Overproduction alarm bells ring as unsold yearlings rockets

Demand failing to keep up with increased supply continues to be the theme of this year's British and Irish yearling sales, after this week's Part II of the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale featured a catalogue almost twice the size of last year but a drastically depleted clearance rate.

The 2015 September sale at Fairyhouse was one of the success stories of the auction year, with improved figures and an outstanding 93 per cent of lots changing hands in the premier Part I session and 86 per cent finding new homes in Part II.

Because of that buoyancy, and with a 2015 foal crop that rose by nine per cent year-on-year in Ireland and five per cent in Britain, Tattersalls Ireland was faced with an inevitable increase in applications from vendors for this year's sale.