Tattersalls foal sale sets record gross

The four-day Tattersalls December foal sale in Newmarket, England, closed Saturday with record gross receipts, a higher median, and an improved buyback rate, fueled by well-bred offspring of sires such as Sea The Stars, Dubawi, and Oasis Dream.

Tattersalls reported 779 foals sold for 32,110,900 guineas, or about $59.3 million. That figure bettered the 2013 sale gross by 2 percent. The average of 41,221 guineas (about $68,000) declined 3 percent, and the median of 25,000 guineas (about $41,200) improved 9 percent. The 2014 auction posted a buyback rate of 19 percent; it was 22 percent at last year’s foal sale.

“Yet again, outstanding results from the October yearling sale have provided the impetus for a record-breaking December foal sale,” said Tattersalls chairman Edmond Mahony. “Sustained demand at all levels of the market has been the feature of the [December] sale, with a huge number of pinhookers and many of the world’s leading owners contributing to the impressive returns.”

An Irish-bred colt by European Horse of the Year Sea The Stars was bought by Shadwell Estate Co. during Friday’s third session for a sale-topping 450,000 guineas, or about $743,300. Consigned by Ireland’s Oghill House Stud, the colt is out of the unraced Danehill Dancer mare Chiosina, and is a half-brother to stakes winner and Group 2-placed Mixed Intention.

Angus Gold of Shadwell said that the colt would be sent to Ireland. Shadwell also purchased the sale’s second-highest-priced horse on Friday, a Lawman filly out of Group 3 winner High Heeled, for 425,000 guineas.

Four foals from Frankel’s highly anticipated first crop were cataloged at Tattersalls. One was withdrawn, and the other three did not meet their reserves once they entered the sales ring. Bloodstock agent Dermot Farrington did purchase one of those privately, however, spending 150,000 guineas (about $248,000) for a filly out of the Group 3-placed Tiger Hill mare Kirinda.

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