only Group/Graded stakes winners worldwide by the dreadfully disappointing Astronomer Royal; the first, Sir Patrick Moore, won the G2 Expressway Stakes in Australia and was also G1-placed, while the second, Stellar Path, was a G3 winner in France and America.
America Nova opens a sixth draft of horses from the Baroda & Colbinstown Studs consignment that also includes a trio of mares offered on behalf of celebrity chef Bobby Flay; the stakes-placed Auld Alliance (1844), a half-sister to G1 winners Golan and Tartan Bearer in foal to Frankel, listed winner Modernstone (1845), a granddaughter of blue hen Mondena in foal to Galileo, and former 1,250,000gns yearling purchase White Hot, a half-sister to Pour Moi in foal to Fastnet Rock.
Baroda & Colbinstown Studs. In foal to Siyouni
1848) MARSHA
4yo b f Acclamation - Marlinka (Marju)
Not only has Marsha been a tremendous sprinter during her three seasons on the track but she also has an attractive pedigree to support her as an Acclamation relation to champion Soviet Song.
Marsha had G1 winners Mecca’s Angel, Profitable and Goldream behind her when she won the Prix de l’Abbaye last year as a 3yo, in which she showed a sparkling change of gear to run down Washington DC, and was equally impressive again in victory this season when catching Lady Aurelia to take the Nunthorpe Stakes at York. Prior to that win, she had defied a penalty to win the G3 Palace House Stakes on her seasonal debut - becoming the first filly since Lochsong to do so in the process - and run third in the G1 King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Well managed by Sir Mark Prescott on behalf of her enthusiastic owners, the Elite Racing Club, Marsha has won seven of her 18 starts and finished out of the frame on only three occasions.
Heath House Stables
1853) SACRE CAROLINE
4yo Blame - Sacre Coeur (Saint Ballado)
Few mares catalogued hold as much international appeal as this winning 4yo, the half-sister to Lady Eli.
Lady Eli’s story draws on the highs and lows of racing. There was the unbeaten six-race sequence highlighted by the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf and 2015 G1 Belmont Oaks. That latter victory, however, was followed by a life-threatening case of laminitis that enforced a lengthy absence from the track.
Remarkably, she went on to make a full recovery and just over a year after the Belmont Oaks, made a successful return to racing when second in the G2 Ballston Spa Stakes before landing another popular victory at the top level in the G1 Flower Bowl Stakes. This season, further G1 wins have been recorded in the Gamely and Diana Stakes.
The product of a former Aga Khan family cultivated in recent generations by Runnymede Farm, Sacre Caroline is also a half-sister to G3 winner Bizzy Caroline and related further back to champion Spring In The Air and G1 winners Palace Episode and Sweet Loretta.
Voute Sales. In foal to Exceed And Excel
1861) QUIET REFLECTION
4yo b f Showcasing - My Delirium (Haafhd)
Another top sprinter on her day whose background allows her to suit an array of leading stallions.
The crowning achievement of Showcasing’s stud career to date, Quiet Reflection was the wide-margin winner of the G3 Cornwallis and listed Harry Rosebery Stakes at two yet was even better the following season when taking the G1 Sprint Cup, at the expense of The Tin Man and Suedois, G1 Commonwealth Cup, G2 Sandy Lane Stakes and G3 Prix Sigy. She was also third in the G1 July Cup.
Her past season comprised just three starts, but one of them was the G3 Renaissance Stakes at Naas, in which she ran out the easy winner. That victory brought her overall record to eight wins, which pays tribute to her talent and consistency.
Jamie Railton’s draft also includes another high-class daughter of Showcasing in Prize Exhibit (1543), winner of the G2 San Clemente Handicap and G2 Monrovia Stakes.
Jamie Railton