Tattersalls July sale: strong trade continues in second session

Durand, a winning 3-year-old who broke his maiden in course-record time, will point for the Qatar Derby after topping Thursday’s selling at the Tattersalls July sale in Newmarket, England.

The Motivator colt brought 260,000 guineas, or about $414,960, and was consigned by Highfort Stables of Ireland. He might make one more start in England – in the Group 3 Royal Whip – for which he was nominated before the sale, said buyer Ibrahim al-Malki. He set a course record of 2:09.14 for 1 1/4 miles at Roscommon in breaking his maiden in his second start on June 10.

Durand is out of the unraced Elusive City mare Rouge Dancer and is from the family of Italian champion Grease, dam of Group 3 winner Susurration and American stakes winner East is East.

Al-Malki, one of several buyers representing Qatari interests at the sale, also picked up Group 2 winner Chandlery, a 4-year-old colt by Choisir, for 33,000 guineas ($52,670) and the 3-year-old Dubawi gelding Jumaira Tower for 24,000 guineas ($38,300).

Thursday’s other six-figure lots were Zarkiyr, a 3-year-old Acclamation colt that the Aga Khan sold to leading Qatari trainer Gassim Ghazali for 200,000 guineas ($319,200), and Seamless, a winning 3-year-old colt by Beat Hollow that Juddmonte Farms sold for 100,000 guineas ($159,520) to Abdulaziz al-Boenain, also from Qatar.

Like sale-topper Durand, Zarkiyr also will point for the Qatar Darby, Ghazali said, and will race for Sheikh Mishal Hamad bin al-Thani, a member of Qatar’s ruling family. At the Tattersalls July sale’s opening session on Wednesday, Ghazali snapped up session-topper Miblish for 250,000 guineas ($399,000); the stakes-winning 4-year-old Teofilo colt will head for the Emir’s Cup in Qatar in March and might also make a race in the Dubai Carnival.

Thursday’s selling, divided into morning and evening sessions, posted a second consecutive day of gains. Together, the two Thursday sessions sold 126 horses for 2,276,300 guineas, or about $3,632,975, resulting in an average price of 18,066 guineas ($28,833). The median price was 9,000 guineas ($14,364). Compared year-to-year in the auction currency of guineas, gross jumped up by 20 percent from last year’s second session total for 137 horses, while average and median rose by 30 percent and 29 percent, respectively.

Friday was to be the final day of selling at Tattersalls July auction, with a morning session starting at 9:30 a.m. (local time) and an evening session scheduled for 6 p.m. (local time).

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