‘My Predecessor Went Out on a Stonker of a Sale’: Jason Singh Looks Forward to Another Big Fortnight at Tattersalls

[Wandering Eyes]

Roll up, roll up. It's the bloodstock equivalent of the Taylor Swift Eras Tour, live and exclusive in Newmarket for three days only. 

Yep, it's Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale and doors open this year on Tuesday, October 7. That is indeed if there are any doors left, as they were blown right off last year with the most sensational yearling trade ever witnessed in Europe. Turnover reached a new high of almost 128 million gns, and while on first glance that tally is only just above the aggregate set for 2022, it was accrued from the sale of 90 fewer yearlings, setting a median price of 250,000gns. 

Last year's Book 1, which had 449 yearlings catalogued, was the smallest ever, and this time around numbers are back up to the level seen in 2022 and 2023, with 537 in that premier book for this year. For marketing director Jason Singh, the October Sale results will be key in more ways than one.

“My predecessor, Jimmy George, went out with an absolute stonker of a sale,” he says with a grin. “I was thinking at the end of that, 'thanks a lot, Jim'. Of course, the responsibility of getting buyers to a sale effectively falls on me now.”

Singh probably won't have too much to worry about in that regard. For a start, the yearling sales generally have started in buoyant fashion. Keeneland has witnessed spectacular returns, no doubt aided by President Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' and its associated tax breaks, but as we saw last year in particular, the October Sale at Tattersalls has a life force all of its own.

“Because Book 1 was so strong last year, it follows that more people are happy being in there, so demand for places was higher,” Singh says. “There were a few factors at play last year, and I think it's fair to say that up until a few days before [Book 1], we didn't really see that coming. When we knew the level of American participation that we were going to have, we certainly were confident that we were going to have a good sale.”

Indeed, the American participants played their part, with Klaravich Stables notably spending 3.6 million gns through agent Mike Ryan, but up above them on the Book 1 buyers' table were Godolphin (22m gns), Amo Racing (19.5m gns), Blandford Bloodstock, whose clients include Wathnan Racing (10.4m gns), and Yulong (3.9m gns).

“But the yearling sales last year up until that point in Europe had been, I think, average, a little bit underwhelming,” Singh says. “Book 1 really was the turning point at which all the sales for the rest of the year took a significant upturn, and that has mostly continued throughout this year.

 

Jason Singh with Littleton Stud's David Bowe | Tattersalls

 

“Keeneland has looked extraordinarily strong. I think it's fair to say the top of the market is as strong as it's ever been. And obviously Books 1 and 2 are both big beneficiaries of that strength at the top of the market because they have so many of those top yearlings. That's not to ignore other issues that racing faces, and I'm not suggesting that the polarisation of the market is a good thing.”

Prize-money is often cited as an issue for racing in these parts, and certainly many British and Irish tracks would struggle to compete with the purses offered during the recent turf meeting at Kentucky Downs in particular. It is one of the reasons why Singh has confidence that we will still see American participation at Tattersalls, despite potentially increased costs from tariffs.

“With the turf racing there becoming much more popular and there being a bigger programme of races available, it makes sense that if you want to access the best turf pedigrees, there's no question that they are here in Britain and Ireland, and they're the best yearlings on offer every year here at the October Yearling Sale,” he says. 

“It's not just the turf horses that are bought by American owners and trainers to race there, it's also the performances of the turf horses from Europe that go over to things like the Breeders' Cup. There are the American-trained horses like Newspaperofrecord and Aunt Pearl, but then you've got the European-trained horses like Victoria Road, Big Evs, and Starlust. And you've also got the long-way-around ones that are sold and trained here, and that have then been bought to race in America.”

He continues, “There's no question that Chad Brown changed the landscape, and he has come back every year. And in the last two or three years, the numbers have really surged.

“Since 2022, the winners of 51 graded stakes in America have come just from the October Yearling Sale alone. And those results, both from the horses trained there and the horses that have gone from here, it's something that people notice – that they're European pedigrees and European standards.”

 

Group 1 winner Venetian Sun as a yearling at Tattersalls | Laragh de Burgh

 

While there is understandably much focus on the prices achieved at Book 1, the success stories come from all levels of the market, both in that first week of the October Sale and across Books 2 and 3 in the following week. There is no Book 4 this year; instead there is a short session of yearlings in the Autumn Sale, which follows at the end of the week of the Horses-in-Training Sale, on October 31. Those later yearlings are also all eligible for the £200,000 Somerville Auction Stakes and the £200,000 October Auction Stakes.

