Eaton Sales' Reiley McDonald went to 1.5 million guineas ($2,535,325) to land two-time group II winner Banimpire, topping the second day of the Tattersalls December mare sale Dec. 4 in Newmarket.
Consigned by European Sales Management, the 4-year-old daughter of Holy Roman Emperor out of the Kris S mare My Renee won last year's Ribblesdale (Eng-II) and Keeneland Royal Whip (Ire-II) Stakes. Banimpire is a great granddaughter of champion European filly and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (Fr-I) winner Detroit, dam of another Arc winner in Carnegie.
"She is the prettiest mare," said McDonald with a smile after he saw off Haras de Saint Pair's Andreas Putsch and Japanese buyer KI Farm. "She has been bought on behalf of a very good client.
"We are keen to buy European pedigrees to bring in more versatility, stamina, and strength to our U.S. pedigrees. We will send her to Galileo. He is the pre-eminent stallion in the world and we want to get ahead of the curve by using him. She might spend a couple of years in Europe, we will see."
Another U.S. buyer made a splash as Greg Goodman of Mount Brilliant Farm near Lexington landed Desert Classic, dam of 2011 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (gr. I) winner Wrote, for 875,000 guineas ($1,478,939). The 10-year-old daughter of Green Desert was offered carrying a foal by High Chaparral—a full sibling to Wrote—and was the sixth-highest priced mare through the first two days of the sale.
Goodman, who bought the Highclere Stud-consigned mare, saw off Ibrahim Araci, James Wigan, and Adrian Nicoll to secure Desert Classic after some prompting from his wife Beccy.
"We selected four or five mares," explained Goodman, "but she was the pick of them. Luckily, she was the first to come through. She is a beautiful mare and we are very pleased. She will foal here and may stay here for a couple of years. She is carrying a colt."
The day saw 184 mares sell for 23,792,500 guineas ($40,214,476), down 6.2% compared with 2011 guineas-to-guineas. Average registered at 129,307 guineas ($218,556), down 22.1%; and median at 66,000 guineas ($111,554), down 16.67%.
The Tattersalls December mare sale continues at 9:30 a.m. Dec. 5.