Tattersalls Somerville Looking to Continue Upward Curve 

NEWMARKET, UK–The third European yearling sale within eight days gets underway as Tattersalls pulls the curtain up on its yearling season with its increasingly popular Somerville Sale. 

It will be a frenetic day at Park Paddocks on Tuesday with more than 300 horses to go through the ring, but the sale is riding high on the back of some decent results, with Bradsell (GB) (Tasleet {GB}), the star of the inaugural edition in 2021, adding the G1 King's Stand S. to his previous Royal Ascot success in the G2 Coventry S. for Archie Watson and Victorious Racing.

In recent weeks, last year's graduates Indian Run (Ire) (Sioux Nation) and Relief Rally (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) landed the G3 Acomb S. and G2 Lowther S. at York, while Anisette (GB) (Awtaad {Ire}) won the GI Del Mar Oaks. 

It took a total of 206,000gns to buy these four horses, a figure that was barely two-thirds of the average price of a yearling at Tattersalls October Book 1 last year, so it is easy to see why this auction, which has taken a strong lead from the Doncaster playbook of precocity and speed, is catching on. The emphasis on youth also extends to the marketing for this sale, with its snappy video featuring the younger members of the Tattersalls team.

✅ £100,000 Tattersalls Somerville Auction Stakes
✅ £150,000 Tattersalls October Auction Stakes

Graduates of the #TattsSomerville Yearling Sale are eligible for both Tattersalls sales races. That's £250,000 up for grabs!

Amichi did the double last year 👀 pic.twitter.com/pNvkY95gac

— Tattersalls (@Tattersalls1766) September 3, 2023

One of those, auctioneer Matt Hall, was looking particularly dapper in a jaunty Panama as he inspected the yearlings he will be selling on Tuesday, but he played down his leading role in the sale. “It's been very busy over the last few days, with plenty of footfall, so let's hope that transfers to the ring,” was all he could be drawn on as he conferred with Jenny Norris. 

There's been a good name game taking place in the Norris Bloodstock draft for the filly by Harry Angel (Ire) out of Meghan Sparkle (Ire) [Lot 213]. Netflix (GB) has been suggested, along with the less flattering Ginge N Whinge (GB), which would work better if she was a chestnut. Either way, the neat bay is a smart and racy-looking filly, quite typical of the kind on offer here this week.

On Monday morning, as British politics limped back into action after the summer recess, Angela Rayner was named Shadow Levelling Up Minister in a Labour reshuffle. I've no idea what that actually means, but there is a good deal of levelling up underway at Tattersalls on 'Catholic Hill' which will presumably be ready for its unveiling at the October Sale. In the meantime, it's a little discombobulating trying to find some consignors away from their usual spot, but plenty were enjoying the shade of the trees in the Highflyer paddocks on a roasting hot September day.

There are unconfirmed rumours that the July Sale ice-cream man could make a return to Park Paddocks on Tuesday, and even bigger rumours about the money being offered by various stallion farms from around the world for Havana Grey (GB). The rising star of Whitsbury Manor Stud claimed his Group 1 in the Flying Five on Irish Champions Weekend five years ago, and since then both he and his offspring have continued to fly. From £8,000 to £18,500 his fee has already climbed, and TDN's Brian Sheerin selflessly stayed up into the wee small hours the other night in Doncaster specifically to listen to the gossip on where his price will be pitched next year. 

It is unclear whether or not Brian fell asleep in the bar of the Earl of Doncaster, but we still don't know the magic number. We just hope that Havana Grey stays in England. Sixteen of his yearlings are in the Somerville Sale, including two from his breeder Mickley Stud, who sold Havana Grey as a foal at Tattersalls back in 2015.

From an opening average of 21,345gns and median of 16,250gns for the first Somerville Sale as the world started to right itself after the Covid pandemic, those figures climbed significantly to 30,377gns and 26,000gns last year. It would be folly to expect such extravagant percentage gains this time around, but the sale has taken root. And there have been enough people in action during the inspection days of Sunday and Monday for plenty of consignors to be feeling quietly confident as they tucked into their burgers at the pre-sale barbecue on Monday night. 

Selling begins at 9.30am, and a 12-hour session is likely, but it makes sense to have kept this relative newcomer to the sales scene to its one-day boutique format.