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The 4-year-old Listed winning daughter of Frankel, Frankel Light, topped the first day of the Arqana December Breeding Stock Sale.
Sells for €1,300,000. The 4-year-old Listed winning daughter of Frankel, Frankel Light, topped the first day of the Arqana December Breeding Stock Sale on Saturday when bought by Charlie Gordon Watson for Andrew Lloyd-Webbers Watership Down Stud.
Frankel Light was offered in foal for the first time to Dark Angel by Mezeray. She is one of 2 stakes winners out of the Listed winner Mambo Light, the OTI Racing-owned Le Juge, a Group winner in Australia, the other. Further back this is the family of Group 1 winning stallions Aldebaran, Good Journey and Spinning World.
"We've bought her for Andrew Lloyd-Webber's Watership Down Stud and she'll go to Too Darn Hot next year," said Watership Down Stud's manager Simon Marsh. "We're delighted to have got her as she's from a great family."
Mambo Light was herself offered on Saturday in foal to Sea The Stars. Initially led out of the ring unsold, she was later bought by Adrian Nicoll of BBA Ireland for Bob Scarborough for €750,000.
One other lot broke the €1,000,000 mark on Saturday - 10-year-old mare Unaided, a daughter of Dansili, who was bought by Oceanic Bloodstock / White Birch Farm for €1,250,000.
Herself unplaced, Unaided is the dam of multiple Grade 1 winner Uni, a daughter of More Than Ready, and was offered in foal to No Nay Never. Her first dam is Wosaita is the dam of 8 winners including stakes winner Whazzis and Whazzat, herself the dam of James Garfield.
"She's for Peter Brant," said Michel Zerolo of Oceanic Bloodstock. "He was very impressed by Uni, and he knows good US turf fillies only too well! All options are open concerning her next mating and where she'll be kept."
As they were in Newmarket earlier this week Australasian purchasers continued to spend at the European breeding stock sales, with a number of lots from Saturday's session heading to Australia. Dean Hawthorne and Badgers Bloodstock went to €480,000 to secure Fleeting Fancy. A 4-year-old placed daughter of Galileo, Fleeting Fancy was offered in foal to No Nay Never. She is out of the Group 3 winner Just Pretending who finished third in both the Irish Oaks (Group 1) and Irish 1000 Guineas (Group 1).
"We love Galileo mares, we've been accumulating them for a while and I bought a couple here last year," said Hawthorne.
"She had a nice early cover to No Nay Never and is from a lovely, very current family. She's a beautiful mare, I thought she was the most spectacular Galileo type on the sales ground, lovely shoulder and length which we like down under.
"She'll eventually head down there, probably in September. We have about 80 to 100 mares in Australia including 10 to 12 Northern Hemisphere bred, mainly Galileos. Galileo like anywhere else in the world is turning into a phenomenal broodmare sire."
The combination also secured winning Sea The Stars mare Rosa Vernans for €135,000.
Stakes placed Sea The Stars mare Lamu is another destined for Australia after being secured by Blandford Blodostock / Speriamo Bloodstock for €280,000. The 3-year-old is out of the stakes placed Rock Of Gibraltar mare Louve Rare from the family of Loup Sauvage and Loup Solitaire.
Tweenhills / Widden also continued their purchasing, buying Rosie's Premiere for €140,000. A stakes-placed daughter of Showcasing, Rosie's Premier was offered in foal to Coolmore sire Churchill out of Golden Rosie, a half-sister to Sovereign Debt.
During the first session on Saturday 163 of the 198 lots offered were sold for a clearance rate of 82%. The aggregate of €22,997,000 was comparable to the 2018 aggregate of €22,884,000. The average fell slightly on the corresponding session last year, down 6% from €150,553 to €141,086. The median meanwhile rose 3% from €72,500 to €75,000.
The sale continues on Sunday.
