KODIAC X AMBER DAWN

  We were delighted to secure this attractive Kodiac filly for just 20,000gns at the 2026 Tattersalls Somerville Yearling Sale — a price we believe represents excellent value for a filly by one of the outstanding sources of speed and precocity of the modern era. 

She is by Kodiac, the hugely influential son of Danehill and half-brother to Invincible Spirit. Few stallions have built a stronger reputation for producing fast, tough and precocious racehorses. Kodiac holds the world record for the number of individual two-year-old winners in a season, has sired more than 100 Stakes winners and 200 Stakes performers, and has been a perennial force among Europe’s leading sires of juveniles. 

His best runners include Royal Ascot and Prix Morny winner Campanelle, champion juvenile Tiggy Wiggy, Cheveley Park winner Fairyland, triple Group 1 winner Best Solution, top-class sprinter Hello Youmzain and Prix Jean Prat winner Good Guess. More recently, Babouche defeated the colts in the Group 1 Phoenix Stakes, while Star Of Mystery developed into a high-class Group-winning sprinter. Kodiac was also the third-leading sire of two-year-olds in Britain and Ireland by individual winners in 2024, with 31 juvenile winners that season. 

Following a good first foal

Perhaps the most exciting aspect of this filly’s pedigree is that the family is already producing on the racecourse right now despite its infancies.

She is the second foal out of the Buratino mare Amber Dawn, whose first foal is Lars Soldier, a winner over five furlongs at the Curragh this season. He showed plenty of precocity, winning an Irish EBF maiden in April and remarkably defeating a 1.7 million-guinea Ballydoyle colt in the process. He has subsequently continued to run consistently in good juvenile company and achieved an official rating in the mid-80s. 

That is a very encouraging update for this filly. We are buying a yearling whose older sibling has already demonstrated genuine two-year-old ability, and importantly that sibling was by Soldier’s Call. This filly is by the considerably more established Kodiac, whose record of upgrading mares and producing high-class juveniles speaks for itself.

Amber Dawn herself is a half-sister to Lord Riddiford, a Listed-winning sprinter, while the wider family contains Missher, winner of the Cherry Hinton Stakes and runner-up in the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes. 

That combination of speed close up in the pedigree and proven two-year-old ability from the mare’s first runner is exactly what we want to see.

Why we think 20,000gns represents good value

The price is particularly attractive when put into context.

The average at the 2025 Somerville Sale was 34,254gns, meaning we have bought a Kodiac filly with a winning two-year-old sibling for substantially below the previous year’s sale average. 

Kodiac himself still stands at €20,000 in 2026, so effectively we have bought a daughter of a €20,000 stallion — with a live pedigree update — for only 20,000gns. 

There is also a valuable longer-term consideration with a filly like this. Kodiac is now firmly established as an important influence throughout pedigrees, while his sons Ardad, Kodi Bear, Prince Of Lir and Coulsty have all demonstrated his ability to transmit speed into subsequent generations. A winning filly by Kodiac from a young mare whose first foal is already a winner should therefore retain genuine broodmare appeal once her racing career is complete. 

Brian Ellison

In the past few years, Brian has built himself a solid reputation for producing two year old winners who don't cost a fortune. He has done an excellent job with some of our juveniles such as Homestrait, Temple of Athena and Mollisha. He's also tasted stakes success with Wor Faayth who went over to France to taste listed glory for the yard.

Brian very much adopts a "il train them, you place them" methodology and that allows us to take control of the race planning and we will have plenty of options in the north in valuable restricted races given this filly qualifies for band D restricted races. She will also have near bottom weight in the Weatherbys Super Sprint should we choose to go down that route but she will almost certainly have an entry based on her physical makeup.

Her Somerville purchase also gives us access to some exceptionally valuable targets.

Every yearling offered at the 2026 Tattersalls Somerville Sale is eligible for both the £200,000 Tattersalls Somerville Auction Stakes and the £200,000 Tattersalls October Auction Stakes, subject to the relevant entry and qualification conditions. 

The importance of these races shouldn’t be underestimated. The 2026 Somerville Auction Stakes ultimately carried an advertised prize fund of more than £317,000, illustrating just how valuable these opportunities can become for comparatively inexpensive yearling purchases. 

Somerville itself has already produced horses such as Bradsell, a 12,000gns purchase who became a Royal Ascot and multiple Group 1 winner, and Havana Hurricane, who cost only 9,000gns before winning at Royal Ascot. In 2026, 20,000gns graduate Celeron added another major result for the sale by winning the Group 2 Railway Stakes.