Records galore on second day of Tatts Book 1

Whilst the progeny of Dubawi dominated on Tuesday, it was yearlings by the remarkable Frankel who hit the headlines on day two with four of the top six prices.

The turnover during the remarkable session reached 49,545,000 guineas for the 144 lots sold, which broke the turnover record for any day at a European thoroughbred auction set on the second day of the Tattersalls December Mares Sale in 2017. There were significant increases in the average and median on the second day whilst the turnover jumped a massive 65%. The clearance rate for the day was an impressive 88%.

Leading the way and the highest priced yearling sold in the world this year was the Frankel colt out of the Dubawi mare So Mi Dar who realised 2,800,000 guineas to the bid of Anthony Stroud on behalf of Godolphin. The team were successful despite a sustained effort by Lane’s End Farm’s Bill Farish, sat alongside agent David Ingordo.

"Obviously he has a stallion's pedigree, by Frankel out of a very, very good mare by Dubawi from Watership Down's best family. He was the jewel in the crown and is an extremely nice horse," said Stroud, standing alongside Sheikh Mohammed outside the ring.

"The price was more than I had anticipated but the Sheikh was keen for this horse and Watership does a great job. The underbidders were strong opposition - he is an outstanding horse and he will be a very valuable horse if he is a good racehorse."

The Group 3 Tattersalls Musidora Stakes winner So Mi Dar is a full-sister to the European two and three-year-old champion Too Darn Hot, the young son of Dubawi who stands at Godolphin's Dalham Hall Stud in a partnership with Watership Down Stud.

Simon Marsh, general manager of Watership Down, said: "It is an amazing family, it’s an extraordinary thing when you have a horse like that and he fulfils everything you want. He has been an exceptional individual all his life, but these things don't happen by accident, there has been an enormous amount of people involved in getting him here – stud manager Terry Doherty, who has been with us for 30 years, Conor Chapman, who led him up, and Donna Vowles, who is our manager in Ireland, the feed people, the farriers, all these people have to come together to get the horse here today. For him to have done what he did was amazing. We are delighted, it is an incredible family and we are incredibly lucky."

Watership Down Stud’s owner Madeleine Lloyd Webber was obviously delighted and said: "It is always a shame to sell the wonderful stock out of the Dar Re Mi family but we just have to. He is a particularly beautiful colt, he looks so like his father Frankel yet he has the Dar Re Me line and the beautiful head. He walked beautifully, I could not really fault him. We obviously loved him, we are delighted that Godolphin bought him and he is going to stay here and be trained brilliantly. We could not have hoped for anything better really."

The colt’s sire Frankel has had a remarkable year, even by his lofty standards, with eight individual Group/Grade 1 winners in 2022 and he has passed both 100 individual Group/Listed winners and fifty individual Group winners quicker than any other stallion in history.