Godolphin Snags Starspangledbanner Filly at Tattersalls

A crowd of major players followed the sister to recent listed winner Avicenna (IRE) into the Park Paddocks ring midway through day two of Tattersalls Book 2 Ed Sackville, standing opposite the Coolmore crew at the back of the packed gangway, had a major bearing on proceedings, but eventually backed down when Godolphin's Anthony Stroud struck a bid of 900,000gns (US$1,260,000; 1 guinea=US$1.40). The daughter of Starspangledbanner (AUS) was bred by Sue Ann Foley, daughter of JP McManus, and sold through her Islanmore Stud. Godolphin already know plenty about the pedigree as Sheikh Mohammed's royal blue colors were aboard Avicennawhen he won the Flying Scotsman Stakes at Doncaster last month. That form received a notable boost on Saturday when runner-up Hankelow landed the Autumn Stakes (G3) at Newmarket. "She's an exceptionally good-looking filly," said Stroud, who signed for Avicenna at 450,000gns at last year's Book 2. "She's a very good mover and it's a current pedigree. We have the full-brother and he's done absolutely everything correctly. This is a very good individual who's been very, very well prepared by Islanmore. She's a lovely filly. She's a bit of a standout." He added, "She's quite similar to the brother; it's hard to compare a filly with a colt, but in many ways she's more attractive. She's a pretty outstanding-looking filly." The youngster is out of the Galileo mare Love Potion. This means she is a sibling to three winners, with Avicenna joined by the highly rated pair Amortentia and Old Cock. The six-figure filly is also bred on the same cross as recent Fillies' Mile (G1) heroine Precise (IRE). "We weren't expecting that," said Islanmore stud manager Nigel Anderton. "She's a gorgeous filly and she must've had over 200 shows during the week. She's beautifully balanced, and each and every time she came out, she walked like a queen. We arrived here on Thursday, started showing on Friday, and then got the big update with Precise, who's also out of a Galileo mare." Reflecting on watching the bidding unfold, Anderton said: "It was amazing and it just shows you what can happen when two people like the filly. When a nice horse goes in there, anything can happen, and she was a beauty queen. She's very similar to her brother, but she's probably bigger at this stage and has a bit more scope. I actually liked her more. Sometimes you have to convince other fellas to like them too, but it wasn't too hard this week." The youngster became the joint second-most expensive filly in Book 2 history. The record is held by Shadwell buy Tarhib, who fetched 1,050,000gns in 2019. Through the first day of Book 2, 214 lots (including 1 private sale) sold for 21,521,000gns (US$30,129,400) with an average of 101,038gns (US$141,453.20) and 70,000gns (US$98,000) median. Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale concludes on Wednesday with a session starting at 10 a.m. local time.