The truly global nature of the bloodstock industry was perfectly encapsulated by King's Harlequin, the 4-year-old Camelot filly who made the early running during the second of the Sceptre Sessions.
Bred in Ireland, trained initially in France where she was a group 3 winner at 2, before moving to America, she was consigned by Bradley Weisbord and Liz Crow's ELiTE Sales and sold to Katsumi Yoshida's Northern Farm for 600,000gns (US$753,453).
Weisbord, along with business partner Crow, is a familiar buyer at Park Paddocks but this December Mare Sale saw them turn vendor in England for the first time.
The sale represented a massive return on the €30,000 ($32,698) which she brought as a yearling when purchased by Tina Rau at the Goffs Orby Sale.
King's Harlequin was bred by Sir Edmund Loder from the outstanding family he cultivated of Marwell, Marling and Caerwent. If the Sceptre Sessions had existed in the 1980s Marwell and her daughter Marling would have been exactly the type of mare who would have adorned a catalogue of such distinguished names.
Marwell, third dam of King's Harlequin, was the champion 3-year-old filly of 1981 when she won the William Hill July Cup (G1), King's Stand Stakes (G1) and Prix de l'Abbaye de Longchamp (G1), to add to her William Hill Cheveley Park Stakes (G1), Flying Childers Stakes (G1) and Molecomb Stakes (G3) successes of 1980.
The daughter of Habitat produced a champion in Marling, the Lomond filly who was European champion 2- and 3-year-old filly a decade after her dam retired to stud. Marling, also bred by Loder at his former farm of Eyrefield Lodge Stud, emulated her dam with victory in the Cheveley Park Stakes but stayed further than Marwell at 3, winning the Goffs Irish One Thousand Guineas (G1), Sussex Stakes (G1) and Coronation Stakes (G1). She had triumphed in the Queen Mary Stakes (G3) at 2.
Northern Farm has bought into an iconic pedigree with Caerwent, the GPA National Stakes (G1) winner, also foaled by Marwell. Her Indian Ridge daughter Littlefeather was third in the Moyglare Stud Stakes (G1) and Littefeather is the dam of the group 3-placed Expedition and listed third Bee Eater, dam of the 2020 Marble Hill Stakes (G3) winner Minaun. That daughter of Zoffany was bred by Sir Edmond and is out of a half sister to Swift Action, dam of King's Harlequin.
It's not only iconic DNA which Katsumi Yoshida has bought into; on the track, King's Harlequin carried the iconic blue and green silks that will forever be associated with Robert Sangster and Vincent O'Brien's outstanding champions that shaped the global racing and breeding industries.
King's Harlequin was raced by Sangster's son Sam and trained first by Nicolas Clement, for whom she won the Prix d'Aumale (G3) and the listed Prix Roland de Chambure during her juvenile season.
She transferred to Clement's brother Christophe in Kentucky ahead of the 2022 season but failed to add stateside success to her French glories. The filly will have more air miles to gather now as she heads east, to a farm which has revolutionized Japanese racing and breeding over the past three decades.
"She's a lovely filly and she looked great," remarked Shingo Hashimoto of Northern Farm. "She has done well from the start of her racing career and has a very good broodmare side. She will be retired to stud and will most likely go straight to Japan."
Her sire is not one to have many representatives in the Japanese breeding population, and she will be one of a select number in the vast Northern Farm broodmare herd.
"We do not have many mares by Camelot, I think she might be just the second one so far," he added.
Hashimoto was later the underbidder for Northern Farm on the dual group 1 winner Saffron Beach, who was purchased by Najd Stud for 3.6m guineas ($4,520,718). He subsequently secured Prix de l'Abbaye heroine The Platinum Queen for 1.2m guineas ($1,506,906).
