Havana Grey Filly Tops Second Day of Tattersalls Sale

The Tattersalls Somerville Yearling Sale concluded Sept. 3 with a filly by exciting stallion Havana Grey  topping the sale late on the second day at 140,000 guineas (US$192,570). Turnover for the sale, held over two days for the first time, was a record 8,927,000 guineas (US$12,279,089), as was the total of 59 lots that sold for 50,000 guineas or more. 

Bloodstock agent Alex Elliott secured the top lot on Sept. 3, the second and final day of the Tattersalls Somerville Yearling Sale, when Whitsbury Manor Stud's Havana Grey filly out of the Twilight Son  mare Step Sister was knocked down to him for 140,000 guineas after he saw off underbidder Jono Mills and breeze-up consignors Willie Browne and Jim McCartan.

Elliott purchased eight lots at this two-day sale and commented: "She was the standout filly for me over the two days. She could have been offered later in Book 2, but Ed Harper does an outstanding job and brought her here to stand out.

"I love the pedigree and I bought a horse called Study Up under the second dam in Book 3 in 2022. He is with Clive Cox and he won his 3-year-old maiden on his career debut—it is a pedigree that never misses."

Step Sister is a half sister to the Sapphire Stakes (G2) winner and multiple group 1 runner-up Stepper Point  and the listed winner and group-placed Lady In France , as well as to the dam of the group-placed Adaay To Remember  and Study Up. 

Elliott continued: "She is quite young, so there is a lot of improvement to come to her, and she has a bit of length to her. She just has loads of quality and I loved her when I first saw her. I thought she was the one to get and luckily, Amo Racing's Kia Joorabchian thought the same."

Of her price, he said: "We had to take breeze-up men on for a long way. Her sister sold well at this year's Craven Sale when bought by William Muir, and after seeing what Havana Grey has brought at the breeze-up sales this year, I knew the breeze-up men would be on her to a level. It was nice to buy for an end user." 

He added: "The quality horses at a sale such as this shine through. It is not a select sale, and there are a few horses who could have been in different books, but people have brought them here to stand out and I think generally have been well rewarded for doing so."

The top-priced colt on the second day of the Tattersalls Somerville Yearling Sale was the son of Cotai Glory  out of Millvina, consigned by Houghton Bloodstock and purchased for 100,000 guineas by Alex Elliott and Billy Jackson-Stops.

The sale concluded with 316 out of the 426 lots sold, down 14 percent from last year. The average was 28,252 guineas, with a median of 22,000 guineas.