Arrowfield Stud has bought a half-sister to dual Group One winner Hartnell at the Tattersalls December Sale at Newmarket in England.

Studmaster Paul Messara outlaid 360,000 guineas (abt $A597,600) for Phyllis Maud on the first day of the broodmare sale on Monday.

The winner of last year's BMW, Hartnell won the Turnbull Stakes in the spring and ran second to champion Winx in the Cox Plate and third in the Melbourne Cup behind Almandin and Heartbreak City.

"It is a little while since we have bought here but she is an obvious one for us to buy," Messara said.

"She was a good mare herself, and she'll stay here to foal. We'll probably cover on southern hemisphere time."