(Edited Tattersalls press release)

The Tattersalls December foal sale finished with a flourish on the fourth and final day Nov. 28 in England. Ten weanlings sold for 100,000 guineas ($172,951 in U.S. funds) or more apiece, and the gross for the entire auction grew to more than 20,000,000 guineas ($34,590,150).

The last day’s figures included a gross of 4,402,900 guineas ($7,614,849) for the 124 weanlings that sold. The average price was 35,507 guineas ($61,409), and the median price was 18,000 guineas ($31,131).

For all four days combined, the 618 horses that sold grossed 20,218,700 guineas ($34,968,394), which was up 39% from 2008. The average and median rose 26.4% and 52.4%, respectively, to 32,716 guineas ($56,582) and 16,000 guineas ($27,262).

The clearance rate increased from 60.2% last year to 77.9% this year.

The most expensive weanling sold on the final day was the Invincible Spirit colt out of the King's Best mare Liscune.  Consigned by Bernie Cooke's Bryanstown House Stud, the weanling caught the attention of London Thoroughbred Services' James Wigan and Camas Park Stud's Timmy Hyde, but both had to defer to Shadwell Estates' Angus Gold, who secured the colt for 250,000 guineas ($432,377). Sheikh Hamdan of Dubai owns Shadwell Estates.
 
 “After the successful October yearling sales, we approached this week's December foal sale with a sense of guarded optimism,” said Tattersalls chairman Edmond Mahony. “But I think it would be fair to say that the strength of the trade over the last four days has exceeded our expectations. These are still challenging times, and it would be wrong to pretend otherwise, but this week's returns can only help to bring back a measure of confidence to an industry which, like so many others, took a battering last year.”