BADEN-BADEN, Germany — The beginning of a long-term Classic plan by Graham Smith-Bernal was hatched at the BBAG Yearling Sale with the purchase of a Sea The Stars filly from breeder Gestut Ebbesloh for €600,000.The daughter of the Group 3-winning Soldier Hollow mare Sconset is also a half-sister to G3 Schwarzgold-Rennen winner Santa Catarina (Zarak), who will bid to enhance her black-type record in Saturday's Listed Wackenhut Fillies' Cup at Baden-Baden. Sold as lot 74, she was bought for a Newsells Park Stud syndicate by Jeremy Brummitt, who outbid Suzanne Roberts. Andrew Balding has also been involved in the earlier rounds of bidding. Brummitt said, “This is the first time I have been asked to buy a horse for Newsells Park Stud. She is for the Newsells Park Racing 2027, which is an enterprise to race horses in the hope that they can go to the top level, win a Classic, and be retired to stud at Newsells to breed the next generation of Classic winners. Nothing is more dear to my heart than trying to buy the dams of Classic winners.”He continued, “I like the fact that we're looking at a Classic German family with staying roots and that the dam both won over a mile at Group level and bred a winner over a mile at Group level by Zarak, who isn't an influence for speed. So if you think Sea The Stars is the best stallion available to breeders and you've got a horse that is going to be Group class at a mile, can you think of a better way to breed an Oaks winner? I don't know if it is more important that she wins the Oaks or she [becomes] the granddam of a Derby winner.”For Paul von Schubert of Gestut Ebbesloh, this was a new record price for an unraced horse sold from his farm in the year in which he celebrates its centenary. “We sold another Sea The Stars filly [Enchanting Skies] for half a million some years ago, but of course you never really know what the market will be like,” he said.“We acquired the granddam [Monsun mare Sine Tempore] from Schlenderhan and she comes from a lovely Aga Khan Studs family. She gave us Sconset, who won a Group 3 and produced a Group 3 winner as her first foal, so we thought this filly must have a good chance of selling well.“She was bred on a foal share and so I'm happy that it went well as you always want to be a good business partner.”The breeder noted that Sconset has no foal on the ground this year but is now in foal to Deutsches Derby winner Fantastic Moon, a grandson of Sea The Stars.Von Schubert added, “This is the 100th year of Gestut Ebbesloh's existence, so it's all the more satisfying.”Last year's trade at BBAG had seen increases of around 16 per cent across the key sectors, and 12 months on the figures either kept pace with or exceeded those gains, thanks in no small part to come new faces on the sale ground and a larger number of international trainers in attendance. In fact, at €9,316,000, turnover was up by nine per cent, fuelled by an increase in the clearance rate to 81 per cent, with 169 horses sold from 209 offered. At €55,124 and €55,425, the average and median were clipped only marginally by just over one per cent for each.Farrh from the madding crowdThe arrival of effervescent owner Clive Washbourn at BBAG for the first time pretty much guaranteed that at some stage during the afternoon there would be an eruption in the sale ring.Washbourn had set his heart on the sole Farhh yearling in the catalogue and when the hammer was brought down in his favour at €280,000, yells of “Achtung! Achtung! Ja, ja” were soon emanating from the seats. Washbourn and his wife Laura were working with a busy Jeremy Brummitt, and their purchase of the full-brother to G2 Hansa-Preis winner Global Health only enhanced a stellar day for his breeder Gestut Ebbesloh.“That horse is so beautiful and he's going to Georgie Scott,” Washbourn proclaimed. “George bought us Bay City Roller and we sold him, but always said we'd buy him another nice horse. I phoned him this morning and said that I thought we had one for him. We are also trying to buy fillies to go to Ralph [Beckett].”Just a handful of lots before the Farhh colt, Ebbesloh had yet another decent result with a Sea The Moon filly [lot 149], who will be heading to Norway to the stable of Wido and Jan-Erik Neuroth after being sold for €200,000.Ross Doyle was at the sale with Jan-Erik and, after conducting the bidding on his behalf for the daughter of the Group 3-placed Democracy (Areion), said, “My father Peter and Jan-Erik's father Wido worked Baden-Baden together for years and this is our first time working the sale together. She's been bought for Stall Perlen.”Neuroth added, “She'll be going for fillies' Classic races in Scandinavia and she might even go back to Germany for the Oaks.”Doyle added that the filly had reminded them both of another Sea The Moon, the Scandinavian champion three-year-old filly Nouvelle Lune, who was bought in the same ring nine years ago for €180,000.