Sceptre Sessions

By Emma Berry and Brian Sheerin NEWMARKET, UK--Widely tipped for the top, Jeff Smith's Alcohol Free (Ire) (No Nay Never) duly shone brightest in a galaxy of stars on display at Park Paddocks, bringing the second-highest price ever recorded at a European auction when the hammer fell at 5.4 million gns. Yuesheng Zhang of Yulong Investments, acting through BBA Ireland's Michael Donohoe, has flexed some serious fiscal muscle at the breeding stock sales this season and that reached a new high at Tattersalls on Tuesday when Donohoe outlasted Coolmore's MV...

Representatives of Lordship Stud were extended to 2 million guineas for the 4-year-old filly Ville de Grace (GB) (Le Havre {Ire}) as Tuesday's Sceptre Session continued to toss up major results. Bred and raced by Hunscote Stud and Chris Humber, Ville de Grace was being offered by Norris Bloodstock to dissolve that partnership. Hunscote went to 800,000gns for the filly's dam Archangel Gabriel (Arch) to top Monday's Sceptre Session. Trained for the partnership by Sir Michael Stoute, Ville de Grace--who was retained after failing to meet her reserve on a...

Saffron Beach (Ire) (New Bay {GB}) fetched a modest 55,000gns when sent through this ring four years ago at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale, but having won six of her 13 starts, including Group 1 events in England and France, the 4-year-old lit up the tote at Park Paddocks, selling to HRH Prince Faisal Bin Khaled Bin Abdulaziz's Najd Stud for 3.6 million guineas early Tuesday evening during the second Sceptre Session. Consigned by Jane Chapple-Hyam Racing, Saffron Beach was a winner in Group 3 company at career start number...

Offered as lot 1622 at the midway stage of the first of two Sceptre Sessions during the Tattersalls December Mare Sale in Newmarket, the Archangel Gabriel (Arch--Princess Kris {GB}, by Kris {GB}) fetched a final bid of 800,000gns from Hunscote Stud to dissolve the partnership between that operation and Chris Humber. The 9-year-old, a full-sister to US Grade I winner Prince Arch and a half-sister to G1 National S. winner Kingsfort (War Chant) and to the dam of Group 3 winners Pincheck (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) and Valeria Messalina (Ire)...

Tattersalls could not have chosen a better name than 'Sceptre' for the elite sessions of the mares' section of the December Sale, the first of which takes place today. The word 'Sceptre' is redolent of majesty but Sceptre the horse was even more special. Furthermore, hers was a story in which Tattersalls plays a prominent part. Hugh Grosvenor, 1st Duke of Westminster, was one of the most successful owners of the Victorian era. He raced some magnificent homebreds including the mighty Ormonde, whom John Porter trained to win the Triple...

A special addition to the Tattersalls December Sale will come under the hammer on Monday when a maquette of Her Late Majesty the Queen is auctioned for charity prior to the first of the two Sceptre Sessions. The maquette is a study for the life-size bronze close to the Rowley Mile Racecourse in Newmarket which depicts the Queen, who was the long-term patron of the Thoroughbred Breeders' Association, with a mare and a foal. The bronze of the Queen is by Etienne Milner and the two horses by Charlie Langton....

Pearls Galore (Fr) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), an outstanding racemare with seven wins, including the G1 Matron S. and over £500,000 in career-earnings to her name, has rightly earned her billing as one of the star attractions at next week's Sceptre Sessions at Tattersalls. Trained by Paddy Twomey for the majority of her career, the Haras de Saint Pair homebred raced with great distinction in Ireland across four seasons and 17 starts, culminating with that top-flight triumph in September. Her story is one of fortune favouring the brave, as connections resisted...

Group 1 winner La Petite Coco (Ire) (Ruler Of The World {Ire}), who boasts a 50% strike-rate on the racetrack and almost £400,000 in career earnings, will be one of the star attractions of the Tattersalls December Mares Sale. Bred by Bernd and Ute Schone in County Offaly, La Petite Coco provided Paddy Twomey with his first Group 1 winner when landing a memorable Pretty Polly S. at the Curragh in June. She carried the colours of Barry Irwin's Team Valor for the majority of her racing career, including her...

NEWMARKET, UK--There is no doubt that the mares' section of the Tattersalls December Sale will create much of the hoopla at Park Paddocks over the next fortnight. Blockbuster names such as Saffron Beach (Ire), Alcohol Free (Ire), Pearls Galore (GB), and La Petite Coco (Ire) and are set to come under the hammer, not to mention Desert Berry (GB), the dam of this year's G1 Derby winner Desert Crown (GB) back in foal to his sire Nathaniel (Ire). The Monday and particularly the Tuesday evening sessions of the mares' sale...

Group 1 winner The Platinum Queen (Ire) (Cotai Glory {GB}) (lot1924B) will be offered as a wildcard entry during the Tattersalls December Mares Sale. Successful in the G1 Prix de l'Abbaye, the bay will be sent through the ring during the second Sceptre Session on Nov. 29. The first Group 1-winning juvenile filly to be offered during the Tattersalls December Mares Sale this century, she was also the first of her age and sex to take the l'Abbaye since Sigy (Fr) (Habitat) in 1978. The Middleham Park Racing runner was...

An extremely rare opportunity will be presented during the Sceptre Sessions of the Tattersalls December Mares Sale when Desert Berry (GB) (Green Desert), the dam of this year's G1 Derby winner Desert Crown (GB), is offered for sale back in foal to Nathaniel (Ire), the sire of the Classic hero. When Desert Crown passed the line in front at Epsom, he fulfilled a lifetime dream for breeder Gary Robinson of Newmarket's Strawberry Fields Stud, who will offer the 13-year-old Desert Berry as lot 1891 on Tuesday evening of the sale....

There must have been times when those connected to Saffron Beach (Ire) (New Bay {GB}) in her early years were shaking their heads in frustration.  Four times she was entered for a sale as a young horse. She made the first of those engagements, no problem, when she was sold by Ballylinch Stud at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale on behalf of her breeder China Horse Club. Liam Norris, a man with a noted eye for foals, signed for her at 55,000gns, bought for a partnership headed by Ben Sangster,...