FOR the third day in a row, the Book 2 Sale at Tattersalls was topped by an Irish-consigned yearling on Wednesday when a colt by Sea The Stars realised 425,000gns.

The colt was consigned by Harry McCalmont's Norelands Stud on behalf of Sea The Stars' owners and was bought by Richard Brown of Blandford Bloodstock.

Brown said: "I think a lot of credit has got to go to our spotters – it is very hard to get around the numbers this week, and Sam Goyette, who works for Juddmonte, said very early on to me that he'd found a very special horse. I raised my eyebrows and said, 'Yes, of course!' But when I went down I was, 'Wow, this is very serious horse'.

"I knew that he'd be hard to buy – he is by one of the great stallions around and he has one of the proper back pages. Luckily, I had a client willing to stretch to have a proper go. I can't name the client, but the horse will stay in Europe and won't be allocated probably for a number of weeks. He is not actually a huge horse, but to my mind he is perfectly sized horse.

I saw Baaeed quite a lot at William's [Haggas] and he had this great width of hip and was not big, and this horse has that same hind end as Baaeed. You can get bigger, rangy horses by the sire but this horse is much more medium size, compact with a huge hind end. He also has great movement and he just looked classy."

He added: "Buying a horse who looks like this by Sea The Stars gives you a chance of having a top Group 1 horse."

Of the market this week, Brown said: "I think it has been strong, really good. This week has been hard buying, I did not buy as many as last week, and I have tried on plenty. It is not completely smooth sailing and buoyant, but I think overall I'd say you'd have to have a positive take away. There are a lot of people here, a lot of people bidding 200,000gns+ horses, a totally new crowd has turned up after Book 1 and I am sure there will be another new crowd tomorrow. I thought this week would be tricky, and I would be able to buy what I wanted, absolutely not! This horse, I knew he was a Book 1 horse in Book 2 and I needed to put last week's hat back on and value accordingly."

Goyette was alongside to watch Brown bid and he recalled spotting the colt: "As soon as this horse came out of the box I just wrote 'belter', closed the book and said thank you very much!"

Explaining further he said: "He is just beautifully balanced and everything he does is effortless, his stride is effortless. He just stood out a mile."

The day job for Goyette is as a stud hand for Juddmonte and he has taken these two weeks of Tattersalls yearling sales as holiday.

He said: "This is just a great way to see good horses, stay involved and in touch with people. I was Richard's gofer three years back, and I look at what is listed for me. The horse has to have an action and a walk."

The colt was bred by Sunderlands and was sold by Norelands, he is out of the Dawn Approach mare Miss Alglonne and is a half-sister to Mekhtaal, winner of the Group 1 Prix d'Ispahan, three further blacktype winners and three blacktype performers.

Under the fourth dam is the Group 2 winner Fair Of The Furze, and her descendants the champion three-year-old White Muzzle and theGroup 1 winner Almutawakel.

The three-day Book 2 sale generated almost 54 million guineas in spending, down from 60 million at last year's record-breaking sale from a roughly similar number of horses sold. This year's average price of 86,228gns is just over 10% down on last year, and the median price of 62,000gns represents a drop of 11%. However, this year's results are still the third highest ever in the history of the sale. A total of 17 lots sold for 300,000gns or more.

Only one other transaction on Wednesday made it into the top 10 prices of the week and that came when owner Jim Hay paid 325,000gns for a colt by Gleneagles, the sire of Hay's classic-placed Royal Scotsman.

Consigned by Whatton Manor Stud, the colt is out of the Pivotal mare, Ledena, who won five races in Germany and has bred two winners from two runners.

"He has been very popular, everyone has liked him," said Ed Player of Whatton Manor. "He has been a super colt, his sire Gleneagles has had a great year and is, of course, sire of Royal Scotsman, who was third in the 2000 Guineas and is bred on the same cross."

The colt was bought for Jim and Fitri Hay by agent Ed Sackville.

Hay commented: "We decided early on this was the one we wanted. We have had quite a few by Gleneagles, we think he is a top-class stallion and we have been buying his progeny. We thought we should go after this one as well, he is out of a Pivotal mare and he has all the pedigree you could wish for. The experts Ed Sackville and Dermot Farrington tell me that that this is a horse with perfect conformation. This is where dreams start!"

At the conclusion of Book 2, Tattersalls chairman Edmond Mahony commented: "As referenced last week the 2022 Tattersalls October Yearling Sales reached extraordinary heights, the like of which we may not see for many years to come, so for Book 2 of the October Yearling Sale to produce returns which, although falling short of last year, compare favourably with all bar two renewals of Europe’s largest yearling sale gives some perspective."

Book 3 starts on Thursday morning.