Ireland's yearling auction season made an auspicious start Sept. 24 and 25 when the Tattersalls (Ireland) September select sessions posted record figures, from which graduates qualify for the Breeders' Stakes race, worth 300,000 euros.Agent Frank Barry, acting for Irish trainer Kevin Prendergast, paid 90,000 euros for a Hernando colt sent up from Kirsten Rausing's Staffordstown Stud. The colt is of the Blushing Groom mare Catch.
An anonymous buyer signed for the other 90,000 euro offering, a Grand Lodge colt out of the Bluebird mare Blue Kestrel, offered by Dominic Fagan.The record 6,306,200 euros turnover for 424 sold (93%) was up 8% over last year (5,846,382 euros for 500 sold) while the 14,873 euros average increased by 27% on the 2001 level (11,693 euros). The 11,000 euros median was up 24%. The catalogue had been trimmed from 609 lots (579 offered) in 2001 to 472 this year (455 offered).Sales company chairman Edmond Mahony commented: "We are delighted with the trade over the two days. A record average and aggregate exceeded even our most optimistic expectations."Figures also rose at the one-day open session on Sept. 26, at which the standout lot was a 78,000 euros filly from the first crop of Epsom Derby runner-up Dushyantor. The Ballyhampshire Stud offering is a half-sister to listed winner Vinthea and was bought by trainer Jim Gorman. The day's figures were 223 catalogued, 197 offered, 169 sold for 1,051,450 euros at an average of 6,222 euros, and a median of 4,500 euros.The three-day auction began with a tribute and minute's silence to Denis Mahony, the Tattersalls (Ireland) chairman from 1986 to 1999, who died of a heart attack on Sept. 18 at age 65. Mahony, whose son Edmond is the current chairman, had been scheduled as an auctioneer at the sale. By Mark Popham
