Juddmonte Second Draft Carries Tattersalls Day 3

After a breathless headline session the previous day, trade dropped down a gear or two for the penultimate installment of the Tattersalls December Mare Sale Dec. 5, where top-lot honors were shared by a pair of 400,000 guineas (US$534,240) fillies offered by Juddmonte Farms.

Despite prices being a level below Tuesday's session, which was topped by the 2.4 million guineas (US$3,213,504) Pearling, dreams of future glory continued to fuel trade at Tattersalls.

John and Tanya Gunther of Glennwood Farm in Kentucky know better than most the power of such dreams as theirs became reality this year when they were represented by Triple Crown hero Justify  and Royal Ascot scorer Without Parole.

The father-daughter duo made an eye-catching addition to their boutique broodmare band during Wednesday's session when they secured Weekday, a daughter of Dansili and Etihad Airways Falmouth Stakes (G1) heroine Timepiece, at a cost of 400,000gns.

"This is a lovely mare out of a great Juddmonte family," said John Gunther of the youngster, whose page includes talents like Time Test and Twice Over. "Her dam has a couple of Dubawis coming up who could add a lot to the pedigree. That was quite important to me.

"I've been very lucky doing business with Juddmonte; I bred to Frankel and got Without Parole, who won the St James's Palace (G1). They're such great breeders, and I just couldn't leave town without getting a Juddmonte mare."

Weekday will remain in Britain and join the Gunthers' select band of mares at Newsells Park Stud. While mating plans are still to be finalized, one up-and-comer seemed at the forefront of Gunther's mind.

"We've got some options with who we breed her to," he said. "I'd like to breed to Kingman and think that would be a good mating—I like that cross."

Gunther went on to reflect on a memorable season on both sides of the Atlantic, saying: "It's been a very exciting year. Winning the Triple Crown is something you dream about when you go to bed at night, and now (that) it's happened, it's just beyond imagination. It still hasn't really sunk in yet.

"Then we had our first runner at Royal Ascot with Without Parole—when he won the St James's Palace Stakes, I thought I was in a dream. To top it all off, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle made the presentation, and meeting them was unbelievable—that had to be the best day of my life."

The Gunthers have also enjoyed their share of sales ring success this year, including when selling a Galileo yearling colt out of Posset—another acquisition from Juddmonte—to Stroud Coleman Bloodstock for 1.1 million guineas (US$1,512,242) during Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.

"I bought Posset when I last stood in this spot, so I just couldn't stop bidding," joked Gunther.

The first lot to fetch 400,000gns was Supporter, who was knocked down to Roger Varian on behalf of Nurlan Bizakov's Hesmonds Stud. The 3-year-old daughter of Dubawi is out of the Empire Maker  mare Very Good News, making her a half sister to the Frankel colt Weekender. In turn, Very Good News is out of the blue hen Hasili.

"Nurlan Bizakov is building a strong band of broodmares," Varian said. "He's had a good year and has some nice fillies in training, but he's always looking to add strong blood to the farm, and she fits perfectly."

The owner's pale blue and yellow silks have quickly become a regular fixture on racecourses up and down Britain and have been carried to noteworthy successes by the likes of Betfred Supports Jack Berry House Chartwell Fillies Stakes (G3) scorer Tomyris and listed winner Qazyna.

"Hesmonds have some nice stock coming through, and they're starting to get great results," added Varian.

"He has Qazyna—she won a listed race on her most recent start. She stays in training and is a big girl, so should improve next year. I've trained three novice winners who look like being above average, too: Tauteke, Nausha, and Lastochka. Hopefully, one or two of those can prove good enough to run in the classics."

U.S.-based agent Justin Casse was also among those to dip into the Juddmonte draft and came away with At Your Pleasure on behalf of Haras d'Etreham at a cost of 175,000gns ($233,730).

The 3-year-old is a daughter of War Front  and Ventura, who began her career for Amanda Perrett before switching to the U.S. where she won four grade 1s. At Your Pleasure ran three times for Andre Fabre, winning a Deauville maiden on debut at 2.

"She's been bought for Nicolas de Chambure (Etreham manager), and she'll go to Almanzor," Casse said.

"The page speaks for itself, and War Front is obviously really popular, particularly in the U.S. Nicolas and I both agreed that she was a beautiful physical—she has good size and is a good shape. It's a good American page, and she could easily end up over there."

Among the six six-figure lots to come from the ever-popular Juddmonte draft was Rekindle, who went the way of Rabbah Bloodstock's Jono Mills at 170,000gns ($227,052).

The unraced Frankel 3-year-old is out of the Lanwades Stud Nell Gwyn Stakes (G3) winner Hot Snap, a Pivotal half sister to prolific group 1 winner Midday, while further back this is the same family as Reams of Verse and Elmaamul.

The family has plenty still in the pipeline as Rekindle has a 2-year-old full brother named Home Fire and a closely related 2018 sister by Galileo.

"She's a very nice filly and has a lovely page to get into," Mills said. "We'll be hoping for a few updates now, and maybe a bit more black type under the first dam. I'm told her Galileo and Frankel are both very nice. She's got a cracking pedigree, and it can only go one way. We've bought her to be a broodmare, but we're not sure where we'll go with her yet."

Juddmonte sold 35 lots at this year's December Mare Sale for receipts totaling 3,753,000gns. Their offering was headed by Aurora Gold, who topped Monday's session when selling to Bertrand Le Metayer Bloodstock for 550,000gns.

Wednesday's session concluded with fairly steep year-on-year declines across the board. Despite the higher-priced session-toppers, the aggregate fell by 19% to 5,257,800gns, which in turn saw a 28% drop in average to 25,650gns and a median that was down 47% to 10,000gns, having stood at 19,000gns in 2017.

The Tattersalls December Mare Sale concludes Dec. 6.