Sea The Stars colt pushes the right buttons for Oneliner Stables

Sea The Stars has already provided a professional highlight for Gerard Lowry of Oneliner Stables, who caught a few by surprise when slipping in to buy another colt by the stallion great for 170,000gns late in the day at the second session of the Tattersalls December Foal Sale.

The Newsells Park-consigned lot 718, out of Dubawi mare La Mortola from the family of Jakkalberry and Crackerjack King was announced as being knocked down to an online bidder, as it indeed was, but Lowry was nonetheless in situ in Park Paddocks.

At Book 1 last year, the Oneliner family operation had what Gerard Lowry described as a "life-changing" pinhook with a Sea The Stars colt bought for 330,000gns as a foal and exchanged for 725,000gns as a yearling.

"The technology is there to be used, it was nice to try it out," said Lowry.

"The horse was our pick of the day. Obviously when you've been lucky with a sire in the past, it's hard not to go back to them and hopefully we can bring this one back next year now."

Although consigned by Newsells Park, the January 30-born colt was the property of Graham Smith-Bernal, an entrepreneur in ground-breaking legal technology.

Lot 718, a Sea The Stars colt, topped the day at 170,000gnsCredit: Laura Green

Newsells Park's Julian Dollar said: "Graham Smith-Bernal bought the mare from Kiltinan three years ago with Jill Lamb [for 350,000gns] and the Frankel yearling sold well to Godolphin last year.

"He's quite new to the game and is someone good to have around. He boards a few mares with us and I hope he has some luck."

Oneliner later swooped for a 140,000gns Camelot colt from Belmont Stud, third top lot and one of 11 to crack six figures in what was a flurry of evening activity. The day two median of 25,000gns and average of 33,888gns had dropped a little year-on-year but the clearance rate was up 5 per cent to 84.

Saxon begins the advance

There were glowing commendations from senior parties on each side of the transaction which saw a member of the dual Group 1 winner Saxon Warrior's first crop reach 160,000gns, top lot for the vast majority of the day.

Hindsight often bathes an auction success in a more favourable light but auctioneer Alastair Pim had assessed that lot 603 was a hard horse to find fault with during his warm-up routine and good judges clearly agreed.

He provided enough of a persuasive case for Timmy Hyde of Camas Park Stud, bidding from an increasingly chilly position outside the entrance to the auditorium as the afternoon sun faded away, to claim the Highclere Stud-consigned son of Listed Prix Six Perfections scorer Aktoria as a pinhooking prospect for next year.

The Saxon Warrior colt is heading for Timmy Hyde's Camas ParkCredit: Laura Green

"He was a hell of a racehorse. One of the best racehorses for many, many years," said Hyde of Saxon Warrior, an intriguing Guineas-winning mix of Deep Impact and Galileo blood who will stand for €20,000 at Coolmore next year.

Foals are on offer here in various stages of physical development and this individual seemed well on track to become a perfectly-formed racehorse, with a mature temperament to boot.

"I think there'd been a very good vibe about the horse, as indeed I think it has been of all the Saxon Warriors," said Highclere's Lady Carolyn Warren. "I think he’s getting great stock and this horse is testament to that, but there are others as well."

Highclere has only resumed selling foals recently and Warren credited Leonidas and Marina Marinopoulos, who bred the colt in France. Aktoria carried their starred silks made famous by the likes of globe-trotting Presvis.

"He came over to us from Marmion, the Marinopoulos's stud farm, he was born lovely and has been very straight-forward to prep. A really gorgeous horse. They are tremendous breeders who have been in the game for a very long time."

More new names

There had been a good word about for one of the first progeny of Havana Grey, whose home at Whitsbury Manor sold a half-brother to Cornwallis Stakes winner Good Vibes to Paca Paca’s Harry Sweeney for 130,000gns.

"I can’t believe someone from Japan wants to buy from a stallion I’m standing for £6,000," said an emotional Ed Harper of Whitsbury Manor.

"There is a slight tinge of sadness that I'm not going to see him race here as I've just stared at him ever since he was born but I can't complain."

Two more new stallion names to this ring were representing Tweenhills, through the late Roaring Lion and crack Australian sprinter Zoustar, who has made a striking impression with his first southern hemisphere runners.

One of the latter's from the Tweenhills draft out of Pivotal mare Bewitchment, had kept the stud's David Redvers particularly busy before being bought over the phone for 100,000gns by David Howden.

"I don't think we've ever had a foal vetted so many times," Redvers said. Howden, an insurance tycoon who has taken over the Cornbury Park estate in Oxfordshire, also added the highest-priced of the three Roaring Lions offered for 82,000gns.

"He saw all the foals on the farm and particularly loved those two," said Redvers. "I didn't know what at what level he was interested but he got into racing two years ago and these ones will run in his colours."

A partial dispersal by Stetchworth & Middle Park studs very nearly tipped six figures in consecutive lots. Bill and Tim Gredley have decided to prune back to more manageable numbers.

A Sea The Moon colt from the family of brilliant mare All At Sea made a big impression on Fran Berry of Abbeylands Farm, who bought him for 100,000gns, moments after Ross Doyle had selected a 95,000gns Night Of Thunder colt as a pinhook for Pier House Stud.

"I have a huge amount of time for the sire," said Berry. "Hopefully his two-year-old half-brother George Bancroft, who is with Roger Varian, will win next year. We did pay a little more than we were planning!"

Eyes on the Tiger

Jessica Marcialis created one of the stories of the season when galloping to Marcel Boussac glory aboard Tiger Tanaka, the first foal of Zoffany mare Miss Phillyjinks who was let go for just €6,500.

One Group 1 update later and the bonuses are starting to be reciprocated for Kellsgrange Stud, who collected 72,000gns from their next progeny, a colt by Dragon Pulse, who will make his way across the Channel after being knocked down to Ed Sackville of SackvilleDonald.

He said: "He's been bought by an end user and is more likely to go to France because the family has done well there. It has been a great story with Tiger Tanaka, she's a Group 1 winner and you don't get better than that."

"A great result for a mare that was bought for €3,500," said Kellsgrange manager Dermot Dwan. "The mare's in foal to the right stallion in Mehmas."