A poor renewal of Book 4 of the Tattersalls October yearling sale in England generated a gross of only 130,300 guineas, down 73% from last year for the 50 horses sold. The average price of 2,606 guineas dropped 50%, and the 1,450-guinea median fell 43%. Only 45% of the lots offered were listed as sold.
A Soviet Star -- Lalique filly consigned by Westerlands Stud topped the auction when selling to trainer Clive Cox for 14,000 guineas.
Tattersalls chairman Edmond Mahony commented: "Book 4 of the October yearling sale followed a very pleasing Autumn Horses in Training Sale, but it was a different story today,” said Tattersalls chairman Edmond Mahony. "We catalogued upwards of 2,000 yearlings for the four books of the October yearling sale and while Books 1 to 3 provided results that were ahead of expectations given the constant stream of poor economic news, the same cannot be said of Book 4 where uncommercial yearlings struggled to find a home."
COMPARATIVE FIGURES (IN GUINEAS)
October Book 4
YR CAT OFF SOLD AGG AVG MED
2008 158 110 50 130,300 2,606 1,450
2007 183 137 94 488,100 5,193 3,200
Total October Books 1-4
YR CAT OFF SOLD AGG AV
2008 2,101 1,775 1,240 72,439,300 58,419
2007 2,201 1,917 1,490 95,015,000 63,768
