(Edited Doncaster Bloodstock Sales press release)
A Royal Applausecolt topped the opening session of Doncaster Bloodstock Sales’ St. Leger yearling auction bringing £120,000 ($197,765 in U.S. funds) Aug. 25 in England. BBA Ireland’s Eamon Reilly purchased the bay yearling for Mark Gittins, outlasting Richard O’Gorman in the bidding.
Consigned by his breeder, Newsells Park Stud, the colt is out of the 14-year-old Statoblest mare Statua, who won three times and finished third in the 1997 Owen Brown Rockfel Stakes (Eng-III). He is a half-brother to the winners Dance Anthem (by Royal Academy), Dream Mountain (by Mozart), Annemasse (by Anabaa), and St Moritz (by Medicean).
O’Gorman bought the second-highest-priced yearling sold, an Invincible Spirit filly, for £100,000 ($169,804) from Croom House Stud. Bred by Epona Bloodstock, the bay yearling is a half-sister to 2000 Peruvian stakes winner Zamba Canuta (by Unaccounted For), who finished second or third in four Peruvian group I events and was stakes-placed in the United States. Their dam, the 16-year-old unraced Dixieland Bandmare Ragtime Rumble, also produced the winner Roar Blizzard (by Roar), who was stakes-placed in Germany.
The final figures for the session included a gross of £5,368,500 ($8,847,503) for the 192 yearlings that were sold. The average price was £27,960 ($46,079) and the median price was £20,000 ($32,961). Eighty-two percent of the 233 horses offered found new homes.