Exciting and unexpected, perhaps, with Tuthill having nothing like such grand plans when he acquired the then-five-year-old Etoile Bleu for 60,000gns at the 2022 Tattersalls December Mares Sale. “I bought Etoile Bleu when she was carrying a Churchill [the now-three-year-old Meritocratic],” Tuthill recalls. But she [Etoile Bleu] has a great pedigree and there was just something about her at the sales that made me think that it was worth her staying on my list. He explains, “We had long conversations at sales selection time and there were good reasons to sell her at the Premier Yearling Sale. “That Premier Yearling Sale is a sale that I like.