Tally-Ho Stud’s Shamardal colt sells for 500,000gns
A decidedly livelier second session of Tattersalls’ Craven Breeze-up Sale saw Sheikh Mohammed swoop for a statuesque colt by his young sire Shamardal, the Tally-Ho Stud offering topping the sale for 500,000gns having failed to sell as a yearling.
“He is easily our biggest sale,” said Tally-Ho’s Roger O’Callaghan. “We were hoping for 100 or 150,000gns, but this far exceeded our expectations. We have loved this foal from the day we bought him.”
The colt’s sale price was a lucrative hike on the sum of 53,000gns paid for him as a foal.
Shamardal, whose offspring include dual Classic winner Lope De Vega, was also responsible for the top-priced filly of the sale, a daughter of the dual-winning Sri Pekan mare Bella Bella, who sold for 360,000gns to Richard Frisby.
The Craven Sale’s average rose from 63,519gns on the first day to 73,316gns, up from 71,313gns 12 months ago, with the median of 57,000gns, settling slightly lower than the 2011 figure of 60,000gns.
Darley sires dominated the bestsellers’ list, with 280,000gns being bid for a first-crop son of American sire Street Boss consigned by Brown Island Stables and bought on behalf of Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan. Earlier in the evening Marco Botti had gone to 200,000gns for Hillwood Stud’s son of Cape Cross, the first foal out of Kingmambo mare Thiella.
Mark Johnston opted for an Authorized colt from Yeomanstown Stud who was knocked down for 170,000gns, while Grand National-placed jockey Katie Walsh continued her good week when selling a Dutch Art colt to John Ferguson for 160,000gns, having bought him for 40,000gns in the same sales ring last October.
As the sale concluded, Tattersalls’ Chairman Edmond O’Mahony said: “There has been plenty of competition at the top of the market this week, a number of spectacular pinhooking successes and the individual highlight of the 500,000 guineas sale-topper, which was the third highest price ever at the Craven Breeze-up.
“Buyers from throughout the world, most notably the Gulf region and Hong Kong, have had a major impact on the sale and we are naturally delighted that the key indicators of turnover, average, median and clearance rate have held up so well.
“The figures should also be placed in the context of conditions for the breeze which were far from ideal. The two-year-olds coped admirably in wind and driving rain and, as ever paid tribute to the professionalism of the consignors who brought some outstanding individuals to the marketplace. Nevertheless, it would be wrong to pretend that all has been plain sailing over the last two days. The market has been selective at times and served as a reminder that the continuing economic uncertainty, particularly in Europe, continues to pose challenges.”
In total, 150 two-year-olds went through the ring over the two days, with 117 changing hands for 8,578,000gns, compared to 112 in 2011 for an aggregate of 7,987,000gns.
