As 7 p.m. closed in, and after nearly 9 1/2 hours of more routine December Mares Sale trade Dec. 2, Tattersalls finally raised the curtain on Monday's installment of the blue-chip Sceptre Sessions.
The high-class filly Caught U Looking vaulted to the head of the market after an online bid of 1,800,000gns (US$2,394,000, 1 guinea= US$1.33) from the Yulong Investments team, signing as Willingham. The 3-year-old daughter of Harzand was making her second appearance at public auction significantly more productive than her first.
Peter Nolan and trainer Noel Meade bought her for just €27,000 at the Goffs Autumn Yearling Sale in 2022.
Auctioneer Alastair Pim had his gavel raised at 1,600,000gns when Will Walden, sitting in the packed auditorium to the right of the rostrum, lodged the latest of late bids. "Why not?" said Pim, turning on his heel and looking in Walden's direction. However, when another 100,000gns came through online, the American trainer declined to up the ante any further.
"Oh my god!" said an emotional Sabina Kelly, wife of breeder Peter Kelly and co-owner of the filly alongside Tally-Ho Stud's Tony O'Callaghan.
"This is the most amazing thing ever. She's always been a pet, we've always loved her, she's just been a brilliant filly. I'm gobsmacked and I'm in shock. All I can say is: amazing. We've had a great season with her. She's just fab and I hope she's as lucky for the next owner as she was for us."
Caught U Looking wasted no time proving her yearling valuation all wrong as she broke her maiden on her second start at 2 before doubling her tally in the Weld Park Stakes (G3T).
She kept exalted company thereafter, and wasn't beaten far when fifth behind You Got To Me, who sells in Tuesday's Sceptre Session, in the Irish Oaks (G1). She was last seen running out a four-length winner of the listed Bluebell Stakes at Naas.
She was bred by Kelly Equine Services and is the first foal out of Wild Mix, a Mastercraftsman half sister to the group 3-winning siblings Double Or Bubble and Mix And Mingle, both of whom are by Exceed And Excel.
It was at this sale last year that Yulong secured Via Sistina, with the 2,700,000gns docket signed by Evergreen Equine. The daughter of Fastnet Rock won the Pretty Polly Stakes (G1T) for George Boughey and has added five more group 1s to her record under the care of Chris Waller. Connections are set to put Caught U Looking on a similar program and will hope that lightning can strike twice.
Yulong's general manager reflected on Monday's seven-figure acquisition by saying: "There were bids coming from all corners of the auditorium, which is always a good sign. You like to see competition but you hate to be the only one out there. Funnily enough, that price was around where I thought we might end up, not that I'm any great judge.
"She's a well-performed filly and we think she has a pretty good profile to race on with. Our ambition at this stage is probably to send her to Australia and put her on a path not dissimilar to Via Sistina, who we've obviously had a lot of success with in the last 12 months.
"We're not suggesting this filly is going to turn into a Via Sistina, although we'd love her to. But you have to keep your feet on the ground and just hope she can win some nice races for us down the line."
Monday's opening session saw 223 of the 261 horses offered change hands for a total of 22,955,000gns (US$30,530,150) up 48% from last year, resulting in an 85% clearance rate. The average was $102,939gns (US$135,909) up 32% from 78,168gns in 2023, with a median of 50,000gns (US$66,500).
