Bozzi signs for €160,000 Sea The Stars filly at SGA Sale

A filly by Sea The Stars looks destined to spend the next stage of her life in Ireland after proving the €160,000 top lot at Saturday’s SGA Select Yearling Sale in Milan.

There was a gentle round of applause as the sole representative by the Giltown Stud giant left the open-sided marquee on a sweltering afternoon once she had been knocked down to Italian bloodstock agent Marco Bozzi.

Not only had the Razza Del Velino representative (lot 14) looked immaculate, she had behaved equally perfectly and given her stallion’s fee has now surpassed that price at €180,000, her new buyer looks to have found themselves a bargain.

Bozzi explained that he had been acting on behalf of renowned breeder and horseman Peter Kavanagh of Kildaragh Stud. The late March-born filly has a pretty smart page, too, being out of an Italian Guineas runner-up in Cronsa. She is the dam of five winners already headlined by Group 3 Premio Dormello winner Sweet Gentle Kiss and Listed scorer Sunset Key.

"I went to see this filly twice at the farm, once in May and then again before the sale," said Bozzi. "She’s from one of the very best breeders in Italy in Velino, they have bred a lot of champions.

"I called Peter Kavanagh as we’ve done business together before and I know he likes fillies with a pedigree. I’ve been calling him for the last three days as I thought she was a filly I would try to buy for him. I imagine she will go to Ireland now."

Although a very small handful of international buyers made an appearance, Italy’s main yearling auction proved almost unanimously for the domestic market and there was a reasonable crowd spread over the ornate weighing room complex overlooking the San Siro racetrack.

The other lot (10) to reach six figures, and exactly €100,000, was a Magna Grecia colt from Nedo Giudici. He has a familiar page as a half-brother to Teresa Mendoza, a Listed-winning and multiple Group-placed sprinter for Ken Condon in Ireland. 

The late April-born colt is a grandson of Oh So Sharp Stakes winner Raymi Coya, who is also the ancestress of Windsor Castle Stakes winner Tactical. He was among a clutch of reasonably large purchases by Diego Romeo's Scuderia Incolinx, one of the very largest Italian owners with a string spread across a few big stables.

The top lot's price tag was slightly lower than the €200,000 Churchill filly that had been knocked down to Bozzi 12 months ago. 

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