(Edited press release)
The Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale ended on a record note Friday, with a €15,754,500 aggregate, a total of 30 lots selling for €100,000 or more, and six lots making €200,000. The average of €43,163 was on a par with last year’s record average of €44,029.
Two of the biggest prices of the final day came at the beginning and end of the session. The most expensive horse of the day was the second last lot in the sale – lot 575, out of grade II winning mare Function Dream for whom Aiden Murphy outbid Gerry Hogan, going to €250,000 to land the son of King’s Theatre. While earlier in the day M V Magnier acquired lot 306, a German-bred son of Monsun, for €235,000.
"The Derby Sale has yet again proved to be the elite National Hunt store sale both from a vendor and purchaser point of view." said Tattersalls Ireland’s Chairman, Edmond Mahony. "There is no doubt that the very best 3- and 4-year-old stores were in the Derby Sale this week and there is also no doubt from these results and our racecourse results that this is the purchasers’ sale of preference. Vendors certainly didn’t experience any tightening in the market here. While we narrowly missed setting a new record average, for the second year in a row we set a new record individual price [€305,000 for a store gelding] and a record aggregate, over €15.7 million. Any downturn in the market predicted after store sales earlier in the calendar was not in evidence here at all. What was obvious was serious money being paid for the fabulous horses in the catalogue here, they were in demand from buyers both new and familiar, from home, England and France and at all levels of the market. The commitment of both vendors and purchasers together has put this sale in a class of its own."
The next sale is the August National Hunt Sale of 3- and 4-year-old Aug. 15-17.