At last year's Book 1, only one yearling sold for less than the 25,000gns it took Charlie Johnston to buy Suddenly I See from Kildaragh Stud, and the Ribchester colt, owned by Barbara and Alick Richmond, is now a Book 1 Bonus winner, having triumphed on his second start at Musselburgh.

“The Book 1 Bonus is 10 years old now, and we've averaged about 43 winners a year for those 10 years. So we're just on the verge of paying out £10 million in bonuses,” says Singh.

“The owners seem to love it. By and large, it pays for their training fees for the year if they manage to win one. And the great thing is, and this year is a perfect illustration, you don't have to pay a huge amount of money to win one. Ten of the yearlings that have won a bonus this year were bought for 100 grand or less, and that's out of 29 Book 1 Bonus winners so far.

“Charlie Johnston's colt is a great illustration of that. He was bought for 25 grand and he's won his purchase price back by winning a Book 1 Bonus.”

Venetian Sun is the poster girl for last year's sale. The winner of the G1 Prix Morny, G2 Duchess of Cambridge Stakes and G3 Albany Stakes was sold by Tally-Ho Stud for 240,000gns to owners Tony Bloom and Ian McAleavy, and she is doing a fine job advertising not just Book 1 but also the merits of her first-season sire Starman.

“Not everybody has to play at the top end,” Singh says, “And there's plenty of success from more cheaply-bought horses – that proves that success can come from anywhere.”

He has first-hand experience of that, having bought the G3 Geoffrey Freer Stakes winner Furthur from Book 2 of the 2023 October Sale for 58,000gns with trainer  Andrew Balding. The Waldgeist colt, who runs for the Merry Pranksters syndicate, is now in quarantine ahead of taking his owners on a trip to Singh's home city of Melbourne for the 'race that stops the nation'.

From last year's Book 2 has sprung Zavateri, now a three-time group winner, including the G1 Goffs Vincent O'Brien National Stakes, for trainer Eve Johnson Houghton and owners Mick and Janice Mariscotti. He looks set to round off his season in the G1 Darley Dewhurst Stakes a week on Saturday.

“Zavateri is a great story,” Singh says. “The Mariscottis have been great supporters of Book 1 and Book 2 for over a decade now and have had great reward from that. They've always operated in that 50-to-100-grand range and they have done it very successfully, which is proof it can be done. It's an amazing story that you buy a horse for 35,000gns and he turns into a Group 1 winner.”

What then can be expected from this year's October Sale? In Book 1, page after page of illustrious pedigrees means that the wish list ends up being rather long. Just the briefest of snapshots by way of example would have to include Ballyphilip Stud's Frankel half-sister to crack sprinter Battaash (lot 28), the Norelands-consigned Dubawi half-sister to St Mark's Basilica (lot 71), Bearstone Stud's Frankel colt out of Glass Slippers (lot 163), the Fittocks Stud-consigned son of Dubawi and Lady Bowthorpe (lot 218) and 30 yearlings by the recently deceased Wootton Bassett. We could go on – and on.

“There's certainly a very good bunch of pedigrees in the catalogue and we've had very positive reports from the inspectors on the road, so we're hopeful that the two marry up,” Singh says. 

“We're not expecting huge numbers to be bought by Australian buyers, but we can't understate the level of investment in British bloodstock by Middle Eastern buyers, specifically the royal families of Dubai, Qatar and Bahrain, as well as Saudi Arabia, all of whom enjoy racing their horses in Britain, and that's a massive fillip to our industry. The sales of British and Irish bloodstock are huge beneficiaries of that commitment to race here.

“We also can't ignore the domestic market, which plays such a big part in what we do. There are plenty of British-based owners who are investing heavily in our industry and are enjoying success. A good example of that is Tony Bloom and Ian McAleavy, who have had such success with Venetian Sun this year.”

With Venetian Sun being joined on the 2025 list of Group 1-winning graduates of the October Sale around the world by Ombudsman, Camille Pissarro, Dynamic Pricing, Al Riffa, Believing, Diego Velazquez, Dubai Honour, El Cordobes, Romantic Warrior, Zavateri, Royal Patronage, Never So Brave, and King Of Gosford, surely Singh's jitters are gradually easing?

He says, “Being ultimately responsible for getting people to the sales focuses you more, and you feel a greater pressure, but hopefully also greater satisfaction if it goes well.”

Across almost all levels of the yearling market so far this year, there have been plenty of positives to be drawn, and there is every reason to suppose that the demand for European bloodstock will continue to be high at Park Paddocks across the coming fortnight. 

 

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