Doncaster St. Leger Yearling Sale Sets Records

Doncaster Bloodstock Sales in Great Britain reversed global trends at its flagship St. Leger Yearling Sale that ended Sept. 13 with records for gross and average.

Four sessions over four days produced a gross of 6,557,100 guineas ($10.7 million) for 454 yearlings, up 9.4% from the previous year's total of 5,991,800 guineas ($9.8 million) when 425 yearlings sold. The average rose 2.5% to 14,443 guineas ($23,632). The median was 11,000 guineas ($18,000).

The St. Leger Yearling Sale appeals to British and Irish purchasers in the main, and this year nine of those offered brought more than 50,000 guineas ($81,813).

A half-brother to Never A Doubt, who won the Prix Robert Papin (Fr-II) for Barry Hills in late July, brought the top price of 70,000 guineas ($114,539) from Adrian Nicoll of BBA Ireland.

Said Henry Beeby, managing director of Doncaster: "We are absolutely delighted to have returned record-breaking figures, and well and truly bucked the downward trend that has been seen at virtually every other major yearling sale in the Northern Hemisphere this year.

"We said at the start of the week that we would have been supremely confident had there not been so many other negative factors around and that we would be satisfied to match last year's record-breaking figures."