€210,000 Top Lot Leads Strong Opening Session At September Yearling Sale

A buoyant opening session of the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale produced buoyant trade from start to finish, with returns just shy of those achieved at last year’s record-breaking opening session.

Consignors had reported two busy days of inspections, and that pre-sale activity successfully translated into demand in the ring from an international and domestic buying bench.

Fifteen horses sold for €100,000 or more, an increase of four on the six-figure sales achieved during last year’s opening session, with today’s top price of €210,000 the highest given at the September Yearling Sale since 2020.

The average of €41,705 is the third-highest ever recorded for a single session, while the day’s median of €34,000 has also only been exceeded twice.

Turnover of €8,841,500 is the third-highest recorded at a single session of the September Yearling Sale. Of the 250 horses offered, 212 changed hands, producing an excellent clearance rate of 85 per cent.

Ed Sackville and Manor House Stables were purchasers of the day’s top lot, a son of the exciting first-crop yearling sire Chaldean (Lot 231) and out of the winning Showcasing mare Amazing Show.

“The three of us just thought he was an incredibly nice colt,” said Sackville, who was standing with trainer Hugo Palmer and owner Michael Owen. “I think any time you have what you perceive to be a nice horse, you have to expect to pay!”

Palmer added: “What excites me about Chaldean is that he, like Frankel, was a champion two-year-old. This sale has been so good to me as a trainer – my first stakes winner came from here, and then there has been Galileo Gold, Hawksmoor, Adaay Of Scarlett and Sale Shark. I love the fact that we can come here and feel that we can buy any horse in the ring, which we can’t really do at any other sale.

“It means we feel that we can buy the horses we think are the best – we are coming here with a good chance.”

The trio outbid Ken Condon for the Rathbarry Stud-sold colt and finished the day as the leading buyers numerically and by aggregate spend, with an outlay of €537,000 on five lots.

Consignor Paul Cashman said: “I didn’t see that coming! I was hoping that he might make six figures, but I didn’t think he’d make double six figures! There were some great people on him, and I am delighted where he is going.

“We bought the mare for 70,000gns and covered her with Chaldean – what a first foal, and he has always been a strong individual. It is a lovely cross. There are exciting times ahead: she had a Kodi Bear foal this year and is in foal to Unquestionable.”

The day’s top-priced filly is a daughter of Sea The Stars (Lot 104), bought for €160,000 by bloodstock agent Alex Elliott for Anthony Ramsden’s Valmont.

“A filly by Sea The Stars is obviously going to stand out, and I think she has been well placed here,” said Elliott. “I thought she was a very sweet filly, and the Sea The Stars–Dubawi cross works well.”

He added: “She was at the top of where we had her. She is a February foal and is well put together – I don’t think we will be waiting all year for her. I need to have a conversation with Anthony to see where she will go into training.”

The filly, sold by Castledillon Stud for breeder Christopher Hanbury, is out of Snigger, a daughter of the Group 2 winner and Group 1-placed Laugh Out Loud.

Lot 205, a New Bay half-brother to the promising juvenile colt San Jose (Blackbeard), was bought by Oliver St Lawrence on behalf of trainer Sir Mark Prescott, who had spent the day at the sales complex viewing horses but had to leave to catch his flight.

St Lawrence went to €150,000 to secure the Ballylinch Stud-consigned colt, a half-brother to three winners, including the Listed Montrose Fillies’ Stakes winner Pintara.

“That came in on budget!” said the agent. “We saw the horse twice this morning and loved him; we love the pedigree. He is a nice type of horse, and New Bay is a sire we like.”

Consignor John O’Connor said: “He is a very nice young colt, so this is an early sale for a May foal. But the good judges were on him, and the mare’s very good. He’s gone to a good trainer – I’m delighted he’s going there.”

O’Connor added, “Sometimes, when they’re born late, it’s hard to know whether to go for an early sale or a later sale, but he stood out a little bit here. The nice horses are walking in and making good prices, and there are people here to buy the nice horses.”

All horses sold or bought in under the hammer are eligible for the 2027 Tattersalls Ireland Super Auction Sales Stakes at The Curragh, which carries a guaranteed minimum prize fund of €250,000.

The September Yearling Sale continues tomorrow at 10am.