‘We’re On A European Tour’ – Marnane Stocks Up At Osarus Yearling Sale

[Wandering Eyes]

Con Marnane returned to the Osarus Yearling Sale, from where he famously sourced outstanding sprinter Sands Of Mali, to stock up on five yearlings – and a lorry's load of French wine.

Just over €1 million [€1,021,500 to be precise] was traded at the Osarus Yearling Sale on Wednesday where the top lot – a Ghaiyyath colt that went the way of Cava Associates – sold for just €45,0000. 

And while Marnane admitted that the overall standard at Osarus has slipped in recent times, the larger-than-life Bansha boss stressed the need to shop every sale hard in order to unearth the diamonds in the rough.

“This has been a very lucky sale for us in the past,” Marnane explained, in between loading crates of wine. “We got Sands Of Mali here [€20,000] and Itsinthepost [€5,000] won eight Grade 2s in America and won over €1 million in prize-money and he came out of this place as well.”

Marnane ended the sale as one of the bigger buyers numerically, with five horses sourced for a total sum of €72,000. The sale itself saw a 76% clearance rate, which was up by 14% on last year, while the €8,500 median was up by €500 and the €10,776 average also marginally up by €752.

“We bought some lovely horses but it will be next year until I can tell you how good or bad we did,” Marnane continued. “You'd love if this sale went back to something like its glory days. The standard is down but, like any sale, you need to work it hard to find the nicer ones.

“One thing I will say is they are lovely people in this part of France and they look after us very well. Some very good horses have come out of here and we like to support it. We were in Baden-Baden last week and we came here for this sale – we're on a European tour!”

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