Phenomenal trade at Tattersalls Ireland sees records smashed at unprecedented Part Two of the September Yearling Sale

The trickledown effect of a blockbuster Part One of the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale was anticipated to swell the tide for Part Two and less than an hour into the sale, a Showcasing filly shattered the section's record price when knocked down to Bailey's Horse Feeds for €85,000, a record that didn't survive till the end of the sale.

Out of the Group 2 winner Lucky Kristale, a half-sister to champion three-year-old filly Love, the bay was offered by The Castlebridge Consignment on behalf of her breeder Juddmonte Farms and Castlebridge's Patrick Diamond placed the credit for her record-breaking sale firmly on the Juddmonte team.

"She's a Juddmonte homebred and Barry [Mahon] entered her in this sale, as Juddmonte have supported it over the years. She's a lovely filly with a great pedigree and we are delighted to sell her so well for Juddmonte," Diamond said.

"She's really strong physically and was prepped fantastically, she comes from one of the greatest nurseries that has ever been and it's a privilege to be entrusted with selling these horse for Juddmonte."

The price smashed the previous record price by more than €20,000 and Simon Venner, whose family founded and own Baileys Horse Feeds, made the trip to Fairyhouse especially to buy the half-sister to the Group 2 Prix Niel third Bravais.

"We flew in last night and came to see her," Venner remarked. "She was the reason we came over, we wanted to buy her and we will be flying out again at midday.

"It was more than I thought we'd have to pay, but she is nice. She goes to Charlie Johnston, and he saw her and liked her, too."

Lucky Kristale was trained by George Margarson to win the Lowther and Duchess Of Cambridge Stakes at two and the Listed Garrowby Stakes as a three-year-old. 

The daughter of Lucky Story was acquired by Juddmonte when her racing career ended and she has produced three winners from four runners, with a Havana Grey filly foal on the ground.

Since then, the family has deepened with Love winning five Group 1s including the Oaks, 1,000 Guineas and Prince Of Wales's Stakes while her Galileo full-sisters Peach Tree and Flattering have also become black type winners for Coolmore.

It's a family that Venner is familiar with; his parents, who own Petches Farm, bred Lucky Kristale's dam Pikaboo and her Group 2 Park Stakes-winning half-brother Arabian Gleam and Kimberella, a Listed winner. There is a neat symmetry to the story as the family is originally a Juddmonte one, with Venner acquiring this filly's third dam – Gleam Of Light – from Juddmonte for whom she won twice at three.

Lucky Kristale's Showcasing filly smashed the record price for Part Two of the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling SaleCredit: Alan Crowhurst

Diamond said that both the evidence on the ground and the statistics pointed to the buying power at the sale this week.

"Footfall has been incredible all the way through," he said. "We have been tracking our stats and this year is the highest number of views and shows we've done at this sale, it's the busiest September Yearling Sale we can remember."

Being able to boast three individual Group 1 winners at this year's Royal Ascot is only one of the factors contributing to an unprecedented trade at the September Yearling Sale.

"I think the Royal Ascot success has definitely had an impact [on trade] but Irish Thoroughbred Marketing and the team at Tatts Ireland have worked so hard to get buyers here. There are lots of new faces coming but they have also kept people coming back," Diamond added.

Castlebridge assumed their customary position atop the consignors' table for Parts One and Two of the sale, and they generated more than €2,000,000 in receipts for their clients including the sale-topping colt – a son of Starspangledbanner bought by George Scott and Billy Jackson Stops for €200,000. That was a case of previous success enticing buyers back to the draft and something the team prides themselves on.

Patrick Diamond (right) with Billy Jackson Stops and George Scott, said footfall at the sale had been impressive

"We sold the sale-topper in Part One to the same people who bought Command The Stars from us here last year for €130,000," Diamond said. "He won a Listed race in France for George earlier this month so results speak for themselves."

Diamond expected trade to continue to be robust throughout a session that has been trimmed by Tattersalls Ireland from previous years to focus even more closely on improving the quality of offer.

He added: "You're worried that there will be a drop-off in buyers from one book to the next but that hasn't been the case so far, we have been flat out showing all morning and every horse we have brought to the ring so far has been pulled out."

International agents spend big

The international appeal of the sale was reflected in the variety of names on the buyers' list with Italy's Razza Latina the biggest spenders on the day, Cristiana Brivio;s total Part Two outlay €147,000 for six horses.

The tightened catalogue produced astonishing results with 131 yearlings generating €1,871,800 in receipts, an increase of 51 per cent year-on-year and from over 50 fewer horses.

The Razza Latina team, spearheaded by Cristiana Brivio, were the biggest spenders at Part Two of the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling SaleCredit: Tattersalls Ireland

That trade saw record average and medians posted for Part Two with the average of €14,074 a leap of 112 per cent on 12 months ago. The median grew by an even more astounding 150 points in that time - from €4,000 to €10,000. The clearance rate was an outstanding 92 per cent.

Brivio's early €37,000 purchase of Baroda Stud's Gleneagles filly out of a half-sister to Group 1 winner Linngari and Lidana, dam of Group 1 winners Normandel and Mont Ormel and granddam of Pyledriver, set the tone for the action which unfolded.

