Who are the most expensive yearlings sold at public auction around the world?

Australia

A$5,000,000 (£2.6m/€3m)

Redoute's Choice - Helsinge (Desert Sun)

Inglis Easter Yearling Sale 2013

Gilgai Farm to BC3 Thoroughbreds

A half-brother to the globetrotting Group 1 winner and Royal Ascot heroine Black Caviar and to the Group 1 winner, now sire, All Too Hard, 'Jimmy' was euthanised later that year when suffering from severe laminitis.

Britain

5,000,000gns

Al Naamah

Galileo - Alluring Park (Green Desert)

Tattersalls October Yearling Sale Book 1 2013

Lodge Park Stud to Al Shaqab Racing

The most expensive yearling sold in Europe, Al Naamah went through the ring the year after her full-sister Was won the Oaks. Trained by Andre Fabre, she won her maiden on her debut at two and earned black type on three occasions. She is the dam of two winners from four runners.

Al Naamah parades in front of a packed gangway at TattersallsCredit: Tattersalls

France

€2,600,000

Parabellum

Dubawi - Pacifique (Montjeu)

Arqana August Yearling Sale 2016

Ecurie des Monceaux to John Ferguson

The first foal of Group 3 winner Pacifique, who is a three-parts sister to Irish Oaks winner Chicquita, Parabellum won a Saint-Cloud maiden at three for Godolphin and Fabre before selling for £25,000 at Goffs UK in January 2019.

Ireland

3,100,000 Irish gns (€4.2m)

Authaal

Shergar - Galletto (Nijinsky)

Goffs Invitation Yearling Sale 1984

Camas Park Stud to Tote Cherry-Downes

Authaal, the record-breaking son of Shergar, was not only his star-crossed sire's most expensive offspring but also his best. Trained by David O'Brien for Sheikh Mohammed, he won the Irish St Leger before being transferred to Australia, where he won further Group 1s – the Underwood Stakes and Queen Elizabeth Stakes – and was third in the Caulfield Cup for Colin Hayes. He stood in Japan for a number of years.

Parabellum: Dubawi colt became the most expensive horse sold at Arqana when selling as a yearling for €2,600,000Credit: Patrick McCann

Japan

 ¥ 510,000,000 (£2.7m/€3.1m)

Shonan Addeybb

Deep Impact - Sheave (Mineshaft)

JRHA Select Yearling Sale 2020

Northern Farm to Tetsuhide Kunimoto

From the penultimate crop of another legendary stallion in Deep Impact, this half-brother to Kentucky Oaks winner Cathryn Sophia set the ring alight in 2020. Out of Sheave, an unraced daughter of Grade 2 Golden Rod Stakes winner and Grade 1 Ashland Stakes third Belterra, by Unbridled, Shonan Addeybb has won two of his 19 starts and most recently the five-year-old was third at Kyoto in February.

New Zealand

NZ$3,600,000 (£1.7m/€2m)

Don Eduardo

Zabeel - Diamond Lover (Sticks And Stones)

New Zealand Bloodstock Premier Yearling Sale 2000

Cambridge Stud to Gooree Park Stud

Don Eduardo, who would go on to win the Group 1 AJC Derby and sire a Group 1 winner, had a truly regal pedigree and came from Cambridge Stud's most distinguished family. His sire was the legendary Zabeel, his dam the Group 1 winner Diamond Lover who is a half-sister to the brilliant Octagonal and two more Group 1 winners, and his granddam the brilliant Eight Carat.

The Deep Impact colt out of Sheave brings ¥510.m at the JRHA Select SaleCredit: Jrha

United States

$13,100,000

Seattle Dancer

Nijinsky - My Charmer (Poker)

Kentucky July Selected Yearling Sale 1985

Warner L Jones Jr (agent) to Joss Collins/BBA

The half-brother to Triple Crown champion Seattle Slew and the Irish 2,000 Guineas winner Lomond remains the most expensive yearling ever sold at public auction, bringing the hammer down at the modern-day equivalent of $37.1m. Bought by a group that included Robert Sangster, John Magnier and Stavros Niarchos, in whose colours he ran, Seattle Dancer won the Group 2 Gallinule Stakes and Derrinstown Derby Trial and was second in the Grand Prix de Paris. Standing initially at Coolmore's Ashford Stud in Kentucky, before stints at Coolmore in Ireland, then Japan and finally Gestut Auenquelle, he sired 37 stakes winners including Group/Grade 1 winners Pike Place Dancer, Caffe Latte and Seattle Rhyme, and German Classic heroine Que Belle.

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