“Stall Perlen have their own stallion in Denmark, Appel Au Maitre, and their broodmares include Nouvelle Lune,” Neuroth said. “I have her first offspring this year and she was fourth in the Norwegian Derby.”With all four homebreds sold for a total of €1.15m and another member of the draft sold on behalf of a client at €85,000, Gestut Ebbesloh led the consignors' table at BBAG.Sea The Moon is enjoying a decent season, headed by Classic winner Rayif and including Thursday's Listed Prix de Liancourt winner Moonlit Sun plus a two-year-old debut winner Rose Moon at Salisbury for Ralph Beckett. Matching the €200,000 for the filly was Gestut Rottgen's colt out of Anna Kalla (Callisto), a full-brother to German Horse of the Year Assistent, who was bought by Ronald Rauscher on behalf of Dr Christoph Berglar.'A proper Classic page'A yearling with obvious Classic pretensions brought about the first purchase at BBAG by Juddmonte Farms. The colt by Frankel out of Gestut Rottgen's stellar broodmare Wellenspiel (Sternkonig) was also on the shopping list of Philip von Ullman and Joseph O'Brien, but they had to settle for the role of under-bidders to Juddmonte's Shane Horan.He said of lot 80, “We've been working with Rottgen for quite a few years now and this was a mare I contacted them about three years ago with regard to her daughter. The daughter came to Kingman and this mare came to Frankel, and the Kingman was filly was sold at Tatts last year. She made 650,000gns and she was I believe the only foal that Godolphin bought last year. She was a beautiful filly.”That Kingman weanling was a daughter of Well Disposed (Dubawi), one of Wellenspiel's two Group 3-winning daughters along with Weltbeste (Soldier Hollow), while her first two foals, Windstoss (Shirocco) and Weltstar (Soldier Hollow) both went on to win the Deutsches Derby. Windstoss now stands on Rottgen's stallion roster.Horan continued, “This colt has a serious page. The mare has bred four Group winners and two of them are German Derby winners. It's a proper Classic page. She deserved to be going to a stallion like Frankel, and it's a complete outcross. One thing that we've learned about Frankel is that he is a very effective stallion with outcross pedigrees. I think about half his Classic winners are complete outcrosses. “[The yearling] was a fine horse and hopefully he will prove to be well bought. Simon [Mockridge] was here yesterday. He liked the colt and the family was willing to give it a go. I am glad it fell our way.”Gestut Rottgen's advisor Jocelyn de Moubray said, “He was a lovely horse and we're delighted that Juddmonte have bought him. He's going to go to a top trainer. We have three of his sisters and we are going to carry on breeding from that family. The reason why we do things like that is because we want to be in partnership with people like Juddmonte, and if he wins a Group race we'll all be happy.”Torquator Tasso gaining momentum Torquator Tasso was the best represented stallion at BBAG and on his shoulders rest many hopes that he will be the next breakthrough stallion for Germany. At this nascent stage of his career he continues to make a favourable impression with three winners on the board already from his first seven runners. At BBAG, 21 members of his second crop were offered, with 20 being sold at an average of €49,800 and top price of €140,000 for Gestut Park Wiedingen's half-brother to champion two-year-old filly Whispering Angel (Soldier Hollow).From the 20 sold, two colts and a filly will be on their way to Owning Hill to join Joseph O'Brien's stable after agent Anthony Bromley gave a strong vote of confidence to the stallion.“I'm looking for three-year-old middle-distance types,” he said, before adding generally of the sale, “I'm blown away by the horses here.”He backed up his comments with a flick to the back page of his catalogue where a long list of lot numbers was scrawled for those horses worthy of a second look. Bromley was far from the only fan of the stock of the Arc winner. Alex Elliott and Ralph Beckett came back for more, as did Jeremy Brummitt on behalf of Quantum Leap Racing, whose previous purchases at this sale include the G1 Sun Chariot Stakes winner Tamfana (Soldier Hollow).Marnane stretches for Baaeed coltAmy Marnane, who was working the sale with her father Con and uncle David, signed for two yearlings on behalf of Paul Rooney, including a member of the second crop of Baaeed at €210,000. Offered as lot 160 by breeder Gestut Fahrhof, the colt is a half-brother to the G2 Derby Italiano winner Goldenas (Golden Horn) and to Listed winner Prichi (Awtaad).“He was our pick of the sale,” Marnane said. “He's been bought for Paul Rooney, an owner of David's. He and his father were very much involved in selecting him. That was absolutely our last bid – we had to stretch to get him, but we just thought he was a real quality colt. “He had everything, he vetted well, and we think the sire is going to go from strength to strength. We're very excited by him.”She added, “We bought a horse for Paul here last year called Moliere, by The Grey Gatsby. He's a very promising colt and was beaten a neck at Dundalk by a well-fancied Ballydoyle colt by Gun Runner.“You have to admire Paul's enthusiasm for the game. It's his passion, he loves his racing and he's such a good person to deal with. We have to thank him so much for his trust in us.” The post Long-Term Classic Dreams Behind BBAG-Topping Sea The Stars Filly appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.