Hipodromos y caballos - Racetracks and horses BloodStockReview2013 | Page 56

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YEARLING SALES

Hopes for Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale were skyscraper-high and no-one was disappointed after three days that witnessed record-breaking turnover

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AST year’s Bloodstock Review
described the market as “standing
tall in defiance of wider economic
issues”. Twelve months on it would perhaps
be more apt to depict the sales scene as King
Kong-esque in stature, swatting doomsayers
from the sky and roaring record-breaking
sums left, right and centre, writes Katherine
Fidler.
And at the centre, once again, was the
Tattersalls October Yearling Sale Book 1.
On the back of fortified trade at earlier
auctions in Britain, Ireland and France,
expectations were skyscraper-high ahead
of the prestigious auction, bolstered higher
still by the not-inconsiderable haul of its
graduates this year.
One yet to make his mark is last year’s
2,500,000gns sale-topper Hydrogen, a
three-parts brother to Derby hero Authorized.
Few who were present will forget the equine
theatre enjoyed that evening, but the feverish

anticipation before this year’s renewal
led many to believe that figure could be
challenged by the stellar cast of exquisitely
bred yearlings on show – perhaps even by
Hydrogen’s brother.
Alas that was not to be, the son of Galileo
being one of several expensive buybacks
when knocked down to John Oxx for

It would perhaps be more
apt to depict the sales
scene as King Kong-esque
500,000gns. However, by that point buyers,
vendors and spectators had already witnessed
another piece of history when a daughter of
Alluring Park fetched ten times that price to
become the world’s most expensive yearling
filly sold at public auction.
It also served as the most high-profile of

many a clash between racing superpowers
new and old as the Al Thani family dared to
take on the might of the Magniers – Sheikh
Joaan Al Thani winning this round.
There seems little need to ask who could
sire a specimen capable of commanding five
million guineas – it was, of course, Galileo,
who was responsible for three of the four
seven-figure lots during the sale, including
a brother to dual Oaks runner-up Secret
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