THE DUBAWI half-sister to 2019 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe hero Waldgeist may have been reluctant to enter Tattersalls’ Park Paddocks sales ring, but prospective purchasers needed no such help and after a prolonged bidding rally the blueblooded filly was knocked down to Al Shira’aa Farms at 1,250,000gns. The filly was the very first lot on offer on the third and final day of Book 1.

The filly, who was bred in partnership between Newsells Park Stud and Gestut Ammerland, is out of Group Three winning Monsun mare Waldlerche, meaning she is also a half-sister to the Prix de Malleret scorer Waldlied and Gordon Richards Stakes winner Waldkonig, as well as aforementioned multiple Group One hero and Ballylinch Stud resident Waldgeist.

“She was the boss’ pick of the whole sale and pages like that very rarely come on the market,” said Al Shira’aa’s Kieran Lalor. “As an individual she’s a really beautiful filly too, so she was an obvious one. We’re trying to build a broodmare band to compete with the farms at the top and she fits that bill.”

The acquisition continued a productive few weeks for the burgeoning Al Shira’aa operation, headed up by Sheikha Fatima bint Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Al Shira’aa recently spent €1,100,000 at the Goffs Orby Sale, where they secured half-sisters to Mother Earth and Poetic Flare, as well as a €650,000 Frankel filly.

Their Tattersalls haul also included the 475,000gns Lope De Vega half-sister to Broome and the 925,000gns No Nay Never half-sister to Bolshoi Ballet. “All the right people are involved in these families so they’ll continually update, and that’s exciting for us as we’ll have lots to follow in the coming years,” continued Lalor.

“I feel a couple of those we’ve bought would have cost a lot more money a couple of years ago, so I think we’ve secured a lot of value.” The operation also bred and sold smart juvenile and Dewhurst Stakes fifth Dhabab. “We’re a business, so we do sell, although we tend to keep fillies, particularly from the big families,” explained Lalor.

“We have around 15 in training between France and the US and we’ve had a very good year. “These fillies we’ve bought this year will really reinforce the foundation of what we’re trying to do. These are blue hen pedigrees and if we want to compete at the top we need to be involved in these families. We also have 25 mares, which will grow, and since we bought Meadow Court Stud in 2016 it’s undergone a significant overhaul.

We’ll slowly develop it and start to understand the families. “We’ll sit down after all the sales and the boss will make the decisions about who will train these horses, but it’ll probably be someone in France or Ireland. There are no restrictions though so anything is possible.”