Australian buyers forecast to be out in force at Tattersalls
Marketing director Jimmy George believes exploits of flagbearers will lead to spike in demand at October Book 1 sale which begins today
Tattersalls’ flagship October Yearling Sale is set to take prominence with Book 1 getting underway today. The auction arrives in the context of what, so far, has been a strong European yearling market, coupled with outstanding recent success for Tattersalls graduates in Australia.
The curtain-raising Tattersalls Somerville Yearling Sale held in September recorded record turnover, with figures up 101 per cent, Goffs’ recent Orby and Sportsman’s sale reported revenue was up 74 per cent and 156 per cent respectively, while at Tattersalls’ Ireland September Yearling Sale, held at Newmarket due to the the Covid-19 pandemic, a 90 per cent clearance rate boosted record turnover.
This comes at a time when Tattersalls graduates in Australia are experiencing unprecedented success.
Of the last five runnings of open age Group races over 2000 metres and above in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia, 17 per cent of winners of these races have passed through a Tattersalls sale, including 24 of them as yearlings.
It is a level of success which Tattersalls’ marketing director Jimmy George believes is fuelling unprecedented demand from Australian buyers as anticipation builds around the October Book 1 sale.
“Success is what shapes buyer behaviour from Australia, and that success has been consistent and at the highest level for quite a few years now and that’s what these guys are after,” George told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday.
“With the likes of Zaaki flying the flag, it’s understandable that there is interest in the sale. He was an October purchase a few years before Annabel Neasham and Stuart Boman bought him at the Autumn Horses in Training sale last year.
“Another October yearling, Grand Promenade, won the Bart Cummings on Saturday and looks like he’ll be a pretty serious contender for the Melbourne Cup based on that form.
“Advertisements for Tattersalls don’t come much better than that.”
Last calendar year, the figure jumps to 23 per cent of open age Group races in the four states being won by Tattersalls graduates, with the likes of Australian Cup (Gr 1, 2000m) winner Fifty Stars (Sea The Stars) joining Geelong Cup (Gr 3, 2400m) victor Steel Prince (Nathaniel), as well as dual Group 1 hero Addeybb (Pivotal) for the raiding William Haggas team. They feature alongside Doomben Cup (Gr 1, 2000m) and recent Underwood Stakes winner Zaaki (Leroidesanimaux), Grand Promenade (Champs Elysees), Favorite Moon (Sea The Moon), Great House (Galileo), Knights Order (So You Think), Turaath (Oasis Dream), Harpo Marx (Galileo) and Spirit Ridge (Nathaniel) as Tattersalls sold stakes winners in Australia in 2021.
“These all add to the success of Fifty Stars who won the Australian Cup and who also came from the Tattersalls October yearling sale, while Addeybb, although considered a ‘invader’, I think the Australian racing public have a huge amount of respect for him,” George continued.
“These horses, they don’t go unnoticed, and it’s a real tribute to the quality that buyers can expect to find every year at the Tattersalls October yearling sale.
“This year, the sale has produced the highest rated colt or gelding in Australia in Zaaki, and also the highest rated domestic turf horse in America, which is Domestic Spending. While there has also been the likes of St Mark’s Basilica and Hurricane Lane, etcetera, at home.”
One of the most high profile success stories from the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale was the 2018 purchase of Russian Camelot (Camelot) by Jeremy Brummitt and Danny O’Brien for 120,000gns, as the colt went on to become the first northern hemisphere-bred horse to win a Derby in Australia through the South Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2500m), before going on to add further big-race success for connections by taking out the Underwood Stakes (Gr 1, 1800m) last spring.
O’Brien confirmed that both he and Brummitt intend to be active again at this year’s sale. Several of the trainer’s 2019 purchases having chalked up wins in Australia, while he also holds hopes for some of the 2020 cohort he plans to unleash in the early part of next year.
“We’ve got ten northern hemisphere two-year-olds, so they haven’t raced in Australia yet, but we’ve been really happy with them, two or three in particular, and they’ll probably be set for the races in January or February,” O’Brien said yesterday.
“We’ve had success with some (northern hemisphere) three-year-olds. Goondiwindi has won a race over here and another Teofilo colt (El Campeon) that should have won his maiden the other day. Nothing quite as forward as what Russian Camelot was but they’re nice staying horses in the making.
“It’s always a bit of a slow burn while that age gap closes and you don’t want to ask too much of them at an early stage. But so far everything that we’ve brought down from the northern hemisphere as a yearling we’ve been happy with the way they’ve developed and we’re expecting to get some good results with them over the next few seasons.”
A total of 502 lots have been consigned for Book 1, headlined by sires Dubawi (Dubai Millennium) (18) and European Champion Sire elect Frankel (Galileo) (20), while this sale will also see the penultimate crop of Coolmore great Galileo (Sadler’s Wells) (12) pass through the ring.
Australia’s very own Zoustar (Northern Meteor) (7), Exceed And Excel (Danehill) (5) and Starspangledbanner (Choisir) (3), along with shuttlers Churchill (Galileo) (10), who recently secured a third first-crop stakes winner, Almanzor (Wootton Bassett) (4) and Saxon Warrior (7), as well as first yearlings for Justify (Scat Daddy) (5) and Harry Angel (Dark Angel) (2) are also set to go through the ring.
The three-day Book 1 sale begins at 11am (BST) today.