Founded in 1766 Tattersalls Ltd, which has its based in High Street, Newmarket, is the oldest sales house in the world.
The company’s July Mixed Sale, its October Horses-in-Training Sale and its December sales have, particularly in more recent times, proven to be happy hunting grounds for Australian buyers.
The forthcoming Tattersalls July Sale will offer a total of 753 lots and will again be attracting buyers, or their representatives, from “down under”.
Stallions spoke to the Tattersalls Australian representative Jenny McAlpine about the catalogue, the likely Australian representation, the consignments of leading breeders and other matters.
Q.: On what dates will the sale be held
A.: The begins on Wednesday July 6 and continues on July 7 and 8. It is being held in conjunction with the meeting on the July course at Newmarket, which features the Darley July Cup over five furlongs
Q.: What will be the primary break up of the catalogue
A.: Being sold are broodmares, mares with foals at foot, fillies and horses in and out of training as well as untried horses
Q.: What will be the feature attractions amongst the broodmares
A.: There are mares selling on the first day by proven Group 1 sires Cape Cross, Danehill Dancer our own Exceed and Excel, Halling, Iffraaj, Kyllachy, Medicean, Peintre Celebre, Pivotal, Royal Applause, Distant View, Oasis Dream, Warning, Wince and Zafonic so they will attract plenty of interest. There are also mares in foal by Starspangledbanner, which adds further to the Australian flavour
Q.: Will there be opportunities among the mares and fillies for Australians
A.: There are always great buying opportunities for Australian buyers to purchase European pedigrees and mares by top European sires inaccessible in Australia such as Green Desert, Indian Ridge, Machiavellian, Rainbow Quest, Sadlers Wells and Singspiel. These types of mares are highly regarded when appearing subsequently in Australian catalogues and can reap rewards for their Australian buyers. There are also quality fillies by leading sires and they have potential to perform well on Australian race tracks before entering stud.
Q.: The horses-in-training section should have appeal for buyers from “down under”
A.: Yes. Horses in training with real quality go through the sales at Tattersalls and often have plenty of potential to upgrade their pedigrees with successful Aussie form. The major international players disperse some of their horses in training so a selection from some of the world’s greatest stable strings is readily available. More often than not, these horses prove to be quite inexpensive. The average of the July sale in the past two years has been 12,000 guineas, which equates to approximately $A19,000
Q.: Do you feel the recent success of imported stayers in Australia will encourage buyers
A.: The successes this year of the Group 1 winners My Kingdom of Fife and Stand to Gain – stayers bought out of Tattersalls sales – has been a great promotion for the company as a source of stayers. It has become a well known fact that European stayers perform well when imported into Australia. And, the fact is that many of these successful stayers have been graduates of Tattersalls sales and have been purchased at extremely reasonable prices. It is a point which has been noted by Tattersalls chairman Edward Mahoney
Q.: Will many Australian buyers be attending the sale or be represented
A.: There will be a small number of Australians attending the sale. Many breeders do prefer to attend the Tattersalls December Sale, which comprises a vast selection of broodmares and fillies off the track. A much bigger catalogue is then available for selection.
Q.: Interestingly a number of leading breeding grounds have consignments
A.: Yes. Darley, Shadwell, Juddmonte and Cheveley Park are among them. They are all long time established European breeding operations and, mostly, they sell consignments at this sale each year
Q.: Sheikh Hamdan, who is well known in Australia, is presenting a quality offering
A.: His Shadwell Estates has a large consignment of 84 horses, which includes mares and fillies in training and many of them are well performed with black type status. Amongst the Shadwell three-year-old fillies are daughters of top sires Bernadini, Cape Cross, Dalakhani, Dansili, Elusive Quality, Green Desert, Kingmambo and, most interestingly, Redoute’s Choice
Q.: So does Prince Khalid Abdullah’s Juddmonte Farms
A.: Yes, he will be presenting 50 quality lots, which is the second largest consignment. Fillies from the direct families of Juddmonte stars Aptitude, Commander in Chief, Danehill, Distant View, Oasis Dream and Warning are among the draft. He generally offers sizeable consignments at both the July Sale and the December Sale
Q.: What major Tattersalls sales will follow later in the year
A.: The major sale for Australians is the Horses-in-Training sale on the last weekend in October, where trainers like Chris Waller, Mike Moroney and Lee Freedman have had enormous success and are, understandably, great supporters of the sale. Chris Waller has established outstanding statistics from this sale over the last five or six years. The December mare sale always runs in the first week of December and is the biggest breeding stock sale in Europe. The mare sale follows on from foals and yearlings and attracts great Aussie interest. Australians usually spend somewhere between one million and  four million guineas during the four days of the sale. Of course it is worth remembering that the legendary Makybe Diva was a product of that Tattersalls ring.