Juddmonte Draft Sets Tatts Standard

Newmarket, UK–The Juddmonte draft of fillies is a regular feature of the Wednesday evening of the Tattersalls December Mare Sale and as per usual it did not disappoint, this year supplying four of the five top-priced lots, headed by the 325,000gns Presiding Officer (GB) (Beat Hollow {GB}) (lot 2147), bought by James Delahooke on behalf of Pursuit of Success.

After such a stellar session on Tuesday, anything following was likely to seem low key by comparison. Wednesday's figures fell in some areas against last year, with the turnover of 6,519,200gns being down by 9% and the average of 35,624gns representing an 8% drop. The median improved to 19,000gns (+6%) and the clearance rate of 80%, from 183 lots sold of the 229 offered, was up 4%.

Presiding Officer, a full-sister to champion 2-year-old Proportional (GB) and G3 Lodge Park S. winner Vote Often (GB), proved the pick of the Juddmonte draft, and the session as a whole, when selling to James Delahooke for 325,000gns on behalf of Pursuit of Success LLC.

The unraced 3-year-old had received a further boost since the publication of the catalogue via her year-younger half-sister Contingent (GB) (Frankel {GB}), who won on debut for Dermot Weld at Leopardstown on Oct. 22 and was referred to in glowing terms by her trainer, who is planning a Classic campaign for her.

“I would think with a pedigree like this she will stay here in Europe and hopefully we will have a nice update next season,” said Delahooke.

Agent Reiley McDonald went to 250,000gns to snare lot 2140, Media Mischief (Into Mischief), a half-sister to a trio of group winners including G1 Prix du Moulin winner Nebraska Tornado (Storm Cat). Another half-sister, Mirabilis (Lear Fan), is the dam of Frankel's G3 Darley S. winner Monarchs Glen (GB), who will remain in training with John Gosden next season.

“She is a very pretty mare and I'll take her back to the U.S., breed her well and hope to get some runners. I don't have any breeding plans yet, but she has a very American page and I think she was good value,” McDonald commented.

John Clarke went to 700,000gns to secure the well-bred I Am Beautiful (Ire) (Rip Van Winkle {Ire}) at Tattersalls on Tuesday for Pat O'Kelly's Kilcarn Stud, and while the agent was once again seated alongside O'Kelly when he signed for Elphin (GB) (Frankel {GB}) (lot 2131) for 180,000gns from the Juddmonte draft on Wednesday, he said an owner had not yet been decided upon for the unraced 3-year-old.

“Nothing is decided yet,” said Clarke, adding that Elphin will be sent to Ireland. “I loved what I saw on the page and I loved the filly. There is plenty to run for her [in the family] and so for that reason she was very tempting. I liked the model.”

Elphin is out of the French stakes-placed Aspiring Diva (Distant View), and is a half-sister to the G1 Matron S. winner Emulous (GB) (Dansili {GB}), Group 3 winner First Sitting (GB) (Dansili {GB}) and the stakes-winning Daring Diva (GB) (Dansili {GB}), the dam of three stakes horses. Another half-sister has produced the German stakes winner Alounak (Fr) (Camelot {GB}).

Quintet For Marcel…

While many buyers this week have decisions to make regarding stallions for their purchases, for Paul Makin it's relatively simple. The Australian owner-breeder bought four 3-year-olds and a 2-year-old from the Juddmonte draft with the intention of sending them to his National Stud-based stallion Marcel (Ire) (Lawman {Fr}), though he may yet face opposition from his agent Dermot Farrington, the co-breeder of the National Stud's new stallion, Marcel's fellow Group 1 winner Aclaim (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}).

“Marcel is only standing at £5,000 but I thought I'd give him some of the rich blood,” said Makin. “These are amazing families to get into. They've been carefully developed and I hope I've bought a bit of variety there to give him a chance. I'm really excited about seeing his first foals next year.”

Makin and Farrington paid 180,000gns for Frima (GB) (lot 2136), a Frankel (GB) filly from one of Juddmonte's finest families. Her dam Kalima (GB) (Kahyasi {GB}) is an unraced full-sister to the outstanding matriarch Hasili (GB) and has already produced a group winner of her own in Jet Away (GB) (Cape Cross {Ire}).

Also on the list was Choose (GB) (Dansili {GB}) (lot 2126), a sister to G3 Winter Derby hero Convey (GB) and half-sibling to two further stakes winners in Stronghold (GB) (Danehill) and Take The Hint (GB) (Montjeu {Ire}), who was bought for 70,000gns.

Circulation Headed Stateside…

The 3-year-old filly Circulation (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) (lot 2127) is headed to Denali Stud in Kentucky after agent Tom Clarke secured her on behalf of an undisclosed client of that nursery for 140,000gns. Conrad Bandoroff, vice president of Denali, said of the buyer, “This is their first time coming over and participating in this market. We were looking for well-bred maiden fillies and she suited a lot of our criteria.”

