Tattersalls session sees gain

The Tattersalls October Book 1 yearling sale in Newmarket, England, produced across-the-board gains and a million-dollar topper Thursday at its third session when Coolmore's Demi O'Byrne paid $1.6 million for a son of Coolmore stallion Galileo.

O'Byrne bid about $1,606,500 for Hip No. 381, a son of the stakes-winning Silver Hawk mare Silver Colours. The bay colt sold as the property of Stratford Place Stud.

The session sold 131 yearlings for about $33,706,512. Considered in the local currency of guineas, that aggregate was up 28 percent from last season, when just 112 horses sold. But the average and median prices both rose. The average price was up 9 percent to about $257,301, and the median of about $167,076 just edged out last year's figure.

The session topper was one of six horses Coolmore boss John Magnier purchased on Thursday. He also paid about $1,285,200 for a colt by Montjeu, another Coolmore stallion, out of the Shernazar mare Zivania. The colt was consigned to the auction by Peter and Antoinette Kavanagh's Kildaragh Stud.

The auction was to continue through Friday.