After purchasing Playful Act (Ire) in the Keeneland November breeding stock sale this year for $10.5-million, a world-record price for a broodmare or broodmare prospect at auction, John Ferguson, representative for Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid al Maktoum, was again prominent on the opening day of the Tattersalls Ltd. December breeding stock sale.

Ferguson signed the ticket for the two highest-priced horses on Monday, the first of four sessions at Park Paddocks in Newmarket.

Ferguson purchased Satwa Queen (Fr) for $7,339,920 (3.4-million guineas) to top the session. The five-year-old chestnut Muhtathir (GB) mare has won six of 16 career starts, including the 2007 Prix de l’Opera Casino Barriere d’Enghien les Bains (Fr-G1), and earned $776,721 in four seasons.

Consigned by Ecurie Jean de Roualle, Satwa Queen is a half sister to Group 1 winner Spadoun and is one of four stakes winners out of the Irish River (Fr) mare Tolga.

Ferguson also signed the ticket for Group 2 winner Sander Camillo for $6,908,160 (3.2-million guineas).

Consigned by Shalfleet Stables, the three-year-old Dixie Union filly is out of multiple stakes winner Staraway, by Star de Naskra.

Sander Camillo won both the Chippenham Lodge Cherry Hinton Stakes (Eng-G2) and Albany Stakes (Eng-G2) as a juvenile in 2006. She has earned $157,909 in two seasons.

Tattersalls reported that 199 horses from 284 offered sold for $53,369,854 (24,722,000 guineas), a 26.6% increase compared with the corresponding 2006 session. Average price rose 31.4% to $268,190 (124,231 guineas), and median declined 22.2% to $75,558 (35,000 guineas).

The 2006 Tattersalls December mare sale featured the sale of Magical Romance for $9,151,884, which was established a world-record price for a broodmare or broodmare prospect until the mark was eclipsed for Playful Act in November. James Wigans London Thoroughbred Services signed the ticket for Magical Romance on behalf of Lady Serena Rothschild.