‘It’s a phenomenal pedigree’ – Japan Cup hero Calandagan’s half-sister tops day one of December Mares at 850,000gns
It was standing room only inside the famous Park Paddocks auditorium for the first instalment of this year’s Sceptre Sessions on Monday evening. Despite the big turnout in the ring, the lion’s share of the action came online as Ace Stud spent 2,462,000gns on six new recruits.
The haul was headed by Overbury Stud’s Caliyza (Le Havre), who topped the opening session of the December Mares Sale at 850,000gns (approx. AU$1.8 million). The five-year-old daughter of Le Havre (Noverre) is from an Aga Khan Studs family that has garnered global headlines in recent days, as she is a half-sister to none other than Japan Cup (Gr 1, 2400m) hero Calandagan (Gleneagles).
That was the four-year-old’s fourth top-level triumph following scores in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (Gr 1, 2400m), King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Gr 1, 1m 4f) and the Champion Stakes (Gr 1, 1m 2f).
Those elite victories have added considerable lustre to the page since Caliyza was purchased by Blandford Bloodstock’s Richard Brown for 155,000gns at this sale last year. Added to the filly’s appeal was the fact she was offered in foal to Gleneagles (Galileo), making the in-utero foal a close relation to Calandagan.
Monday was her third turn in the ring, having previously been sold by the Aga Khan Studs at the Arqana Breeding Stock Sale in 2023, where a €100,000 transaction saw her switch from Calandagan’s trainer Francis Graffard to John McConnell.
“I’m lucky, I’ve got a wonderful farm that was laid down a long time ago,” said Overbury’s Simon Sweeting. “Everything is exactly as it should be. We have a fantastic team. They will do anything for the horses. We’re hugely fortunate on that, they’re sensational. And we have the right horses coming in. We’ve had some luck in the past month, it’s all come together.”
The transaction continued a fine run of form for Overbury, which co-bred this year’s Dewhurst Stakes (Gr 1, 7f) scorer Gewan (Night Of Thunder) and then sold a Native Trail (Oasis Dream) half-brother to the youngster for 500,000gns (approx. AU$1.05 million) during last week’s December Foal Sale. Ace Stud also signed for that six-figure colt.
Expanding on Caliyza’s backstory, Sweeting said: “She came here a year ago as a wildcard and, to be honest with you, it was an agent that worked a bit harder than everyone else and found her.
“When we were talking about it, we had no intention of selling her originally, Richard just said ‘Look, we’ll breed her to breed a racehorse.’ Until the King George, we intended to keep her but after that, things changed. And then of course Sunday morning brought in a different dimension. It’s great. It doesn’t always work, but when it does it’s great.”
Ace Stud got the better of Northern Farm’s buying team to secure Caliyza. The operation’s racing and bloodstock manager Paul Curran said: “She has a three-parts [relation to Calandagan] in the belly so that makes a lot of sense, especially after the weekend.
“I wouldn’t say that changed anything because he’s already done what he’s done, but it’s a phenomenal pedigree and commercially you have a very good horse to come out of the belly. Delighted to get her but there’s no immediate plans for her. We’ll go back and reassess and digest tonight and sit down with everyone, especially the boss, and have a talk through them all.”
Ace Stud’s spree also took in the 650,000gns (approx. AU$1.37 million) Amazonian (Sea The Stars), who was offered by Highclere Stud, and Town And Country (Earthlight), who fetched 600,000gns (approx. AU$1.27 million) when presented by Castledillon Stud. The latter is set to visit Ace Stud’s Shaquille (Charm Spirit), whose first foals created a big impression last week, while Amazonian is set to remain in training.
Town And Country’s price represented a significant appreciation in value since her last visit to Park Paddocks, when the filly was secured by Windgates Stud at 160,000gns during the 2023 edition of Book 1. The filly was last seen carrying the colours of Ray Nolan and Mark Roden, who were among the crowd in Newmarket.
Town And Country won two of her eight starts for Henry de Bromhead, including this year’s Scurry Stakes (Listed, 5f) at Sandown. With a furlong left to run she was travelling much the best but found herself boxed in behind a wall of horses. Despite meeting significant trouble in running she was able to get into the clear and ran on well to lead right on the post.
