Fastnet Rock Mare Sells for 2.7million Guineas

Champion sire Fastnet Rock is currently the leading broodmare sire in Australia by winners (138) and stakes-winners (11) with his daughters proving a hot commodity in the sale ring and none hotter than Irish bred Group I winner Via Sistina (5m Fastnet Rock x Nigh, by Galileo).

Consigned by Grove Stud, the five year-old mare was bought by Evergreen Equine for 2.7million guineas at Newmarket on Tuesday to be the second highest priced offering at the star studded Tattersalls December Mare Sale.

The sale provided a dream result for her owners Stephen & Becky Hillen, who bought Via Sistina for just 5,000 guineas as a yearling at Tattersalls December and the one time ugly duckling has become a swan.

Via Sistina has won five races highlighted by the Group I Pretty Polly Stakes at The Curragh as well as gaining three more Group I placings and has a lovely pedigree being from unraced Galileo mare Nigh, a half-sister to dual Group I winning champion sprinter Kingsgate Native.

“It has been a dream! I thought that she'd bring in 2,000,000 guineas plus, that cross is sensational,” said Stephen Hillen.

"She was a Group 1 winner, but arguably she ran great in the Champion Stakes and she was still improving all the time. It is nice now to see her almost certainly be retired sound and go to stud. I was fine watching her sell - I thought that if we don't get what we want for her, we can still race her so it was a celebration either way."