'This is kind of a big one for us' - Callisto Star caps December Mares Sale opener at 675,000gns

Day one of the Tattersalls December Mares Sale may have been more of an hors d'oeuvre before Tuesday’s Group 1-winning main course, with high-achievers Cachet, Poptronic and Via Sistina among those on the menu on day two.

However, once the first instalment of the blue-chip Sceptre Sessions kicked in on Monday evening, there were plenty of significant prices spent in front of a packed Park Paddocks auditorium.

Authoritaire, a winning daughter of Tamayuz and the Wildenstein’s champion Aquarelliste, set the bid board rolling beyond the half a million mark when bringing 525,000gns from Charlie Gordon Watson Bloodstock.

The four-year-old, who was offered by The Castlebridge Consignment carrying to Night Of Thunder, is a sibling to seven winners, including the Listed scorers Ame Bleue and Any Time Soon. There is plenty going on under the first dam as Authoritaire’s other siblings include the dams of recent stakes winners Maqsad and Art Du Val. 

Three lots later Callisto Star was presented by Ballybin Stud and duly fetched the day’s highest price of 675,000gns from Badgers Bloodstock, with the father-son team stationed in their usual position to the left of the auctioneer. 

Callisto Star didn’t make the track herself but has got her breeding career off to a particularly promising start. Her first foal, Rhea Moon, was placed in maidens at Dundalk and the Curragh but developed into an altogether more significant talent for a switch to Phil D'Amato in the United States, where she won the Grade 1 American Oaks. 

The mare’s second foal, There's The Door, has won three races and was also second to Savethelastdance in the Listed Cheshire Oaks. Moreover, Callisto Star’s third foal, the two-year-old Magna Grecia colt Majed, took the mare’s record to three winners from three runners when breaking his maiden at the third time of asking late last month.

Rhea Moon and There's The Door are both by Starspangledbanner and their dam was offered carrying a full-sibling to the black-type performers.  

Ballybin’s Paddy Kelly admitted to being slightly lost for words after the session-topping transaction. Reflecting on Monday evening’s events, Kelly said: “I’m in shock but not in shock, it’s just that this is kind of a big one for us. It’s nice to be involved at the top end and I’m delighted – but not surprised – with the price she made.

Callisto Star: 'She has the looks, the temperament and the pedigree'Credit: Alisha Meeder

“She’s a special mare. She has the looks, the temperament and the pedigree. I think she’ll be a prolific breeder, just like her grandmother was with six black-type horses. Kevin [Molloy, breeder] has been a long-time client and he still has a good bit of the family at home. Another client of ours actually bought Callisto Star’s full-sister a few years ago, so we have the stock to sell out of her too.”

Callisto Star is out of Livia Galilei, a Galileo sibling to six stakes performers, including the dual Group 3 winner Satchem and the Ballyroan Stakes scorer Eye Of The Storm. The first two, black type-laden generations of the family were bred by Molloy. 

“She’s to stay here in Europe,” said Tom Pritchard Gordon, whose purchase was made on behalf of an existing client. “She’s a beautiful mare and has already produced a Grade 1 winner with her first foal. She’s carrying a full-sibling to that Grade 1 winner too.

Tom Pritchard-Gordon was on buying duty at Tattersalls on MondayCredit: Laura Green

"Fastnet Rock is as good a broodmare sire as there is and her dam is by Galileo so it’s all the bloodlines you want. She’s the whole package. I haven’t decided who she’ll be covered by next year but Starspangled is an obvious target. Fastnet mares work with so many different bloodlines that she could go anywhere.”

Japanese outfit swoops for Mauiewowie

The Norris Bloodstock-consigned Mauiewowie boasted the complete package of pedigree and performance and sold to Japanese operation Lake Villa Farm for 625,000gns.

The three-year-old won two races for Ger Lyons and owner Eleanora Kennedy, most notably the Listed Curragh Stakes at two. The daughter of Night Of Thunder is not the only noteworthy talent produced by her dam, La Chapelle, with the mare’s five winners also including the Listed scorer Something Enticing. 

La Chapelle made the racecourse only once but is from a particularly in-vogue family as she is out of Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Nightime. This means she is a half-sister to the Group/Grade 1 winners Ghaiyyath and Zhukova, as well as the Dubawi colt who topped the recent Goffs November Foal Sale at €700,000 when secured by an online buyer signing as Lucky Vega, the name of Zhang Yuesheng’s Phoenix Stakes winner. 

Mauiewowie: bought for 625,000gns by Lake Villa FarmCredit: Alisha Meeder

“She goes to Japan,” said Yoshihisa Iwasaki, stud manager of the Hokkaido-based farm. “We like the conformation because she is a very strong mare. I like the physical very much. We loved her appearance and her attitude. 

"She will be retired from racing to become a broodmare. We haven’t decided which stallion yet but we’re planning on sending her to one of the very best sires standing in Japan.” 

The 155,000gns Book 1 yearling was last purchased by Amanda Skiffington and Pegasus Bloodstock. 

Stack-trained brace in the top ten

Fozzy Stack’s Thomastown Castle Stables offered two of the session’s bigger lots, with Listed winners Aussie Girl and My Eyes Adore You bringing 380,000gns apiece.

The four-year-old Profitable filly My Eyes Adore You was signed for by Hillwood Bloodstock having won a Naas Listed contest on her most recent racecourse outing. The half-sister to Cape Factor and Court House previously ran for Paul Shanahan, Cayton Park Stud and Craig Bernick having been bought by De Burgh Equine for £85,000 at the Doncaster edition of the Goffs Orby Sale. 