Circulation would have carried considerable acclaim on pedigree alone, being a half-sister to the champion and four-time Group 1 winner Twice Over (GB) (Observatory), with Group 1 winners Timepiece (GB) (Zamindar) and Passage Of Time (GB) (Dansili {GB}) appearing under the second dam. She helped her case by breaking her maiden at fifth asking on Nov. 2, and her 2-year-old half-sister Breath Caught (GB) (Bated Breath {GB}) also broke her maiden after the catalogue was published.

“You won't find a better family and with her being a winner since the catalogue and the 2-year-old winning as well there's a lot going on,” said Bandoroff. “I think she's going to suit [the client's] programme very nicely. She'll go back to America and we'll breed her there.”

Bandoroff was visiting Tattersalls shortly after the completion of the fall breeding stock sales in Kentucky, where Denali Stud was among the leading consignors, and he observed, “We saw a continuation of the market from Kentucky, Fasig and Keeneland; it's a very strong market at the top and if you fall on a hip that is a high quality, whether it's a stakes performer or a good pedigree, they're going to bring a premium. It's our observation it's a 30% to 40% premium over last year. From a buying standpoint it proved very difficult. You just had to come in and be disciplined and pick your number and know that you might not get it. I found Tuesday was impossible. It was very difficult to purchase Tuesday. [Wednesday] it softened up. I think some people went home and that definitely helped us out. I think if this filly had been in the ring Tuesday she would have brought at least double.”

Toast Of Tattersalls…

Jamie Osborne enjoyed an all-important win at Lingfield on Wednesday afternoon with the popular comebacker Toast Of New York (Thewayyouare), but rather than celebrating at Lingfield the trainer was at Tattersalls, where he plucked the 3-year-old filly Deccan Queen (GB) (Rail Link {GB}) (lot 2129) from the Juddmonte draft for 135,000gns. Osborne signed the ticket with his daughter Saffie at his side and declared “Saffie's bought her. The trouble is she's told school she's ill and I've just written down on the top Saffie Osborne Bloodstock. I could go to jail for that.”

Osborne said Deccan Queen, who broke her maiden at third asking on Nov. 7 after the catalogue was published, will have a chance to win more prizemoney before being retired to the paddocks next year.

“She's for an existing client,” he said. “We'll take her back and see if we can win anything else with her almost immediately, but it doesn't matter if we can't, she'll get covered in the spring.”

Osborne said he was “relieved” after the win of Toast Of New York. The 6-year-old entire had won the 2014 G2 UAE Derby for Osborne before embarking on an American campaign that resulted in second-place finishes in the GI Pacific Classic and the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, the latter by a nose. He went to stud in Qatar in 2016 after suffering a soft tissue injury, but was returned to training earlier this year due to limited opportunities in Qatar and was making his first start back on Wednesday in the Al Shaqab Racing silks.

“You're slightly going into unknown territory bringing a horse back after three years,” Osborne said. “You're never quite sure whether or not you have enough done, but thankfully we had.”

“The plans are very fluid at the moment,” he said. “We'll see how he comes out of it and I'll have to speak with the Al Shaqab team and see what they want to do. The sample of one when he ran on dirt [in the Breeders' Cup], seemingly he was a better animal. Going back to dirt is something I'd look forward to if everything is ok. If we're going to do that, it opens up all sorts of foreign possibilities, the [GI] Pegasus [World Cup] being one of them.”

Sir Percy Mare For Deerpark…

Quebee (GB), a 4-year-old listed-winning daughter of Sir Percy (GB) (lot 2112), will join the broodmare ranks at John and Peter Fagan's Deerpark Stud in Ireland after being bought on their behalf by Suzanne Roberts for 200,000gns.

“She's a good-looking and clean-limbed filly who will be really easy to mate. You have to like Sir Percy as a broodmare sire–he was a really good horse himself and he's a total outcross–and there's Intikhab in there as well,” said Roberts. “I know her trainer thought an awful lot of her and unfortunately she suffered a small injury after winning her listed race. She'll go home to Deerpark and we'll have a think about stallions but there will be plenty of options for her.”

Quebee, who won four races from nine starts for Clive Cox, was bred by her racing owner Martin Collins from the Intikhab mare Tintac (GB), a half-sister to the dam of champion juvenile and leading young sire Wootton Bassett (GB) (Iffraaj{GB}). The mare has also produced four-time winner Emmuska (GB) to Sir Percy.

The Fagans have sold just two horses at Tattersalls this season but they have been well rewarded. At Book 1 of the October Sale their Sea The Stars (Ire) colt out of Elegant Shadow (Ger) (Shamardal) was bought for 1-million gns by Phoenix Thoroughbreds, and last week his weanling half-brother from the first crop of Golden Horn (GB) went to Godolphin for 325,000gns.