Successful Derby Sale Concludes

Buyers again had to dig deep at the second and final day of the Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale and similar to the opening session it was a French bred 3-year-old who topped the day and indeed the whole sale when knocked down to Ronnie O'Leary for €220,000. O'Leary had been active at the upper end on Wednesday and he had to see off stiff competition to land the son of Martaline (Fr), offered by Mark Dwyer's Oaks Farm Stables as lot 271. “I had to have him,” O'Leary said afterwards. “He is my pick of the sale and I couldn't let him go. He's got the walk, the looks, you couldn't knock him.” French breds continued to be in vogue as Tom Malone slugged it out to acquire lot 334, a Blue Bresil (Fr) gelding from Johnny Collins's Brown Island Stables for €200,000. The horse is set to join trainer Paul Nicholls and the successful vendor said, “I bought him privately as a foal and he was always a great mover and a lovely type. The pedigree has had a good update as his half-brother has done well, and he has proved that the mare can get runners. We came here thinking he was our biggest hit but I didn't think he'd go for that much.” At the close of business 337 of the 410 offered lots sold for a clearance rate of 82%. The two day aggregate amounted to €17,068,500 while the average and median came in at €50,648 and €42,000 respectively. The leading purchasers of the sale were the Doyle brothers' Monbeg Stables who acquired a staggering 32 horses for a total of €1.66m.