Proof positive

TATTERSALLS FEBRUARY SALE

Just as cigarette packets and bottles of alcohol have to carry a government health warning, it ought to be the case that the catalogues for the major sales come with the cautionary note that what is being offered, even at the elite level, is very unlikely to represent the cream of the crop. The formerly dominant old-school owner-breeders have died but they have been replaced at the top of racing’s tree by gargantuan operations that breed the bulk of their stock. Coolmore, Godolphin, Juddmonte, the Aga Khan Studs, Shadwell and Moyglare Stud spring straight to mind.

Furthermore, it remains the case that, even with the prevalence of modern technology and the glut of data in which many people nowadays place so much faith, identifying the future stars when inspecting a collection of unraced horses remains a very hit-or-miss process.

When races such as the Derby and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe come around, it is almost invariably the case that a majority of the runners are homebreds; while the minority that did go through yearling sales often contains some relatively inexpensive horses.

That said, 2025 was a relatively good year for horses who had started out as expensive purchases. It almost goes without saying that the Derby and the Arc were won by homebreds (Lambourn and Daryz) but, remarkably, two of Britain’s first four Classics were won by sale-toppers. 2000 Guineas hero Ruling Court had topped Tattersalls’ 2024 Craven Breeze-Up Sale, when bought from Norman Williamson by Godolphin for €2.3, while Oaks heroine Minnie Hauk (who, of course, subsequently went within inches of winning the Arc) topped Goffs’ 2023 Orby Sale, bought from Camas Park Stud by MV Magnier for €1.85m. 

Furthermore, Prix du Jockey-Club hero Camille Pissarro was also an expensive yearling, bought in Book One of Tattersalls’ 2023 October Yearling Sale by MV Magnier and White Birch Farm for 1.25m guineas. It should be noted, incidentally, that he turned out to be easily the best of the seven yearlings in that sale who fetched a million guineas or more. The same pairing had bought the second top lot in Book 1 the previous year, paying 2.4m guineas for Croome House Stud’s Frankel colt out of Sweepstake, Diego Velazquez, a Group 1 winner when taking the Prix Jacques le Marois.

None of which, of course, is of immediate relevance to what happened in the ring during 2025, but it does at least mean that the major sales during the autumn were held against a background that made it possible to believe that spending fortunes might not necessarily be too unwise. At the other end of the market, it remains impossible to escape the depressing truth that supply far exceeds demand. In that respect, it was heartening to see a significantly smaller catalogue for the first major sale of the year, Tattersalls’ February Sale. With 334 lots, it was the smallest catalogue since 2015, hugely down on the 498 in the 2021 book. This helped the median to reach the highest figure ever attained at this sale. Did this mean that the oversupply problem had finally been addressed? Of course not! But at least the year started on a seemingly positive note.

BREEZE-UP SALES

Further heartening signs were provided by all the breeze-up sales. Amo Racing and Godolphin had been the standout buyers at the top end of the yearling sales the previous autumn but it turned out that their appetites had not been sated, as they were the purchasers of the headline-makers at the Craven Breeze-Up, each buying two of the top four lots (which collectively fetched 4.55m guineas). Yulong, buying in its Dullingham guise, had also been prominent at Tattersalls in the autumn of 2024 and it bought the fifth and sixth top lots, for 1.05m guineas.

The big names were also to the fore at Goffs UK’s Doncaster sale, which produced easily its strongest average ever. Godolphin, MV Magnier and Blandford Bloodstock (acting for various Middle Eastern clients including Wathnan Racing) dominated the list, as did the ever-popular source of precocious speed Mehmas, sire of the top three lots. The sale-topping Greenhills Farm-consigned colt out of Rapid Reaction gave a big boost to the average when Godolphin picked him up for £1m, easily the highest price ever paid at Doncaster. Unlike most of the expensive breeze-up horses from last spring, he might possibly end up looking well bought as he went into a few notebooks when easily justifying odds-on favouritism in a novice race on debut at Kempton in October.

Tattersalls Ireland are to be congratulated on the progress its sale (formerly the Goresbridge Sale but now held at Fairyhouse) has made since the firm became involved in it in 2018. In 2025 the sale posted its best ever figures, including an eight-figure aggregate (€11,658,300) for the first time.

SUMMER SALES

The relatively positive atmosphere persisted at Tattersalls’ July Sale in Newmarket, where trade was notably up from 2024. It should be added, though, that 2024 had seen a sizeable lull at this auction, and the returns in July were merely a return to the levels of 2022 and ‘23.

YEARLING SALES

The main body of yearling sales throughout Europe reinforced two things which we already knew. There are plenty of people prepared to pay huge sums for the most obvious prospects at one end of the market; and there is a massive oversupply at the other, where trade remains pitiful. At the very top end, every year it is a case of speculating whether the major players from the previous autumn will be reinvesting at the same level. In particular, one wonders whether Sheikh Mohammed, bearing in mind how many good prospects his studs are producing each year and how rarely he himself is nowadays seen at the races, will continue to feature among the biggest spenders. This year one had to speculate similarly about Kia Joorabchian, bearing in mind that, 12 months on, he had very little to show for the colossal spending spree which Amo Racing undertook throughout the autumn of 2024.

