Intricately Tops Day One of Tattersalls Mare Sale

A packed Park Paddocks ring played host to Moyglare Stud Stakes (G1) winner Intricately during the Dec. 4 opening session of the Tattersalls December mare sale, and the crowd was treated to a punchy round of bidding as Jake Warren secured the group 1 heroine for 1.7 million guineas ($2,405,823).

The filly's price raced from an opening bid of 300,000gns into seven-figure territory as a cross-section of global bloodstock, including the likes of New Zealand agent Dean Hawthorne, U.S. agent Justin Casse, and a representative of Katsumi Yoshida's Northern Farm made increasingly expensive plays.

Proceedings eventually rested between Warren, sitting high to auctioneer Edmond Mahony's left, and John O'Connor of Ballylinch Stud, with the former delivering the winning bid with a confident nod.

"She was the star of the show for us," Warren said. "We rated her incredibly highly, not only on account of her being an absolute beauty, but also being a group 1-winning 2-year-old from a fantastic female family. They are so hard to come by, and when you have a chance like we have—of putting together a foundation broodmare band for a private client—she's the kind of animal that will hopefully set us up for many years to come."

The 3-year-old daughter of Fastnet Rock (AUS), out of a Galileo (IRE) half sister to Rock of Gibraltar (IRE), was offered by The Castlebridge Consignment on behalf of John Murrell and his wife Chantal Regalado-Gonzalez, who sold Investec Oaks (G1) winner Qualify through the same vendor at the 2015 December sale, where she went the way of John Ferguson for 1.6 million guineas ($2,529,408).

"We've bought our client some yearlings this year and we've had some success on the racecourse with some of the ones we've bought previously," Warren continued.

"Now we've stepped up the breeding side of things to advance the production line. We don't know whether there'll be a commercial angle to what we're doing at the moment as we're just in the process of acquiring what we consider to be high-class stock."

Warren said no covering sire had been decided upon as of yet, but remarked: "There's a lot of doors at the top end we'll be knocking on, but at this point we'll just sit down with the new owner and make an approach in the next few days."

This is the second slice of history Intricately secured, having provided Joseph O'Brien with his first group 1 win as a trainer.

A high achiever was added to the first book of mares due to visit Coolmore's dual Guineas winner Churchill during Monday's session, with David Nagle's 775,000gns ($1,096,773) acquisition Prize Exhibit set to be covered by the son of Galileo.

"What can I say, she's an absolute beauty," said the master of Barronstown Stud after outbidding James Cassidy, Northern Farm, Oiwake Farm, and finally John McCormack for the 5-year-old daughter of Showcasing. "She was a very good racehorse and she's an outcross. And the 2-year-old (half brother Harbour Master) has been stakes-placed."

Prize Exhibit, a 28,000gns ($46,899) Tattersalls October Book 2 yearling back in 2013 and sibling to six winners, won two races at 2 while with Jamie Osborne, before moving to the U.S, where she added a brace of grade 2s to her record.

The strong first session saw sizeable gains in a number of key areas, with the 193 Lots generating turnover of 15,474,700gns  ($21,899,641)—a 35% year-on-year gain; an average of 80,180gns ($113,470)—a 44% jump; although the median dropped by 10% to 36,000gns ($50,947). The clearance rate stood at 85%. 

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