2006 DECEMBER YEARLING SALE
PRESS STATEMENT
RECORDS ABOUND AT TATTERSALLS DECEMBER YEARLING SALE
Records came thick and fast on the opening day of the Tattersalls December Sale, with the solitary day of yearlings resulting in new benchmarks for turnover and average. A beautifully bred daughter of DALAKHANI led the way realising a record 700,000 guineas as 183 lots were sold for 5,533,500 guineas, at an average of 30,238 guineas and a median of 14,000 guineas. The turnover was up 28% and the average up 17% on last year's record levels whilst a total of 10 yearlings broke the six figure barrier, compared to eight in 2005.
|
||||||
Cat |
Off |
Sold |
Agg |
Average |
Median |
|
2006 |
293 |
229 |
183 |
5,533,500 |
30,238 |
14,000 |
2005 |
267 |
233 |
168 |
4,334,600 |
25,801 |
14,750 |
Lot 186, the bay filly by DALAKHANI out of the LAW SOCIETY mare SOLO DE LUNE was the first lot to be offered as part of the complete dispersal of Roger Baines’ Britton House Stud. The half-sister to Group 1 Prix Saint-Alary winner CERULEAN SKY and Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf and Group 1 Irish Oaks runner-up L'ANCRESSE entered the ring to great anticipation, and Badgers Bloodstock's Grant Pritchard-Gordon, standing alongside STARCRAFT's Australian owner Paul Makin, opened the bidding at 300,000 guineas. Irish bloodstock agent Brian Grassick joined in the battle for the filly as the price rose past half a million guineas before Irish veterinarian Demi O'Byrne also entered the fray. Makin and Pritchard-Gordon refused to up the ante any further and so Grassick and O'Byrne were left to fight it out, with O'Byrne successful at 700,000 guineas, a record for a yearling at the December Sales. O'Byrne indicated that the filly was purchased on behalf of the Coolmore trio of John Magnier, Derek Smith and Michael Tabor. There are five foals to be offered on Friday as part of the Britton House dispersal including SOLO DE LUNE's SADLER'S WELLS colt and a further eight fillies and mares to be offered at the December Mare Sale next week including SOLO DE LUNE herself, in foal to MONTJEU and two of her daughters, CARISOLO and DANOISE, by DUBAI MILLENIUM and DANEHILL respectively.
LOT 186: DALAKHANI - SOLO DE LUNE
Purchased by Demi O'Byrne for 700,000 gns
Yearlings from the first crop of the Aga Khan's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner DALAKHANI have been well received throughout the sales season, and only minutes before SOLO DE LUNE's record priced filly, a colt by the 2003 European Champion three-year-old equalled the previous December Yearling Sale record when selling for 360,000 guineas. Consigned from Brian Grassick's Newtown Stud in Ireland, the colt is out of the Group 2 placed LURE mare LURINA, a half-sister to the two-time Group 1 winner CROCO ROUGE and to ALIDIVA, dam of the Group 1 winning trio TAIPAN, ALI-ROYAL and SLEEPYTIME. Demi O'Byrne was again successful, this time at the expense of Newmarket trainer John Gosden.
LOT 179: DALAKHANI - LURINA
Purchased by Demi O'Byrne for 360,000 gns
Earlier in the day locally based bloodstock agent Margaret O’Toole went to 160,000 guineas to secure the MONTJEU filly out of the Listed placed FABULOUS DANCER mare MOUCHA. The half-sister to the Grade 3 winner MAYOUMBE and Listed winning TIPPERARY ALL STAR was consigned from Cathal Ryan’s Swordlestown Stud and was knocked down to O’Toole after she withstood the efforts of Irish based trainer Michael Halford, on behalf of an undisclosed client.
