Tattersalls Ireland Breeze-Up Sale Sets New Highs

Those old sages say that lightning never strikes twice but whoever devised that cliché would be eating their words if they were present at the Tattersalls Ireland Breeze-Up Sale May 24 as a very familiar electrical storm made its presence felt during a livewire sale that broke records for total receipts and average price. At the 2023 sale, grade 1-winning jockey Katie Walsh brought a Sioux Nation colt to the sale and he topped the charts, making €240,000 to Mark McStay for Paddy Twomey. Named Letsbefrankaboutit (IRE), the colt went on to win the Round Tower Stakes (G3) at the Curragh later in the summer. Twelve months on, Walsh brought Lot 83, a daughter of the 2017 Phoenix Stakes (G1) winner to Tattersalls Ireland, and once again she stopped the clocks in one of the quickest times up the Fairyhouse straight. Consequently, the half sister to six winners was in demand among the free-spending buyers, but it was the familiar team of the Avenue Bloodstock mainstay and the trainer who could saddle his first classic winner at the Curragh May 26, when he runs A Lilac Rolla (IRE) and Purple Lily (IRE) in the Irish One Thousand Guineas (G1). Incidentally, both fillies were purchased in this sales ring, with Purple Lily, a first-crop daughter of Calyx (GB), bought by McStay for €155,000 from Brian O'Connell's Chasefield Stables at last year's breeze-up sale. The successful agent had to go to €370,000 (US$401,580, €1=US$1.09) here to fend off his rivals, who included Anthony Stroud, for the third-crop daughter of Sioux Nation. Walsh purchased the filly for €60,000 as a yearling and has enjoyed another brilliant breeze-up sales season. McStay was keen to praise the work done by the Cheltenham Festival winner, whose track record as a breeze-up consignor is even surpassing her accomplishments as a jockey. "The filly was extremely well produced and did a superb breeze. I'm not a clock worshipper but she did clock very well, and Katie got paid accordingly," McStay said The filly from the family of 2022 Irish Champion Stakes (G1) and 2023 Tattersalls Gold Cup (G1) winner Luxembourg (IRE) was one of four purchases by McStay for Twomey. It was a quicksilver edition of the sale, which recorded an increase in the number of six-figure price tags year-on-year with 20 horses making at least €100,000 compared with 18 last year, which was a record for the auction. Last year a total of four horses sold for €200,000 or more and that figure was bettered Friday with no fewer than six horses attaining prices at that level. The clearance rate hit 89%, which was illustrative of the diverse and hungry cast of buyers assembled for the sale by the teams at Tattersalls Ireland and Irish Thoroughbred Marketing. A total of 219 horses from the 245 offered found buyers during almost 11 hours of trade at Fairyhouse. The aggregate of €9,544,500 (US$10,359,123) was an all-time high for this auction and represented an 11% increase from the previous record turnover. The average of €43,582 (US$47,302) showed a gain of 1% from last year's sale, which was also a record figure, with the only cloud on the horizon the median, which declined by 7% to €28,000 (US$30,390). Full sale results