Juddmonte jewels shine as Demi O'Byrne lands 750,000gns session-topper

Park Paddocks was notably quieter on Wednesday than it had been 24 hours earlier during the headline session of the Tattersalls December Mare Sale.

That was apart from the barns around the Somerville Paddock yard, which saw plenty of footfall as breeders and buyers from around the world descended to inspect the highly anticipated draft of fillies from Juddmonte Farms.

There was a notable spike in bidding activity when Khalid Abdullah's operation offered the 24 fillies without reserve, and the well-related group duly supplied the four priciest lots of the session.

The draft brought receipts totalling 2,809,000gns at an average of 117,040gns and a median of 62,500gns.

View full Tattersalls December Mare Sale results and stats

A head-to-head between Demi O'Byrne, stood with veterinarian Mathilde Texier by the exit, and Timmy Hyde, stationed behind the rope with Coolmore's Paul Shanahan, saw Juddmonte's Time Saver top the session, with the former camp coming out on top at 750,000gns on behalf of Australian operation Aquis Farm.

Demi O'Byrne signals the winning bidCredit: Laura Green

"She's for Aquis Farm," said O'Byrne. "She's a very good-looking filly. I think she'll be bred in Europe but nothing has been fully decided yet."

By Frankel, the unraced three-year-old is out of Clepsydra, meaning she is a half-sister to the Falmouth Stakes winner Timepiece, Criterium de Saint-Cloud heroine Passage Of Time, also the dam of Time Test, Group 2 King Edward VII Stakes winner Father Time, currently at stud in Chile, and the Listed-winning Continuum. The likes of Twice Over and Crossed Baton appear beneath the second dam.

The session-topper is also inbred 3x2 to Sadler's Wells, the same pattern responsible for the mighty Enable.

TATTERSALLS DECEMBER MARE SALE STATS: DAY THREE

Offered 231
Sold 196 (85 per cent)
Aggregate 5,991,300gns (up 14 per cent)
Average 30,570gns (up 19 per cent)
Median 14,000gns (up 40 per cent)

Brown's brace

Richard Brown was also among the underbidders on Time Saver, and the Blandford Bloodstock man made amends in no uncertain terms when he went on to land the next two lots for six-figure sums.

First came Time Tunnel, a placed daughter of Invincible Spirit and the aforementioned Timepiece, who was secured at 260,000gns.

"It's exactly the same pedigree so, with the benefit of hindsight, I'm absolutely delighted to get her for 260,000gns compared with how far we went on Time Saver," said Brown. "There's a lot to come and you're obviously buying into a young part of the family."

He continued: "She's for an established English client. Buying into Juddmonte families makes a lot of sense as you know they're as good a breeder as there is."

Richard Brown: 'Buying into Juddmonte families makes a lot of sense'Credit: Laura Green

Brown was straight back into action on the next offering, Wild Rye, and, having seen off the attentions of Hugo Lascelles and Jono Mills, the gavel came down in his favour at 300,000gns.

The blue-blooded youngster is a Bated Breath sibling to seven winners, most notably the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris hero Zambezi Sun, the Group 2-winning Kalabar and the Listed scorer Zero Gravity. The pedigree received a further boost when Pocket Square, who is out of Wild Rye's three-parts sister Shared Account, landed the Group 3 Prix des Reservoirs last month.

"She's for a different client," said Brown. "She's for another owner-breeder and will stay in England too. Again, there's huge amounts happening on the page - there was a Group 3 winner on there not long ago.

"The first dam [Imbabala] nearly fills the whole page and I don't think it would take a huge leap of faith to think she'll fill it entirely in the next five years' time. I haven't had the chance to think about matings for either filly yet."

Having missed out on some choice offerings during Tuesday's session, Brown was plainly relieved to get his name on the buyers' sheet. He said: "Last night was extremely frustrating as trade was just so strong."

Reilly returns

Having secured Big Brothers Pride for 975,000gns during the frenetic session on Tuesday, the BBA Ireland's Eamonn Reilly returned to his usual position against the wall behind the partition and went to 290,000gns for Oboe, an elegant grey daughter of Mizzen Mast and the Kentucky Oaks heroine Flute.

"She'll stay here to be covered and will go to Maurice Regan's Newtown Anner Stud," said Reilly. "They already own the half-sister Entwine, who is the dam of Qabala. There's a lot going on in the pedigree. She'll be easy to mate as her pedigree is completely free of Northern Dancer."

Flute has, remarkably, bred no fewer than 12 fillies for Juddmonte, and with plenty of those now producing there should be plenty of updates in the pipeline. Oboe also shares her page with the likes of Brian Boru, Workforce and Qualify.

Options open for McStay

Avenue Bloodstock's Mark McStay was another agent who acquired a Juddmonte jewel, having struck the winning bid of 175,000gns for D'Oro Diva. The winning daughter of Medaglia D'Oro is a half-sister to the Ridgewood Pearl Stakes scorer Brooch and the Listed-winning Caponata.

McStay said plans remained fluid, but suggested a covering with one of the stallion ranks' rising stars could be in the offing.

"She's a lovely mare," said McStay. "Medaglia D'Oro is a world-class, international sire and is shaping up to be a very good broodmare sire. I'm not sure where she'll go yet but she could suit something like No Nay Never. I'm delighted to get her."

Bell back in action

It was during last year's December Mare Sale that Michael Bell went to 10,000gns to secure the regally bred Plait, and the daughter of Bated Breath and Yorkshire Oaks heroine Quiff duly landed two races for the trainer.

The master of Fitzroy House dipped back into the Juddmonte draft yesterday to secure another filly by Bated Breath, with Inhale purchased on a bid of 115,000gns.

"She's been bought for a collection of Irish owners," said Bell. "She's a very attractive filly and still relatively unexposed. Obviously she's got potential so hopefully she can fulfil it."

The three-year-old filly is the seventh foal out of Innocent Air, who became Galileo's first black-type winner when she landed the 2005 Washington Singer Stakes.

She has since gone on to produce four winners, including Inhale, who won twice from four starts for Juddmonte and Amanda Perrett, achieving a peak Racing Post Rating of 87 in the process.

Clematis kicks things off

After a more sedate session of selling, the Juddmonte draft began with a bang as Stuart Thom of Galloway Stud in Woburn went to 110,000gns for Clematis, who ran out an impressive winner of a Kempton novice on debut at two.

Now three, the daughter of First Defence is out of a sibling to the high-class Barsanti and Bird Flown, better known as the dam of Phoenix Stakes scorer Siskin.

"She'll come back to Woburn for Ronan Watts," said Thom, "She'll be bred from but I don't know where she'll go yet. We had her half-sister Sepal [five-time winner], who we bought from Juddmonte and she did very well for us.

"Unfortunately we haven't been able to get her in foal so we're trying her over hurdles now. Clematis looked very good when she won as a two-year-old and it's a very good family - hopefully there will be a 2,000 Guineas winner [Siskin] on the page this time next year!"

The Tattersalls December Mare Sale concludes on Thursday with a session starting at 9.30am.

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