Tattersalls sale rakes in £134m as Qatar, Saudi and US fight for horses
Sales for the Tattersalls Yearling Book 1 sale topped £134m this week at Newmarket as international buyers snapped up horse racing’s future.
The three-day event in Suffolk attracted buyers from across the world, with ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum and super agent Kia Joorabchian among the top bidders.
Mega operations Gadolphin and Amo Racing shared the top six horses, totalling 15.8m guineas (£16.6m) while 70 lots went for 500,000 guineas or more.
A total of 128.6m guineas was achieved in turnover, including private sales, with an average price of 319,206 and a median of 200,000 – according to the Tattersalls website.
Tattersalls Chairman Edmond Mahony said that the “October Yearling Sale consistently showcases the finest British, Irish, French and German bred yearlings to a global audience”.
Gulf helps Tattersalls
Bids came from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Japan, the United States and Europe – with MV Magnier, son of well-known billionaire John Magnier, picking up a number of lots.
“As ever,” Mahony continued, “the support from the Gulf region has been a feature as has the large number of American buyers who have purchased more than 40 yearlings.
“Last year’s renewal of Europe’s premier yearling sale was widely regarded as one of the more remarkable sales of recent years, bucking the trend of earlier yearling sales that autumn with wide margin increases in all the key metrics.
“Those results saw the bloodstock market take a significant upturn over the last twelve months and whilst a drop in average and median were to be expected with the larger catalogue, it has been gratifying to return figures that are second only to last year’s record renewal.”
While Tuesday’s top seller – the 3.7m guinea Sea The Stars (IRE) / Crystal Zvezda (GB) colt – was the highest of the week, with the Frankel (GB) / Aljazzi (GB) colt achieving 3.6m guineas on the same day, Wednesday saw a Frankel (GB) / Innevera (FR) colt, a Wootton Bassett (GB) / Luna Mare (IRE) lot and a Wootton Bassett (GB) / Qabala (USA) horse all achieve 2.2m guineas.
Thursday’s top lot was a Wootton Bassett (GB) / Time Tunnel (GB) colt, going for 1.9m guineas.
“We now turn our attention to Books 2 and 3 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale which begins on Monday, 13th October,” Mahony concluded.