The four-day Tattersalls December Foal Sale got off to a solid start with two lots by first season sires DRAGON SYMBOL and SHAQUILLE jointly heading proceedings at 75,000 guineas and increases in the turnover, median, average and clearance rate from the equivalent day in 2024.
Dragon Symbol Colt to Ballyphilip for 75,000 Guineas
The head of the market on the opening day of the December Foal Sale was dominated by the progeny of first season sires with two lots sharing top honours at 75,000 guineas. The first through the ring was a son of DRAGON SYMBOL purchased by Ballyphilip Stud, bidding online, with bloodstock agent Matt Coleman the underbidder.
The colt was sold by Norris Bloodstock on behalf of breeder Bridget Drew’s Mildmay Farm, and Mildmay’s stud manager Olly Nash commented:
“At home he has been really straightforward and we knew he was a nice sort, but it was quite difficult to gauge what he was going to make here. The Dragon Symbols we have seen have been really lovely and people are confident they are a nice bunch of foals. This is a very clean, straightforward and scopey one.
“The mare is going well and had the fantastic Sergei who came out and won the two races in France. She is back in-foal to Sergei and looks like she will be going back to Dragon Symbol!”
Nash added: “Whitsbury does such a great job with those fast sires. We are exactly an hour away, we have a lot of confidence in the farm – they have always worked really hard for their breeders and we had a package that year that included some Showcasings, some Sergeis and some Havana Greys, so it felt like the right thing to do.”
The aforementioned SERGEI PROKOFIEV ITSATENFROMLEN won twice at Chantilly and was fourth in the Listed Blenheim Stakes at two. Now in training with Doug Watson, he won impressively on his UAE debut at Jebel Ali earlier this month.
Successful purchaser Paul McCartan said: “He is a lovely individual. The sire was a very fast horse, the Showcasing mare is a young mare who has bred a horse rated 94 already, it is all two-year-old speed and that will do anyone.”
Manister House Stud Secure Shaquille Filly for 75,000 Guineas
The second lot to realise 75,000 guineas was a filly from the first crop of Champion Sprinter SHAQUILLE with Manister House Stud’s Luke Barry the successful purchaser.
Bred and consigned by Petches Farm, she is the second foal out of BAILEYS ACCOLADE, an ACLAIM half-sister to Listed winner BAILEYS JUBILEE who was third in the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes and second in the Group 2 Lowther Stakes at two.
“She is very dear, but she is very nice!” said Barry. “There are some very nice fillies tomorrow, but she stands up well against them. It is all about the individual for me, but also I like the idea of the sire. I have a nice one by him at home – he is a boy and this is a girl!
“He is stamping his stock, he is getting some very nice horses, he is a very good looking horse himself. I try and buy a nice individual, and she could go to any sale.”
Ghaiyyath Colt to JC Bloodstock for 68,000 Guineas
Foals by first season sires may have accounted for eight of the top ten prices of the opening session but a colt by promising young stallion GHAIYYATH followed hard on the heels of the joint top lots at 68,000 guineas, the third highest price of the day.
Consigned by Altenbach Bloodstock, the colt was knocked down to JC Bloodstock’s Michael Fitzpatrick who saw off a persistent online bidder from his accustomed bidding spot in the seats.
Fitzpatrick commented: “He is a well-developed colt and from the Whiteheads who are very good breeders. The sire was popular at the yearling sale, I don’t think there are a lot of them around, and he is on an upward trend. This colt should be an October Book 1 or Book 2 type.”
The February-foaled colt’s dam is an unraced half-sister to the Group 3 Park Stakes winner ELYSIUM and the Listed placed KEEPER’S HEART out of SONNING ROSE, second in the Listed Chesham Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Paca Paca Strike for Native Trail Colt at 65,000 Guineas
Harry Sweeney’s Paca Paca Farm is a name regularly found on the buyers’ sheet at the December Foal Sale and the Japanese operation struck on the opening day for Kirtlington Park Stud’s son of first season sire NATIVE TRAIL at 65,000 guineas.
The February-foaled colt is a half-brother to the Group placed filly MODEL GUEST whose daughter EVOLUTIONIST was third in this year’s Group 1 Fillies’ Mile. Their dam LOOKS ALL RIGHT is a DANEHILL DANCER own-sister to the Group 3 winner VENTURI and the Listed winner and Group 1 placed FEELS ALL RIGHT.
Kirtlington Park Stud’s Charlie Budgett revealed; “We bought the mare to go to Showcasing to get a filly so that we had an own-sister to Model Guest. We got a filly and she is with Hugo Palmer.
“I always wanted to use Native Trail and I am thrilled with the colt, he is an absolutely strapping colt and did not miss a beat up here. All the people I respect here were on him, which was rewarding in itself, and I think Native Trail is one of the best prospects amongst the new stallions.”
Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas winner and European Champion Two Year Old NATIVE TRAIL is himself a dual graduate of the Tattersalls sales ring, first sold by Kildaragh Stud for 67,000 guineas at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale and then by Oak Tree Farm for 210,000 guineas to Godolphin at the Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale.
The Tattersalls December Foal Sale continues at 10am on Wednesday, 26th November.
