Our final yearling purchase in 2025 was this classy and very athletic-looking son of first-crop sire Minzaal, out of the Lope De Vega mare Summer House. We secured the colt for 72,000 guineas.

He was originally catalogued for the Goffs Orby Sale back at the end of September, but after spiking a temperature at the sale he was unable to go through the ring. Fortunately, we had already seen him before he became unwell and liked him a great deal. That opinion was very much reaffirmed when we saw him again, and both Harry and ourselves were delighted to have been able to buy him.

He is by Owen Burrows’ dual Group 1-winning sprinter Minzaal, whose first yearlings made a strong impression across the autumn sales. His dam, Summer House, is a daughter of the outstanding sire and broodmare sire Lope De Vega, out of a Listed-winning sister to Epsom Derby runner-up Walk In The Park, now a top National Hunt sire. The grandam, Classic Park, won the Irish 1,000 Guineas, so this is a pedigree of real depth and quality.

Luke Lillingston commented:

“Hey, good looking! Having secured a lovely group of yearlings who have proved extremely popular, our last purchase of the year might just be the best looking of the lot. Good looks don’t guarantee anything, but this boy has plenty of other things to recommend him. Firstly, he is from the first crop of Minzaal, Europe’s highest-rated sprinter of 2022 and, according to Owen Burrows, much the fastest horse he has ever trained. His dam is by Lope De Vega—the leading stallion in the world this year by black-type horses and an increasingly influential broodmare sire. Minzaal is by Mehmas who, when crossed with a Lope De Vega mare, produced the outstanding Persian Force—the sire of the great chestnut yearling you saw at our yearling parade. Additionally, he comes from the highly respected breeder John Tuthill of Owenstown Stud, from where such stars as Gordon Lord Byron, Excelebration, Persuasive and Art Power have emerged.”

We look forward to seeing High Summer make his debut before long.