Numbers dip at Tattersalls

The Tattersalls July sale featuring fillies, mares, and horses in training ended Thursday with declines that had been expected in light of the general economy, recent slips in Thoroughbred sale returns, and a smaller catalog.

The three-day auction in Newmarket, England, sold 438 horses for a gross of about $9,376,696, for an average price of approximately $21,407. Those figures were down 26 percent and 15 percent, respectively, from last season's sale, when 507 horses sold. The 2009 median also slumped by 18 percent to about $10,988.

Americans were active at the sale, and the auction's top-priced horse went to Virginia farm owner Jim Treptow. Kentuckian Joe Seitz represented Treptow's Hickory Tree Farm when he paid about $262,028 for Coolcullen Times, a 3-year-old Rock of Gibraltar colt who is a three-time winner in Ireland. Trainer Jim Bolger consigned Coolcullen Times, who is likely headed for Graham Motion's stable.

Seitz had been among the unsuccessful bidders earlier in the day when Ithbaat, a 3-year-old Arch colt, brought about $253,575. Agent Margaret O'Toole bought the colt from the Shadwell consignment.