Tattersalls Autumn HIT Sale Posts Record Figures

A growing racing program centered around the world's richest race, the $20 million Saudi Cup (G1), has seen a surge in demand from Saudi Arabian interests, most notably sale regulars Najd Stud, who spent 1,460,000gns (US$1,771,136) on seven lots across the four days at the Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale. Their haul was led by the 350,000gns ($420,848) Finest Sound .

The Saudi Arabian theme continued Oct. 27 as the session's leading light, the 80,000gns ($97,048) Al Shami, was knocked down to Eoin Sullivan late in the piece. The 2-year-old son of Awtaad , offered by John Butler's Charnwood Stables, was cataloged as unraced but debuted with a promising second at Ffos Las and then broke his maiden at Wolverhampton earlier in the month.

"He's for Saudi Arabia," said Sullivan. "He's a nice, big strong horse who needs a bit of time but that's what he'll get. What he's done so far, for the physical that he is, he obviously has some level of ability there. We'll take him along slowly and give him all the time he needs but we're happy to get him."

Sullivan signed for seven lots across the sale, with his 417,000gns ($505,866) spend headed by the 160,000gns ($192,388) Sooghan. The septet are all bound for Saudi Arabia.

"We bought a mixture of 2-year-olds and 3-year-olds and one or two older horses," said the agent. "The majority will go to trainer Mamdouh Al Ali. We're happy with the week although buying hasn't always been easy.

"The program in Saudi Arabia is expanding generally but, as you'll see in the results, there isn't a great sprinting program so a lot of the guys are landing on the same horses, horses who get a mile or a mile plus. Which is funny because so many people are trying to breed sharp, early horses and then when you come to this sale nobody wants them!"

Al Shami was making his fourth appearance at the sales. The colt previously went unsold at just 1,000gns ($1,453) as a foal, fetched €6,000 from MW Bloodstock as a yearling, and again failed to sell at 14,000gns ($18,443) at the Guineas Breeze-Up Sale.

Round of Applause for Rubio

Earlier in the day another recent winner, Rubio Draco, was bought by brothers Nawaf and Mohammed Almutairi for 60,000gns ($72,786). The owners' entourage gave themselves a round of applause when the hammer came down before dashing to have their picture taken with the new acquisition.

The 2-year-old son of Fast Company  ran four times for Joseph O'Brien and brought an important update to the table having opened his account in a Killarney maiden in the weeks leading up to the sale, a performance which earned the colt a Racing Post Rating of 86.

"He will be sent to Saudi Arabia," said Mohammed Almutairi. "He has good form and he's a very nice horse. I have seven horses in training in Saudi Arabia with Sami Al Harabi. I hope this horse will be good enough for the Saudi Cup meeting."

The youngster, a brother to the listed Cork Stakes scorer Downforce, was making his second appearance at public auction having been signed for by Whitethorn Stud at €40,000 ($46,734) at the Goffs Orby Yearling Sale. He began his career for the Thoroughbred Racing Syndicates ownership group, which is run by Johne Murphy, a former professional rugby player who played for Leicester Tigers and Munster.

The colt was offered through Baroda Stud, whose David Cox reflected on the end of a busy week by saying: "The fact that this horse won recently has really helped as the market always values recent form. We had a very good day yesterday selling for Jessica Harrington and Roger Varian.

"The July Sale was very strong so I thought this would be too as a lot of buyers couldn't get what they wanted then. There's a lot of people here from the Middle East and it's great that there's a market for these horses and people can get some money back in their pockets to pay their yearling bills!"

Four days of frenetic international-fueled trade rolled to a stop on Oct. 27 with the Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale having posted record figures across the full spectrum of market metrics.

Turnover reached 36,164,500gns ($43,871,408), a 15% increase on last year's total, which was also a record. The average price rose by the same amount to a new high of 35,949gns ($43,609), while the median remained at last year's peak level of 16,000gns ($19,409).

The clearance rate was 90% as 1,006 sold from an offering of 1,113, which was up just 2% compared to 2021.

The vendors' table was topped by The Castlebridge Consignment, whose 106 lots brought receipts totaling 4,733,500gns ($5,742,242).