Inside the first 15 lots last year's top price had been bettered and by the close of play on Thursday eight yearlings exceeded the best price achieved at the 2024 edition with five selling for at least €50,000.

Francisco Bernal of Outsider Bloodstock was another of the European agents getting in on the action at the higher end of the chart, going to €55,000 for a filly from the third crop of QEII winner and 2,000 Guineas runner-up King Of Change.

Bernal was acting on behalf of leading Spanish owner Jose Maria Maldonado, who races his horses as Cuadro Mediterraneo in both Spain and France, where he has horses in training with Mauricio Delcher Sanchez.

The Ten Sovereigns colt bought by Tally Ho Stud for €65,000 from the Irish National StudCredit: Tattersalls Ireland

"She is a lovely filly, King Of Change gets good fillies and she was the pick for our owner," he said. "Her price is about what we thought she would fetch but we had hoped to get her for less, and we would not have gone much further. This is a good family."

Unfortunately for the filly, who was sold by the Brickley brothers' Ard Erin Stud, she will not be escaping the Irish winter as the half-sister to last year's Italian 1,000 Guineas winner Beenham will be starting her education in Ireland before moving to Spain next year.

The sale was a tidy pinhooking profit for Maer Bloodstock who bought her for €14,000 from breeders Conor and Kathryn Quirk's Hunting Hill Stud as a foal.

Since then, her year-older Awtaad half-sister Magny Cours won a maiden at Listowel on debut, contested the Albany Stakes, finished third the Listed Marwell Stakes and was runner-up in the auction race for graduates of this sale at the Curragh during Irish Champions Festival.

Magny Cours and Beenham are two of the six winners from eight runners produced by Ares Choix, third in the Listed Prix de la Vallee d'Auge, and a Choisir half-sister to the Group 3 winner Emerald Star.

Passing of time

There were quite a few seasoned sales goers wondering where the years had slipped away when Caroline Murtagh signed for Cappagh Beg Stud's Starman colt at €50,000. The recent veterinary graduate is the daughter of brilliant jockey and Classic-winning trainer Johnny Murtagh and his wife Orla, and she was stopping off in Fairyhouse before continuing her education in Kentucky where she has secured a year's work with Hagyard Equine.

"Dad was busy in the yard this morning, so I came in," she reported. "I have just qualified as a vet, and I have been going around with the vets here this week. I liked this horse, I just thought he is a gorgeous, big scopey type, one that Dad will like, he has been bought on spec."

Murtagh added of her own future plans: "I am just looking to get as much experience as I can, and will look to come home at some point."

Caroline Murtagh was buying for her father Johnny at Tattersalls IrelandCredit: Tattersalls Ireland

Auctioneer Alastair Pim was double-jobbing at Tattersalls Ireland; Gary Davis, breeder of the Starman colt, is a client of Pim's Anngrove Stud in Mountmellick, County Laois.

"Gary's mares are with us to foal and for some of the year," he explained. 

"Peppard was bought by Federico Barberini at the Tattersalls December Mares' Sale from the Juddmonte draft. She is a grand mare and has had two winners; we were very hopeful that her first foal Petarda, who has won eight races, would get black-type in Europe."

The seven-year-old has done much of his winning in Italy and is by Free Eagle, who stands at Anngrove. Peppard's second winner is See All Match, successful twice this year in Qatar.

By Dansili, Peppard cost 35,000gns in 2016 and is a Dansili half-sister to Grade 1 Northern Dancer Turf Stakes winner Redwood. Her second dam is the Prix de Diane and Prix Vermeille winner Jolypha, a Lyphard full-sister to the legendary Dancing Brave. Jolypha is also a half-sister to the granddam of Kilo Alpha whose Bated Breath colt made €45,000 to Charlie Johnston on the first day of the sale, sold by Castlebridge on behalf of Juddmonte.

Pim was another to single out Tally Ho's first season sire for specific praise.

"We sent her to Starman in his second year, he is a cracking stallion, and this colt been a fine yearling all the way through," he added.

Kathryn Quirke who bred the King Of Change filly heading to SpainCredit: Tattersalls Ireland

Tally Ho Stud, where the July Cup winner by Dutch Art stands, enjoyed excellent results at the September Yearling Sale as one of three consignors to gross more than €1,000,000 in sales during part one while Starman was second only to Sioux Nation in total sales with €1,345,000 worth of his progeny traded. 

Tony and Anne O'Callaghan didn't arrive in this position by sitting back and waiting for life to happen and in that same vein, but with an eye potentially on the breeze-up circuit next spring, Tally Ho were among the buyers on Thursday going to €65,000 for the Irish National Stud's Ten Sovereigns' half-brother to Gemma Tutty's Awraad, who was second in the Listed Two-Year-Old Trophy at Ripon a month ago.

The good-looking bay is the second foal out of Chitra, a winning daughter of Sea The Moon and was the third most expensive yearling on the day, achieving a price that would have topped every other edition of the sale.

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