(Edited Tattersalls press release)
The number of horses sold rose 25.6% from 2008 and the gross revenue increased 11.2% during the opening session of Book 2 of the Tattersalls October yearling sale in England Oct. 12. Meanwhile, the average price fell 11.5% while the median price declined 16.7%.
A Cape Crosscolt was the highest-priced horse sold, bringing 160,000 guineas from Richard O’Gorman, who held off trainer Clive Cox. O’Gorman is a close associate of Sheikh Mohammed’s bloodstock manager, John Ferguson. Bobby and Honora Donworth’s Round Hill Stud consigned the yearling, which is out of the 12-year-old winning Sadler's Wells mare True Crystal. The mare is a half-brother to Jack The Giant (by Giant’s Causeway), who captured the 2006 Stan James Wayward Lad Novices Steeplechase and the 2007 Ladbroke Hurdle in England. True Crystal and Jack The Giant's dam, State Crystal (by High Estate) scored in the 1994 Lancashire Oaks (Eng-III).
The first session results included a gross of 6,715,500 guineas for the 201 yearlings that sold. The average was 33,410 guineas, and the median was 25,000 guineas. In 2008, the 160 horses that sold grossed 6,039,700 guineas and averaged 37,748 guineas. The median was 30,000 guineas.
The buy-back rate was 18.6%, down from 33.3% last year.
