Acclamation colt tops one-day Tattersalls December yearling sale
The Tattersalls December sale kicked off on Monday with a one-day yearling auction, which saw five horses sell for 100,000 guineas ($168,300) or more but posted overall declines compared with the first session in 2011.
Tattersalls reported 167 horses sold for $6,050,060, a 4.5 percent decline compared with 2011. Average price of $36,230 declined 14.3 percent, and the median of $21,877 fell 36.6 percent. The buy-back rate increased from 24.2 percent in 2011 to 28.9 percent this year.
A colt by 2007 leading European freshman sire Acclamation brought Monday’s highest price of $235,480. John Ferguson, bloodstock adviser to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, outbid Charles Gordon-Watson for the colt, who was offered from the consignment of Ireland’s Rathbarry Stud, which stands Acclamation. His dam is the stakes-placed Barathea mare Musical Bar, who is a half-sister to 2006 European champion 2-year-old filly Finsceal Beo and to German classic winner Frozen Power.
“He is a very athletic type, who could easily be a [top] 2-year-old,” Ferguson said. “He is from a family that has been lucky for us and for many others, and is from a very good farm which consistently breeds good horses.”
Coolmore’s Demi O’Byrne purchased the sale’s second highest-priced yearling for $227,150, a colt by Oasis Dream out of the stakes-winning Zafonic mare I’m in Love. O’Byrne outbid trainer Michael Bell for the colt, who is a half-brother to Grade 3 winner More Than Love.
A Kentucky-bred colt by champion sprinter Speightstown went for $201,923 to Oliver St. Lawrence Bloodstock. Out of the winning Rubiano mare Reboot, he is a half-brother to multiple stakes winner Summer Cruise and to Group 1-placed winner and sire Rebuttal.
“He’s been bought for a client of [trainer] Ed Vaughan’s,” said St. Lawrence of the colt. “We’ve only tried on two today. This is a lovely type. Hopefully he’ll be lucky.”
The sale’s top-priced filly, by top international sire Galileo, went for $168,290 to Jill Lamb Bloodstock. The Irish-bred filly is out of the Group 3-winning Danehill mare Beauty Bright.
The Tattersalls December sale resumes Wednesday with a four-day foal sale, and concludes with a four-day mare sale from Dec. 3-6.
– DRF Breeding staff