Sea The Stars Filly Shines at December Yearling Sale

Yearling buyers had their last chance to dance at Tattersalls Nov. 21 as the opening stanza of the nine-session December Sale was topped by a well-related Sea The Stars  filly at 260,000gns (US$324,351).

Matters boiled down to Tom Goff of Blandford Bloodstock and Alex Elliott, who were standing at the top of the left and right staircases opposite the rostrum, respectively. Having entered the fray late in the piece, it was Elliott who struck the decisive bid.

The filly (Lot 80), bred by Airlie Stud and offered through Whatton Manor Stud, is a sibling to three winners, most notably her group 1-winning brother Fifty Stars, who won the Tab Australian Cup in 2020 before retiring to Sunnyhill Stud to stand in partnership with Jack Cantillon's Bloodstock.Racing. Fifty Stars is not the only top-flight winner among the filly's siblings, as her half brother Whiskey Sour landed the Paddy Power Future Champions Novice Hurdle.

"She's going to go to Ralph Beckett for Valmont," said Elliott. "She's a Book 1 filly who missed that sale because she got a slight injury, but we still had to pay a Book 1 price for her. We've got a good Sea The Stars filly this year called Trust The Stars, who won a Newmarket maiden, and hopefully, she could be an Oaks type. That's the 3-year-old, middle-distance profile we're looking for and hopefully, this filly can develop into a Classic type too.

"She's got the pedigree and she was bred on a foal share by Airlie Stud, who are fantastic breeders. I love trying to buy off them. Often you can't, but they're so organic, and they get such great results. The mare has a Sea The Stars (filly) foal, she's in foal to Sea The Stars and she's going back to Sea The Stars, so there's a lot to happen in the pedigree."

The Valmont colors have become an increasingly common sight throughout 2022, having been carried by the likes of Godolphin Lifetime Care Oh So Sharp Stakes (G3) runner-up Lose Yourself  and Captain Wierzba, from whom Rossa Ryan was controversially unseated following an elbow from Christophe Soumillon in the Prix Thomas Bryon Jockey Club de Turquie (G3).

Elliott continued: "Hopefully, she's one we can race then breed from in time. We've bought 32 yearlings and that's 33 now, and there are 60 horses in training, but we're trading too as we've sold a few horses. We're just trying to play the game."

Later in the session, Elliott secured the Ten Sovereigns  half brother to Barbill  from Croom House Stud on a bid of 110,000gns ($137,226). The youngster (Hip 162) will also carry the Valmont colors but will head into training with Paul and Oliver Cole, which maintains an association that began with the smart juvenile Sunningdale.

That son of Gleneagles , a 50,000gns ($71,521) yearling, was owned in partnership by Valmont, Magnier, and Paul Cole and was sold on to Abdullrahman Al Said for 300,000gns ($360,727) at the Autumn Horses in Training Sale.

The session saw 130 of 151 offered Lots find a buyer for a clearance rate of 86%. Turnover was down 11% at 4,501,500gns ($5,615,644), albeit 15 fewer Lots changed hands than in 2021, while the average was virtually unchanged at 34,627gns ($43,197). The median was clipped in by 19% at 22,000gns ($27,445), having been 27,000gns ($28,350) 12 months ago.

Turnover on Monday took the total spent on yearlings at Tattersalls in 2022 to a huge 211,572,800gns ($263,938,126), breaking the 200 million guineas mark for the first time and comfortably eclipsing the previous best set in 2018.

Colts By Dubawi and Frankel Stand Out

The Shadwell draft was one of quality over quantity as the two-strong offering included the Dubawi  colt (Lot 154) out of the listed-winning and group 2-placed Fadhayyil , who brought a bid of 180,000gns ($224,551) from Yeomanstown Stud. The colt is a sibling to two winners, including the Australian group 2 scorer Turaath.

"We bought him to reoffer him at the breeze-ups," said Yeomanstown's David O'Callaghan. "We liked him a lot and thought he was very fast-looking. Obviously, he's by a top stallion and out of a very good mare and we don't get too many opportunities to buy this type so we said if he didn't make a silly price we'd step in.

"Thankfully he fell just within our range. He'll come back to one of the breeze-ups, maybe the Craven or maybe France; we'll just see. I haven't breezed one by Dubawi before, but he looks quick so let's hope he goes okay."

Also set for a breeze-up campaign is the Frankel  half brother (Lot 178) to Peace Envoy  after the Glenvale Stud-consigned colt was knocked down to Tally-Ho Stud at 130,000gns ($162,176).