Prix de l’Opera Heroine Barnavara Joins A-List Cast for the Tattersalls December Mares Sale

[Wandering Eyes]

High-class filly Barnavara, last seen winning the G1 Prix de l'Opera at ParisLongchamp, is set to go under the hammer at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale. She will be consigned by Baroda Stud and will feature as part of the fourth edition of the Sceptre Sessions, which take place on Monday, December 1 and Tuesday, December 2.

Trained by Jessica Harrington for Alpha Racing, Barnavara has gone from strength to strength since gaining her first black-type victory in June's Listed Kooyonga Stakes at Navan. The daughter of Calyx has been beaten just once in four subsequent starts, notably winning the G3 Jannah Rose Stakes at Naas and G2 Blandford Stakes at the Curragh, before beating See The Fire by a short neck to make the breakthrough at the top level on Arc weekend.

Altogether Barnavara will be offered at Park Paddocks as the winner of five of her 13 starts, having also made a successful debut at the Curragh in May last year. She went on to finish placed in three Group races as a two-year-old, including when returning to the Curragh to take third in the G2 Debutante Stakes.

“The rules of the syndicate are that the horses are sold no later than the end of their three-year-old careers,” said Patrick Cooper of BBA Ireland, who bought Barnavara for €70,000 at Book 1 of the Goffs Orby Yearling Sale. “She is a big filly, standing a good 16.2HH, so what she has achieved this early in her career is remarkable. She won her maiden in May of her two-year-old year and has run another dozen times since. She has a great constitution and an attitude to die for. She just doesn't lie down.”

He continued, “Barnavara is named after the farm where Mum grew up in Cork. She is one of two nonagenarians in the syndicate, most of whom are intending to come to the sales. The genteel rabble that are the owners had the day of their racing lives at Longchamp. This is a great group of people.

“Alpha Racing has been going for eight years now and we have pretty much given everyone back the share price every year. Hopefully, this year's group might do a little better than that. We have a core that has been in since the beginning and others come and go depending on circumstances. We will be sorry to see her go, but we are stocking up for next year and the bills need paying. The sale will be her last race for us and we are expecting a large turnout.”

Bred by Andriy Milovanov and Viktor Tymoshenko, Barnavara is one of three winners from as many runners out of the Kentucky Dynamite mare Alfea who, in turn, is out of a half-sister to the G1 Grosser Dallmayr-Preis – Bayerisches Zuchtrennen hero Danceteria (Redoute's Choice). The third dam, the G3 Grand Prix des Provinces scorer Bal De La Rose, is a half-sister to the dual Classic-winning sire Lope De Vega.

Tattersalls chairman Edmond Mahony added, “Barnavara is a filly of exceptional talent and looks to be a filly who is only going to get better and she will undoubtedly be one of the highlights of the Sceptre Sessions at this year's Tattersalls December Mares Sale. She joins a growing list of stellar fillies that will be offered at Europe's leading breeding stock sale and it is a privilege to be asked to offer her at one of the most eargerly anticipated events of the global bloodstock sales calendar this year.”

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