The good news (if it is good news, bearing in mind that, in Britain, headlines about a supposedly buoyant bloodstock market undermine racing’s attempts to the convince the government that it is cash-strapped) is that both Amo and Godolphin continued to spend as if their supply of money was unlimited. This was most evident in Book 1 of Tattersalls’ October Sale, in which of the top ten lots Amo bought four (for a total of 9m guineas) and Godolphin bought three, including the top lot (for a total of 7.8m guineas). Of the remaining three yearlings in this elite band, Coolmore bought two (for 3m guineas) and Juddmonte bought one, a Watership Down-consigned daughter of Frankel for 1.5m guineas.

It is worth pointing out that the main Irish yearling sales, i.e. the Orby at Goffs and Tattersalls Ireland’s September Sale, are both doing particularly well. Each returned very good results and, even though it remains the case that many Irish vendors still prefer to sell their most appealing prospects in Newmarket, the Irish sales offer a very good alternative with the sales companies and ITM working together to attract a very solid collection of buyers. There really is no need for so many Irish yearlings to head to England to be sold.

HORSES-IN-TRAINING SALES

The figures from Europe’s principal horses-in-training sale (at Tattersalls) have remained very steady for the past few years. The usual suspects continue to mop up many of the top lots, to race in either the Middle East or Australia.

Wathnan Racing remain very much in the market for horses with high-class form and was the purchaser of the top lot Gladius, whom it bought for 950,00gns. Gladius has returned to Andrew Balding’s Kingsclere stable, to be aimed at the Qatar Derby in February, with potential subsequent targets both in Europe and on the international circuit. Wathan will be hoping that Gladius will turn out to have been as well bought as the 2024 top lot Delius, who fetched 1.3m guineas and, now named Sir Delius and trained by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, won two Group 1 races in Melbourne within his first 12 months in Australia.

Not as many of the top lots in the Autumn Sale are nowadays bought for national hunt racing as used to be the case, but this year saw two notable purchases. Jerry McGrath won the battle to buy the second most expensive horse in the sale Fantasy World, bought out of Andrew Balding’s stable for 600,000gns to join Nicky Henderson’s team; while the third top lot Push The Limit, formerly trained by Ralph Beckett, fetched 580,000gns to join Dan Skelton’s stable.

It is also worth noting that Harold Kirk, on behalf of Willie Mullins, was underbidder for one of the most interesting horses in the sale: the five-year-old John Murphy-trained entire White Birch, best known as conqueror of Auguste Rodin in the 2024 Group 1 Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh. As it was, he will remain on the flat, bought by Jamie Osborne for 300,000gns.

NATIONAL HUNT SALES

It remains the case that in the modern world the most eye-catching purchases of (one hopes!) future NH stars take place once the horses have already raced. Buying stores requires a bit more skill and a bit more patience, and not everybody likes that. However, there will always be a place for the major store sales, and trade remained solid at both Goffs’ Arkle Sale and Tattersalls Ireland’s Derby Sale.

It was easy to be optimistic heading into the first part of Goffs’ November Sale, ie the foals’ section, as this sale had received a splendid advertisement during the summer. We are accustomed to the bulk of foals being bought for resale as yearlings (hence Tony Morris’ famous description of a foal sale being a sale of racing prospects which neither the vendor nor the purchaser wishes to race), so it is always pleasing to see people spending significant sums on foals they DO wish to race.

One of the standout lots in 2022 had been just such a horse, a grey Kingman colt out of Princess De Lune who became the second top lot (at €530,000) when bought by Juddmonte from his breeder, Roundhill Stud. Three years later, that purchase hit the bullseye when the colt, now named Field Of Gold, carried the Juddmonte silks to victory in the Irish 2000 Guineas and St James’s Palace Stakes.

Juddmonte also bought (for €340,000) the fourth top lot that year, a colt by Wootton Bassett from Nisriyna, and he has done nearly as well, becoming a Classic place-getter when finishing third, named Detain, in the Prix du Jockey-Club.

A strong catalogue in 2025 gave plenty of optimism that similar potential stars could lie within and the upshot was a very solid sale, including a healthy 85% clearance rate.

In an era in which fashion seems often unduly to influence the spending habits of the main players and in which a stallions can go in and, more pertinently, out of fashion undeservedly, it was pleasing to see as many as seven different sires represented among the top ten lots: New Bay, Night Of Thunder, Awtaad, Wootton Bassett, Lope De Vega, No Nay Never and Gleneagles.

