Teona and Via Sistina star in December Mares Sale

PA Sport Reporters
December 5, 2023 6:38 pm

Group One winners set Tattersalls abuzz.

Teona, Via Sistina and 1000 Guineas heroine Cachet were among the star attractions as several top-class racing and broodmare prospects were sold for seven figures on day two of the December Mares Sale in Newmarket.

The sales ring was unsurprisingly buzzing as the second round of the ‘Sceptre Sessions’ got under way at Tattersalls, with Cheveley Park Stakes winner Lezoo and Qipco Champions Day victor Poptronic also going under the hammer in front of a packed crowd.

Teona won the Prix Vermeille in 2021 and rounded off her career by finishing third behind Yibir in that year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf.

Teona 🚀@varianstable #BC21 pic.twitter.com/5WTJE6HJXa
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) November 4, 2021

Not only does the five-year-old possess a blue-blooded pedigree, being a daughter of Sea The Stars out of another Group One-winning mare for trainer Roger Varian in Ambivalent, but she is also in foal to the great Frankel, so it was no surprise she attracted huge interest in the auction.

Following a protracted battle, Teona eventually secured top lot status as she was knocked down to Frankel’s owner-breeders Juddmonte for 4.5million guineas.

“She is the best mare in the sale, she is a Group One winner out of a Group One winner, and they are very difficult to find,” said Juddmonte’s Simon Mockridge.

“She is a beautiful addition for us, she has a great pedigree. She is by Sea The Stars, who has made a fantastic start as a broodmare sire and has had five Group One winners – she will fit in very well.

“She is an outcross to Frankel, which is ideal and what we are looking for. And, yes, she will be going back to Frankel!”

When asked if the final price was expected, he told Tattersalls: “You always have to stretch when you want to buy the best, it is competitive. It was very strong bidding for her, I did think that around about 3.5 to 4million (might get her).

“You have to make that extra stretch – that is something we have learnt, it is all very well trying to value them before but when you come to the moment you have to be a little stronger.”

Jamie Spencer (left) speaks with owners Stephen Hillen and Rebecca Hillen after ridding Via Sistina to victory in the Pretty Polly Stakes (Brian Lawless/PA)

Having claimed Group One honours in the Pretty Polly Stakes in Ireland earlier this year, Via Sistina looked set to strike gold in the Qipco Champion Stakes at Ascot in October, only to be mowed down late by King Of Steel under an inspired Frankie Dettori.

The four-year-old, who cost owner Stephen Hillen just 5,000 guineas as a yearling, was sold for 2.7million guineas to Evergreen Equine.

Hillen said: “It was amazing to watch! It has been tremendous from the day one. She was with Jamie Magee to be broken her in and he has a lot of good stock through his hands, he rang me in February and said she is the biggest, but she gets up the gallop better than all anything else!

“It has been a dream! I thought that she’d bring in 2million guineas plus, that cross is sensational. She was Group One winner, but arguably she ran great in the Champion Stakes and she was still improving all the time. It is nice now to see her almost certainly be retired sound and go to stud.

“I was fine watching her sell – I thought that if we don’t get what we want for her, we can still race her so it was a celebration either way.”

Zoustar filly Lezoo, trained by Ralph Beckett, was bought for 2.2million guineas after an online bid from Narvick International, who out-battled two separate parties from Japan.

Poptronic, last seen springing a surprise in the Qipco British Champions Fillies And Mares Stakes for Karl Burke, made 1.4million, while Tom Clover’s Matron Stakes runner-up Rogue Millennium made 1.65million and Ed Walker’s talented mare Primo Bacio, in foal to Frankel, went for 1.1million.