My Eyes Adore You takes her turn in the Park Paddocks ring on MondayCredit: Alisha Meeder

Aussie Girl, winner of the Listed Brigid's Pastures Stakes on her latest start, was signed for by Woodford Thoroughbreds. The three-year-old Starspangledbanner filly showed a marked appreciation in value having last changed hands for €35,000 when bought by Stack and De Burgh Equine at the 2021 Goffs Orby Sale. 

Monceaux searching for another star

Leading French farm Ecurie des Monceaux got among the buyers when securing the 300,000gns Astrologia from Watership Down Stud. Astrologia didn’t make the track but what she lacks in race record she more than makes up for in pedigree as the four-year-old daughter of Galileo hails from Watership Down’s foundation family of Darara. 

She is out of So Mi Dar, who was a four-length winner of the Group 3 Musidora Stakes and third, beaten just half a length by Speedy Boarding, in the Group 1 Prix de l'Opera. So Mi Dar is by Dubawi and out of the triple Group 1 heroine Dar Re Mi, making her a sister to the champion two- and three-year-old Too Darn Hot. The Dewhurst, Sussex Stakes and Prix Jean Prat winner has made a hugely promising start to his stallion career at Darley’s Dalham Hall Stud, with his first juvenile crop containing the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes victress Fallen Angel. 

Astrologia was offered in foal to Wootton Bassett. 

“I’m happy to get into this family,” said Monceaux’s Henri Bozo. “In the past we have tried to buy, and have been successful in buying, those well-bred fillies. Even if they haven’t raced it doesn’t bother me. Since the beginning we have tried to get into those families with nice physicals. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but we’ll hope. 

Henri Bozo: 'I'm happy to get into this family'Credit: Laura Green

“This mare is in foal to a very, very good sire. I’m so impressed with Wootton Bassett. Each foal we have on the farm is nice, correct, quality, a good colour. I think he’s a safe bet and should suit her.” 

Before the Sceptre Session kicked off a nomination to Coolmore’s new recruit Paddington was auctioned to raise funds on behalf of Graham Lee, who suffered serious injuries when unseated at the start at Newcastle last month. 

The nomination to the Irish 2,000 Guineas, St James’s Palace Stakes, Coral-Eclipse and Sussex Stakes hero was knocked down to Lady Lloyd-Webber of Watership Down Stud at 72,000gns. The nomination was donated by Coolmore, where Paddington begins his second career at a fee of €55,000.

Australian buyer all smiles after securing Many Tears

Among the international agents braving the distinctly British conditions was Australian Jim Clarke. His trip proved worthwhile as he secured the improving three-year-old Many Tears for 300,000gns, a purchase that led the market for much of the afternoon before the Sceptre Session lots took over. 

The daughter of Showcasing, a great-granddaughter of Oaks heroine Love Divine, possessed one of the day’s more eyecatching updates having not only doubled her winning tally since the catalogue was released but then trebling it when landing the Listed Cooley Fillies Stakes at Dundalk last month. 

The filly was bought on behalf of Ridgmont Stud and will continue her racing career for new connections before potentially heading to Juddmonte’s Banstead Manor Stud for her debut covering. 

“The whole Ridgmont team, myself, Mitch Cunningham and Chris Phillips, have been out pounding the beat and braving the weather and we looked at a lot of fillies off the track,” said Clarke. 

“She was our number one. Physically she’s a gorgeous mare, she’s a stakes winner, a three-year-old with racing upside and has a pedigree that we can’t access on our side of the world. In terms of pedigree and physical, I think she’s nailed on to go to Frankel when the time comes. 

“We’ll put her into training and she’ll go to James Ferguson and we’ll give her an opportunity, certainly in the first half of next year, to add to her stakes record. Depending how she does, she might have a date with Frankel in the second half.” 

Many Tears, who was presented by The Castlebridge Consignment, was trained by Ger Lyons for an ownership group comprised of David Spratt, Sean Jones and Lynne Lyons. She was making her second appearance at the sales having been bought by Gaelic Bloodstock for 115,000gns at Book 1 in 2021. 

Many Tears: produced one of the day's biggest prices outside of the Sceptre SessionCredit: Alisha Meeder

Clarke went on to explain that Ridgmont keeps a 35-strong commercial broodmare band at the Hunter Valley property. The operation has invested in European bloodstock before and will offer a Frankel colt out of Edith Piaf, an unraced half-sister to Home Of The Brave, at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in January. 

“Ridgmont has a really lovely broodmare band that’s been invested in over the last couple of years,” said Clarke. “It’s very much tailored towards younger mares, either stakes winners or stakes performers, and they’re being bred commercially as we’re aiming to sell yearlings into the high end of the premier sales in Australia. The opportunity to acquire bloodlines from this part of the world is something we’re very much motivated to do to add some diversity to the portfolio. 

“Buying mares with this sort of pedigree gives us a lot more options in terms of who we breed them to. One of the big motivating factors for us coming to this sale was to buy mares to go to Kingman and/or Frankel. They’re both elite stallions who’ve done it in both hemispheres.” 

Clarke found conditions more favourable in the ring than he had out on the sales ground, as he added: “It was 40 degrees when we got on the plane. We looked at about 70 mares in the rain yesterday, it’s very much a different feeling!” 

Facts of the day

The first of four sessions saw 242 lots offered and 198 fillies and mares sold at a clip of 82 per cent. That metric was identical to the corresponding day last year, although all other indices showed the kind of year-on-year declines that have characterised trade in recent weeks. 

Turnover was back by 30 per cent, albeit from an 11 per cent smaller offering, at 15,477,300gns. The average was back by 22 per cent at 78,170gns and the median was down by the same extent at 43,000gns, having been 55,000gns 12 months ago.

The Tattersalls December Mares Sale continues on Tuesday at 9.30am. 

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