Tattersalls’ Yearling Season Begins At Ascot

[Wandering Eyes]

It’s perhaps a stretch to say that the 163-lot Tattersalls Ascot Yearling Sale falls under the category of a boutique sale, but in its one-day format it certainly has its own niche and one which it is hoped will find favour with trainers and agents.

“There was a great atmosphere here last year for the first sale and there are already plenty of agents and trainers here for inspections today,” said Tattersalls Ascot’s Bloodstock Sales Manager Richard Botterill on Monday.

The first lot enters the ring today at 11.30am, allowing potential purchasers to travel on the day if required. “We have a number of people flying in from Ireland and Europe just for the day. The fact that we’re so close to Heathrow makes it very easy,” Botterill added.

The takeover of Brightwells by Tattersalls Ireland back in 2015 has given way to a rise in profile of the Ascot sales ground across the road from the racecourse and the first sale on the premises dedicated solely to yearlings was introduced 12 months ago.

For that inauguration of the newest yearling auction in the European calendar, 126 lots were catalogued, resulting in 85 sold for a total of £787,500 and an average of £9,265. Set against a season which has started with mixed results, it’s hard to predict how this year’s trade will fare, especially with the number on offer having increased. But the fact that there is such a take-up from breeders highlights the fact that it is becoming harder to find a sales place for more moderately-bred horses with the demand from vendors remaining still strong.

Botterill is confident that the quality of yearlings on offer this year has taken a step up. “Overall, the individuals for this sale have increased on last year and that’s very pleasing,” he said.

There’s likely to be plenty of interest in the five yearlings catalogued by Bungle Inthejungle (GB) with their sire having already notched 22 winners from his first crop. All five will be offered by the stallion’s home stud Rathasker, which also brings two by another of the farm’s residents, Anjaal (GB), who has his first yearlings for sale this year. Those youngsters include lot 129, a filly out of a half-sister to Kyllachy (GB) (Pivotal {GB}) who will be offered by Llety Farms, breeder of this year’s Group 3 and Royal Ascot-winning juvenile Soldier’s Call (GB) (Showcasing {GB}).

No Nay Never has also made a great start to his stud career and is represented by two yearlings in the sale: lot 45, consigned by Jamie Railton, is a daughter of the Leopardstown 1,000 Guineas Trial winner Amethyst (Ire) (Sadler’s Wells) and is a half-sister to six winners, while lot 84, from Peter Nolan Bloodstock, has had an update via his 2-year-old half-brother Bandola (Ire) (Requinto {Ire}), who is now a winner.

In Enable (GB), Nathaniel (Ire) may be the sire of the most exciting horse in training in Britain but he’s not readily associated with early 2-year-olds. Similar could be said for Champs Elysees (GB), but his juvenile son Getchagetchgetcha (GB), out of the Oasis Dream (GB) mare Paella (GB), won on debut at Ascot on 2 May and the mare’s yearling filly by Nathaniel is a neat, strong sort. She is offered as lot 146 for breeder Anita Wigan by new consignors Mimi Wadham and Violet Hesketh of the Hampshire-based WH Bloodstock.

Andrew Black’s Chasemore Farm consigns the sole yearling by Intello (Ger) in the catalogue, lot 152, the first foal of the stakes-placed Polar Eyes (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}). Stringston Farm, breeder of Melbourne Cup hero Rekindling (GB) (High Chaparral {Ire}), is another consignor to offer just one horse who is also a first foal in lot 149, a Canford Cliffs (Ire) daughter of Peace March (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), a grand-daughter of Gerald Leigh’s champion racemare Gossamer (GB) and a half-sister to Godolphin’s G3 Prix Eclipse winner Sound And Silence (GB) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}).

Graduates of the Ascot Yearling Sale qualify alongside those from Books 3 and 4 of the October Sale in Newmarket for the £150,000 Tattersalls October Auction Stakes to be run at Newmarket’s Rowley Mile over six furlongs on Oct. 5, 2019.

Further synergy between Tattersalls’ English and Irish wings can be found in the fact that from now on, sales held at Ascot and Cheltenham will be held under the Tattersalls banner rather than Tatters

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