The strength of the market carried through to the breeding stock section, which attracted its usual impressive depth of international investment. The top lot, Derby winner Lambourn’s three-parts sister Enthralling, heads to Japan after being bought, in foal to Camelot, for €780,000. Ace Stud (formerly Dullingham Park Stud, near Newmarket) which falls under the Yulong umbrella of Zhang Yuesheng (even if technically it is owned by Mr Yuesheng’s son-in-law Harrison Li) was the underbidder on Enthralling and purchaser of the second top lot, Liber Nauticus, sold by Moyglare Stud, in foal to champion sire-elect Night Of Thunder, for €420,000. Winner of the 2013 Musidora Stakes, she brings back happy memories of one of Ireland’s greatest former nurseries, Ballymacoll Stud, who bred and raced her.

GOFFS NOVEMBER FOAL SALE

Year	Avarage	Median	Top Lot €
2022	39,979	24,000	550,000
2023	36,420	24,000	700,000
2024	48,633	28,000	1,000,000
2025	48,027	26,000	650,000

GOFFS NOVEMBER BREEDING STOCK SALE

Year	Avarage	Median	Top Lot €
2022	55,398	24,000	790,000
2023	124,623	18,000	6,000,000
2024	51,114	22,000	725,000
2025	45,460	20,000	780,000

Solid trade continued in the first week of Tattersalls’ December Sale, with its one day of yearlings followed by four days of foals. As regards the foals, it was encouraging that the median figure held up well, bearing in mind the sizeable drop in both turnover and average in a sale in which the number of foals was almost unchanged from the previous year (ie 646 sold, against 643 in 2024).

TATTERSALLS DECEMBER YEARLING SALE

Year	Avarage	Median	TOP LOT (GNS)
2022	34,627	22,000	260,000
2023	37,616	20,000	200,000
2024	51,957	30,000	900,000
2025	52,699	40,000	425,000

TATTERSALLS DECEMBER FOAL SALE

Year	Avarage	Median	Turnover	TOP LOT (GNS)
2022	47,386	26,000	35,255,050	1,000,000
2023	44,608	21,000	29,842,902	575,000
2024	67,563	30,000	43,504,000	2,500,000
2025	58,659	30,500	37,893,400	1,150,000

Things really took off during the second week in a reduced catalogue for the fillies’ and mares’ section. The sale was slimmed down from four days to three, which was a good thing as in recent years the main features of the fourth day (Thursday) had been a scarcity of buyers and a glut of disappointed consignors. The consequently reduced catalogue (894, down from 1,002 in 2024, which itself was down from the 1,170 in 2021) did well to produce an aggregate only slightly down from the 2024 figure (and over 19 million guineas higher than in 2021).

There was definitely plenty of quality on offer, as the figures for the premier day (Tuesday) suggest. That day in 2024 had produced the highest aggregate at any day in a European bloodstock sale, ever. This year, Tuesday's figure broke that record, a 5% increase seeing its aggregate up to 57,695,415 guineas. Eleven lots changed hands for a million guineas or more, up from ten last year. Five fillies fetched 2,000,000 or more, four of them being Group/Grade 1 winners.

General expectations were that the Joseph O’Brien-trained champion Porta Fortuna (recipient of the Cartier Award for Three-Year-Old Filly of the Year in 2024) would top the sale. She duly fetched 4,500,000, bought by M V Magnier on behalf of Coolmore – but shortly afterwards the Jessica Harrington-trained Prix de l’Opera heroine Barnavara fetched an even greater sum, 4,800,000 guineas. Knocked down to 'Sugar Whiskey Trading', she appears to have joined the Yulong fold under one or other of its various guises and could well (more than) recoup her purchase price if following in the footsteps of Via Sistina. The latter was bought for 2,700,000 guineas by ‘Evergreen Equine’ on behalf of Yulong at this sale in 2023 and has subsequently become an 11-time Group 1 winner in Australia.

TATTERSALLS DECEMBER FILLIES' & MARES' SALE

Year	Avarage	Median	Turnover	TOP LOTS (GNS)
2021	79,204	26,000	62,412,700	2,200,000
2022	117,147	32,000	80,831,200	5,400,000
2023	107,544	30,000	67,752,800	4,500,000
2024	124,539	38,000	83,821,650	4,800,000
2025	140,661	40,500	81,585,500	4,800,000

There was also plenty of money available in Deauville for high-class fillies who are still racing prospects, as the connections of the recent Group 3 Prix Miesque heroine Half Sovereign discovered. Karl and Elaine Burke bought this daughter of Ten Sovereigns for 12,000 guineas at Tattersalls’ 2024 Somerville Yearling Sale and then sold half of her to an owner new to their stable, Adam Spratt. They took her to Arqana 15 months later hoping to get several hundred thousand for her – and found themselves selling her for 2,600,000 guineas, bought by Henry Lascelles, who acts primarily for Lady Bamford. The icing on the cake for Burke is that she will remain in his stable, with the 2026 1000 Guineas (or Poule d'Essai des Pouliches) a possible target.

ARQANA DECEMBER SALE

Year	Avarage	Median	Turnover	TOP LOTS €
2022	76,844	17,250	56,711,000	3,200,000
2023	70,564	20,000	47,137,000	4,025,000
2024	85,769	26,000	55,149,500	5,000,000
2025	70,761	28,000	48,284,800	2,600,000