“We’re delighted,” said Roden. “We had mixed feelings about whether to let her go or not. Henry has done a marvellous job bringing her on over the last couple of years, winning the Scurry Stakes was a huge highlight, but we just felt now was the right time to let someone else have a bit of luck and breed from her.
“It’s been great excitement. Ray is well used to a lot of excitement in business, but this is a different buzz. We really would’ve been happy to take her back, but she’s gone for a fair value. We only have a couple in training and she was the only Flat runner, but we’ve ten mares at home at Windgates Stud.”
Town And Country is the third foal out of Sweety Dream (Dream Ahead), who possessed plenty of talent herself, as she showed when landing the Prix Miesque (Gr 3, 1400m). The Dream Ahead (Diktat) mare has bred three winners from as many runners since retiring to the paddocks, and all three boast bold black type.
Her first foal is the Listed-winning Are We Dreaming (Kendargent), while her second is Godolphin’s Romantic Style (Night Of Thunder), whose four victories include a defeat of Ramatuelle (Justify) in the Prix Imprudence (Gr 3, 1400m).
The four-year-old Amazonian made just a solitary start for Ralph Beckett and Isa Salman Al Khalifa, scoring in a Kempton novice stakes over a mile and three furlongs. The 350,000gns Book 2 yearling is a sibling to four winners, most notably her sister River Of Stars, a Group 3 winner and Group 1-placed performer who fetched 1,650,000gns from a buyer signing as Oakley Creek when offered at this sale 12 months ago.
River Of Stars was last seen carrying Zhang Yuesheng’s colours into fourth behind Half Yours (St Jean) in the Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m). Her other siblings include the Listed-winning Apadanah (Holy Roman Emperor) and the Listed-placed Ancona (Amaron), along with the unraced Amazonka (Camelot), who is better known as the dam of Coventry Stakes (Gr 2, 6f) scorer Rashabar (Holy Roman Emperor).
“It’s a family we know well and River Of Stars has done well this year,” said Curran. “She ran really well in the Melbourne Cup and it’s nice to get into the family again. There’s no major plans with her and we’ll probably keep her here, but it’s nice to get into the family again.”
Curran also confirmed that Seo Linn (Order Of St George), a classy dual purpose performer with useful form on the Flat and in bumpers was also part of the team’s haul. The five-year-old daughter of Order Of St George (Galileo), who was offered by Paddy Twomey’s Athassel House Stud, was knocked down to an online bid of 260,000gns (approx. AU$550,600). The name Western Harbour International appeared on the ticket.
“She’s very versatile in that she stays well enough to win a Grade 2 over two mile one, and she came back and won over a mile three this year,” said Curran. “We’ve got the option to send her to Australia. I can’t say where we’re going to target her, but she looks like a very nice filly to target some of the staying races down there. She’s a really nice-looking filly. She can go down a lot of avenues down there.”
Diego date awaits 750,000gns Miss Justice
Two lots fetched 750,000gns (approx. AU$1.58 million), led by the lightly raced Listed winner Miss Justice. The four-year-old daughter of Justify (Scat Daddy) was offered by Barton Sales and knocked down to Sam Sangster, acting on behalf of the partnership that are standing Prix Jacques le Marois (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Diego Velazquez (Frankel) at the National Stud.
“She’s been bought by the partners and will go into training with Brian Meehan,” said Sangster. “We’ll carry on with her and probably cover her in training. She’s still lightly raced and she’s a gorgeous filly by Justify with a lovely pedigree, so there’s a lot to look forward to. We really wanted to show the kind of quality we want to support Diego with.
“We’ll regroup with Brian but there’s a couple of Listed races coming up in December, we might target her at those, or we might think further afield. She’s a fast ground filly so we can see if there’s something for her in Dubai and then bring her back. When Diego gets going, hopefully he’ll fancy her!”
Miss Justice was bred by Al Shahania Stud from the Zamindar (Gone West) mare Time Being. The Juddmonte pedigree is stacked with black type, as the dam is a sister to Falmouth Stakes (Gr 1, 1m) heroine Timepiece and a half-sister to Criterium de Saint-Cloud (Gr 1, 2000m) scorer Passage Of Time (Dansili). The latter name has also bred the likes of Time Test (Dubawi) and this year’s Listed-winning and Irish 2,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1m) runner-up Cosmic Year (Kingman).
