Tattersalls Ireland continued to ride the crest of a wave Sept. 23 as the September Yearling Sale got off to a remarkably buoyant start. The only split in opinion on the state of trade in Fairyhouse was that some felt prices were "strong," while others went a step further by describing the market as "crazy."
By the close of play, 240 yearlings had been offered and 223 found a buyer for a rock-solid clearance rate of 93%
In turn, those transactions saw turnover hit €9,833,500 (US$11,617,641, €1=US$1.18), a massive 50% year-on-year increase.
The average was also up a whopping 49% at €44,095 (US$52,095), while the median went even further, climbing fully 55% to €38,000 (US$44,895), having been €24,500 on this day 12 months ago.
The market was headed by a colt from the debut crop of Coolmore's Blackbeard, who went the way of Ted Durcan at €165,000 (US$194,937) late in the day. The youngster was presented by Peter Nolan Bloodstock and is out of Spirit Bear, a daughter of Smart Strike who shares the further generations of her page with the influential Rafha.
"He's a lovely horse; we absolutely loved him," Durcan said. "He's been bought for an existing client who has horses in training with Richard Hughes. He's just a beautiful big stamp of an animal who vetted really well and is by an exciting young sire.
"We knew he'd make money, but we were hoping to get him for less than that. The way the market is, it's so strong and healthy, we had to push the boat out. My owner is very happy to have him."
Prix Morny (G1) and Middle Park Stakes (G1) hero Blackbeard covered his 194-strong debut book of mares at a fee of €25,000. It was a case of second time lucky for this youngster, having also appeared at last year's December Foal Sale in Newmarket.
"He wasn't sold as a foal, we vendored him at 60,000gns because we thought he was better than that, so that's proved to be a good move," Nolan said. "We brought him here because we thought he'd stand out. We thought he'd get near 150 (thousand) but he had 160 or 170 shows and a dozen or so vets. It's a great result."
Condon collects
The early market frontrunner was the Sioux Nation colt out of Pencarrow from Weir View Stud, who went the way of trainer Ken Condon at €150,000.
The youngster is a sibling to three winners, most notably Wathnan Racing's listed-placed Native American, whose two victories include a wide-margin score in the valuable Tattersalls Ireland Super Auction Sale Stakes in 2023.
"He's a very nice colt who's been very well prepared," Condon said. "He's very athletic, I thought, and he's got a lovely action and disposition. The pedigree is nice and he's out of a young mare; she's bred the full sibling and he's a useful horse rated in the hundreds. He ticked a lot of boxes.
"He's for an American client who'll decide what to do with him in due course. He may be exported or he may stay here. I'd say he'll be broken and get started here and then we'll take a view on what happens after that."
On the price, Condon added: "The right guys were on him. He sold himself really and there was a lot of interest from breeze-up people and end-users. I think the Hong Kong Jockey Club were on him as well, so he appealed to a wide range of people. Fingers crossed he's lucky."
The trainer said his purchase in part reflected his faith in Sioux Nation, a point he underlined later in the session when bidding €115,000 for a filly by the same sire from Church View Stables. The filly, a half sister to 2020 Coventry Stakes (G2) runner-up Qaader, was bred by Patricia Walsh.
The breeder said: "For me, this is the best result I've had at the sales because I used to sell as foals all the time, but I wasn't making any money, so I decided to hold on to them 'till they're yearlings."
Lynch and Bannon get Highly Motivated
The pinhooking touch of the day was pulled off by the Bleahen family's Lakefield Farm, who saw a colt by the little-known United States sire Highly Motivated knocked down to Barry Lynch and William Durkan at €90,000.
The colt, who was sourced as a foal by a buyer signing simply as 'Mary, Matt and Chad,' was picked up at last year's Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale at just $3,000.
"I didn't know much about the sire but Barry, who's giving me a hand to buy a yearling or two this year, had done his homework," said Durkan's assistant, Gary Bannon. "Normally, we'd be training more jumpers, but we had two 2-year-olds this year, both cheap horses, and they both won maidens, so we decided we'd dip our toes in a little bit deeper this time. He's a lovely colt and hopefully he's lucky for Bill."
Highly Motivated stands at Airdrie Stud near Midway, Ky., where he stood the 2025 season for an advertised fee of $7,500. The son of perennial leading sire Into Mischief won two of his three starts as a juvenile and set a course record when winning the Monmouth Cup Stakes (G3) at 4.
"He's a son of Into Mischief, who's one of the top stallions in America," added Lynch. "This horse has a great temperament; he behaved very well each time we saw him, and he didn't bat an eyelid up here in the ring. Hopefully, he'll be taking us to the big days next year as a nice, sharp horse."
The Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale continues Sept. 24 at 10:00 a.m. local time.
