Records Broken Despite Patchy Trade in Newmarket

With the Tattersalls October yearling sales part one done, attention turned to the second part. This was for yearlings not considered in the top echelons of thoroughbred yearlings but it is a sale which produces a huge number of winners and good ones at that. Many regard this sale as a guide to the general health of the bloodstock market at the time.

This year there were 620 lots sold and both the sale aggregate of 48,499,000 gns and the average of 78,224 gns set new records. This was help considerably by the record price for a yearling at this sale being smashed on two occasions during the first of the three days.

Day One

Day one saw 205 yearlings sold in what could only be described as a ‘patchy’ market. If you had a yearling which ticked all the boxes, then you more or less had a license to print money, if not, you could be in trouble. It was not long however, when a colt by No Nay Never out of a Zafonic mare Winning Sequence was brought by MV Magnier of the Coolmore group for 900,000 gns – a new record price for the sale. Later in the day, Shadwell Estates broke the record again with the purchase of a Dark Angel colt out of Allez Alaia by Pivotal. Angus Gold on behalf of Shadwell had to go to 1,050,000 gns to secure him.

Day Two

207 yearlings changed hands on day two with the median up considerably on the same day in 2018, but there were no record prices today. The top price was the first yearling in to the ring for 425,000 gns, brought by agent Charlie Gordon Watson. The filly was by first season sire Night of Thunder who has done so well this, his first season on the track with the likes of Under The Stars, a group one winning 2 year old filly. This filly was out of Blanche Neige by Halling. Equalling the day’s top price of 425,000 was a colt by Archiepenko out of  Desert Berry, sold to The Hong Kong Jockey Club. Prices for the rest of the day’s sale were strong with plenty going for six figures.

Day Three

The final day of this part of the October sales saw another 208 yearlings change hands. The top price exceeded that of day two at 600,000 gns for a Siyouni colt out of Moonlit Garden, brought again by Angus Gold on behalf of the Shadwell Estates. The market seemed to have reverted back to the order of the first day with it being ‘patchy’. Without doubt, there were some expensive yearlings sold, but also some robberies for some. Another sale of note today was the successful pinhook of a No Nay Never colt, purchased at Goffs in Ireland last year as a foal for 54,000 euros and today collected 325,000 gns. Both the average and median were slightly down for the day in comparison of this day in 2018.

The measure of the market can perhaps be summed up with one stat. There were 201 yearlings present, brought as foals last year and re-consigned. Of them 98 made a profit with the others failing to cover the expenses of the original purchase and keep. This puts the market into more perspective and suggests that not only breeding is an expensive and risky business, but so also is buying as foals for later sales as less than 50% of them made money!!

In conclusion, the market is pretty strong, particularly if you have an animal which ticks all or nearly all the boxes. The strength of the sale was in no small part to the Shadwell contingent buying many of the lots on offer, as they have done for several previous years. Despite the risk that breeders and pinhookers alike make every year.

Edmond Mahony said in his after sales statement, demand had been sustained. He further went on to say “It is a pretty extraordinary statistic that as recently as 2012 there were 48 Book 2 yearlings sold for 100,000gns or more and this year we have had more than 160 reach that level. The support of the Maktoum family and their associates has, of course, played a huge part in the success of the sale and their continued enthusiasm and commitment should never be underestimated, but they have been joined by buyers from the wider Gulf region and from throughout the world including Australia, Hong Kong, Japan and the USA, all of whom have made a significant impact on a sale which has produced an impressive clearance rate of 85 per cent.

He was understandably delighted that the records had again been broken.

Images courtesy of Laura Green and Bernard Simpson

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