Miss Justice’s previous visit to public auction saw her fetch €120,000 from Blandford Bloodstock on behalf of owners Wardley Bloodstock and partners.
The four-year-old did not make the track at two and raced only once at three, but has quickly made up for lost time. She won two of her eight starts for John and Thady Gosden, with a comfortable success in a Southwell novice event followed by a game triumph in the Upavon Stakes (Listed, 1m 2f).
She was last seen going down by just a neck to Karmology (Golden Horn) when runner-up in the Pride Stakes (Gr 3, 1m 2f) at Newmarket.
Northern Farm move for Rage Of Bamby
The second 750,000gns signing was the high-class sprinter Rage Of Bamby (Saxon Warrior), who was secured by the buying team from Katsumi Yoshida’s Northern Farm.
The daughter of Saxon Warrior (Deep Impact) ran 20 times during her four seasons in training with Eve Johnson Houghton, winning five races along the way. She made a successful debut at Newbury during the summer of her two-year-old season and wasted no time in showing she was well above average. She followed up in a Leicester novice event before finishing third behind Commissioning (Kingman) in the Rockfel Stakes (Gr 2, 7f).
Her first black-type success came at the end of her four-year-old season, winning the Boadicea Stakes (Listed, 6f) at Newmarket. She produced her best effort on Racing Post Ratings at the age of five, taking out the Hackwood Stakes (Gr 3, 6f) in decisive fashion. That effort was allotted a mark of 115. Two starts later she reached the frame in Group 1 company, beaten just under two lengths into fourth in the Haydock Sprint Cup (Gr 1, 6f) won by Big Mojo (Mohaather).
“She looked very athletic and her action is very nice,” said Northern Farm representative Shingo Hashimoto. “Her pedigree is strong and her mare line comes from the Miesque family, which is doing very well in Japan. We’re very excited to take her home. We don’t decide on mating plans until the mare is in heat and which stallion is available, but we’ll figure out. She’ll go to one of the better ones at our stud. Covering her in Europe is also an option but we won’t decide until after Arqana.”
He added: “It’s a big factor for us to come here and buy bloodstock that we don’t have in Japan. It’s very important to diversify the bloodlines we have, that’s why I come to Tattersalls each year. I’m always excited to come here and it’s an important time of year.”
Rage Of Bamby is from the debut crop of Saxon Warrior and is the third foal out of the Listed-placed Sakhee’s Secret (Sakhee) mare Rabiosa Fiore. This makes her a sibling to three winners, including Amalaura (Raven’s Pass), a three-time Listed scorer in Italy. The page goes back to Niarchos champions East Of The Moon (Private Account), Alpha Centauri (Mastercraftsman) and Alpine Star (Sea The Moon).
Rage Of Bamby had been to the sales on one previous occasion when realising €35,000 from Marco Bozzi at the SGA Yearling Sale in Milan back in 2021.
She raced for a partnership of the Hot To Trot Racing syndicate and Antoinette Kavanagh of Kildaragh Stud, who consigned the mare on Monday.
“I bought her in Milan as a yearling,” said Kildaragh’s Peter Kavanagh. “I only saw her on video, I loved her head and outlook. And you could see that again today, she showed liked a champ and behaved perfectly. We bought a fair bit of the family subsequently; we bought the half-sister [Rinnovati] in Milan the following year that topped the sale [at €200,000]. It’s lovely to have some of the family, it’s lovely to have raced her, she’s taken us on a fabulous journey. Hot To Trot were great partners and we had a lot of fun together.”
Monday’s session saw 21,451,000gns (approx. AU$45.42 million) change hands, which was down seven per cent year on year. The average price was 96,195gns (approx. AU$203,710), which was also down seven per cent, while the median dipped six per cent to 47,000gns (approx. AU$99,530). The clearance rate was 85 per cent as 223 lots sold from 262 offered.
The December Mares Sale was set to continue on Tuesday, with day two starting at 9.30am (GMT). The second instalment of the Sceptre Sessions includes Group 1-winning fillies Barnavara (Calyx), Choisya (Night Of Thunder), Porta Fortuna (Caravaggio) and Tamfana (Soldier Hollow), along with Suelita (Dutch Art), dam of Chaldean (Frankel), who is being offered carrying a full-sibling to the Dewhurst and English 2,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1m) winner.