Tattersalls: Elusive Quality filly sets record price at Breeze Up sale

The two-day Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up sale ended on a high note as a Kentucky-bred filly by Darley stallion Elusive Quality sold for about $1,219,660 (760,000 guineas), setting a record for a European breeze up sale. The filly helped maintain momentum from Wednesday’s opening session at Tattersalls, as the sale ended with healthy rises in total receipts and average price with a steady median.

Tattersalls reported 103 hips sold overall for about $14,819,630 (9,235,000 guineas), which marked an eight percent improvement compared with the 2012 Breeze Up sale, when 117 hips sold for about $13,765,325. The average price of about $143,890 spiked 22 percent, while the median price of about $83,265 was 4 percent lower. The buyback rate of 34 percent was substantially higher than last year’s 22 percent, however, which did not go unnoticed by Tattersalls chairman Edmond Mahony despite his overall satisfaction with the sale.

“Competition at the top of the market has, without doubt, been the feature of the sale and the number of six-figure lots [38] has only been bettered once, while turnover in excess of nine million [guineas] is the third-highest in the sale’s history,” he said. “It should also be recognized that the market has been selective at times. We would have liked to have seen a higher clearance rate, and economic realities understandably continue to play a part in this business, but overall the 2013 sale has served as another reminder of the enduring global demand for quality bloodstock.”

Jamie McCalmont signed the ticket for the record-priced filly, who is out of the winning Miesque’s Son mare Gender Dance. Consigned by Eddie O’Leary’s Lynn Lodge Stud, the filly is a half-sister to Group 2-placed winner Quarrel and is closely related to a host of stakes winners, including Grade 1 winner and sire Yonaguska, Grade 1 winners Dream Empress and Prenup, and Grade 2 winners Possible Mate, Fairy Garden, Guided Tour, Tap Day, and Cat’s At Home. She was bred by Rosemont Farm and Darley, and was bought for $180,000 by O’Leary, via Margaret O’Toole, last fall at the Keeneland September yearling auction, resulting in nearly a seven-figure pinhooking profit.

The previous record was set at the 2006 Craven Breeze Up sale, when a Green Desert colt from the consignment of Mocklershill Stables was purchased by Katsumi Yoshida for 625,000 guineas.

McCalmont, standing alongside Paul Shanahan and Michael Tabor, outbid agent Ross Doyle, who represented Richard Hannon, for the filly. Richard O’Gorman and Blandford Bloodstock were both involved in the early bidding before withdrawing.

“This is a really strong sale,” McCalmont said. “This spring I have [attended] Keeneland, Barretts, and Fasig-Tipton [Florida], and this is the strongest market.”

Tattersalls will hold its Guineas Breeze Up and Horses in Training sale on the grounds at Newmarket, England, on May 2-3.

For hip-by-hip results, click here.