“Solid trade throughout the day,” was how Tattersalls chairman Edmond Mahony described the fifth edition of the September Sale of horses in training, which added 1,887,200gns to the company's turnover for the year.
From a catalogue which had been reduced in size by a third from last year, 128 horses changed hands at Park Paddocks on Tuesday, headed by the 88-rated multiple winner Debora's Dream (Ire) (Sioux Nation), who was bought by Alan O'Keeffe, assistant trainer to Jennie Candlish, on behalf of Clare Dolan. The three-year-old colt, who was previously trained by Roger Varian and offered by Baroda Stud, was secured for 80,000gns.
Baroda Stud ended the day as leading consignor with 14 sold, including the second-top lot, the 87-rated God Of Fire (Ire) (Muhaarar {GB}), who will be joining the jumps yard of Jonjo O'Neill. The four-year-old from the family of St Mark's Basilica (Fr) has won three times this year for Daniel and Claire Kubler. He was signed for at 70,000gns by Chris Dixon.
“Jonjo rang and asked to give him a shout when we were doing the catalogue if we saw anything that could do a job hurdling, so we put this horse forward,” said Dixon, who also bought three horses for his syndicate The Horse Watchers.
“He has obviously progressed nicely since Dan and Claire have had him on the Flat, he has got a winning hurdler in his pedigree, the only one who has tried it. Muhaarar has had a few good jumpers over the last year or so and he might be one of those who make a bit of an impact as a jumps stallion with the right type of horse; I do think he is a good and underrated stallion.”
A clearance rate of 77% was achieved from the 128 lots sold. The median improved by 25% to 10,000gns, while the average was down 14% at 14,744gns.
In his closing statement, Mahony said, “This is the fifth edition of a sale that was introduced in 2020 as a response to the Covid-related delay to the Flat season and numerically the smallest, and whilst we may have been short of obvious stars, there has been solid trade throughout the day from both domestic buyers and those from further afield. International buyers always play a significant part at Tattersalls horses-in-training sales, particularly those from the Gulf, but there has also been a vibrant domestic market including plenty of interest from the National Hunt community.
“We now look forward to Books 1 to 4 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, whose graduates have enjoyed spectacular global success in recent months and we look forward to welcoming an international cast of buyers to Park Paddocks during the fortnight that begins with Europe's Premier Yearling Sale.”
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