Owner Clive Washbourn certainly made his presence felt at the Tattersalls December Yearling Sale on Monday when paying a session-topping 200,000gns for a first-crop son of Pinatubo.

A bidding war between Anthony Stroud and Richard Hannon was gently unfolding at the 170,000gns mark when Washbourn announced his interest with a shout of ‘200,000gns, show us the money!’. That was enough to stop his challengers in their track, leaving Washbourn to celebrate from his seat with a joyous shout of ‘get in there!’.

“He is the greatest horse in the sale and I love Tatts!” said the animated owner. “This particular sale is amazing value for money. 

“These Pinatubos look like middle-weight fighters. This colt will be smashing Coolmore up the Ascot straight in the Coventry – boof, boof, boof! I was a bit worried I might not be able to get him because Laura, my lovely girlfriend, was meant to be keeping me under control and I’ve lost the plot completely. I think I probably overpaid. I got a rush of blood. But I wanted this horse.”

The colt was bred by Gigginstown House Stud out of Narak, a winning half-sister to Group 2 winner Valiant Prince and Group 3 scorer Klassique whose dam Chachamaidee was awarded the 2012 Matron Stakes. 

“I have an amazing pedigree man,” continued Washbourn. “And a brilliant trainer in David Menuisier who looks at all the physicals. This for us is a four star rating, the closest we’ve ever got to Thundering Blue [Washbourn’s Group 2 winner]. We were driving up here and David phoned me up and said ‘God this colt is beautiful’. So that was it – number one target. I love David. He’s grumpy but he’s a real horseman. And Coombelands, where he trains, is so quiet and calm. It really is a beautiful place. If anyone is going to train a colt to be a Group 1 winner for me, it is David.”

The colt was the highlight among 13 six-figure lots, a record for this sale. Overall, 127 yearlings sold for a total of 4,788,200gns and a record average of 37,330gns, an improvement of eight per cent from last year. However, the median declined by nine per cent to 20,000gns.

On a day when there was confidence at the top end for the progeny of young sires, a son of Shadwell’s Mohaather commanded 175,000gns from Conor Quirke, acting on behalf of Big Evs’ owner RP Racing.

Bred by his vendor Ringfort Stud in partnership with The Ladies, the colt is the first foal out of Listed National Stakes runner-up Jm Jackson, a fast daughter of No Nay Never.

“We saw him early doors and he stood out,” said Quirke. “He’s a very nice horse out of a very fast two-year-old – there was a lot of No Nay Never about him. He looks like he will be sharp enough. The stock by the stallion look to be the business so we’ll see. Mohaather is very good-looking and he had an electric turn of pace. And being out of a fast No Nay Never mare, hopefully this lad will be similar.”

There was also a sale-ring best for vendor Folland-Bowen in the sale of a Showcasing brother to the high-class Tropbeau for 170,000gns to Anthony Stroud.

Plans call for the colt, a homebred of Lord Margadale’s, to join Andre Fabre.

“[The family] has been very good to us,” said Lord Margadale. “We’re over the moon, but if he’d been a filly he wouldn’t be here. The only filly she has ever had is Tropbeau. 

“He’s always been a lovely horse from the word go, and it’s great that the mare has produced another really lovely horse by Showcasing. He’s a little bit smaller than Tropbeau but slightly sharper looking. 

“She is having a year out but she is going back to another Whitsbury Manor Stud stallion next year, Havana Grey, because pace is really her thing. 

“People told me that he was one of the two nicest horses in the sale, but I wouldn’t know, and obviously he was going to be the apple of my eye. I was hoping he might make around about the 150-mark. 

“Last year when we sold the half-brother by Dubawi [Twisting Physics] he stuck at around 140 for about three minutes, and I was thinking ‘Oh Jesus’. Unfortunately, because he was bought by John Dance, we don’t really know what has happened to him, which is worrying, but I am told that he’s a nice horse and that he’s grown a bit, so he may not have run this year anyway.”

The colt was the sole purchase made during the day by Stroud Coleman Bloodstock. “He comes from a good nursery, he is an athletic horse and he looks an earlyish sort,” said Stroud.

There was also the end of an era in the sale of the final Galileo yearling to pass through a sale ring. Roderic Kavanagh, who pinhooked Vandeek out of this sale last year, landed the colt in question, a son of the 2014  1,000 Guineas fourth Manderley bred by Coolmore. Also dam of the French Listed winner Hidden Dimples, Manderley is a sister to Hungerford Stakes winner and sire Gregorian.

“The plan is to reoffer,” said Kavanagh. “He looks like a fast Galileo, physically he’s very nice. Hopefully he gallops the way he walks – he’s a great mover. The mare has been very good and it’s a deep family. 

“He could go anywhere really. He looks forward enough that he could come back here in April though his birthday [May 13] suggests he could be a bit later. We’ll get him home and see how he’s going.

“We have a similar number to last year. We were waiting all day for this one so it’s job done. We have a full basket now and we’ll get to work.”

The final Galileo to pass through a sale ring. Photo – Tattersalls