A COMPARATIVELY brief mares section brought down the curtain on this year’s sale and this part of the sale illustrated that a mere glance at the final figures for an auction can, at times, be quite misleading.

The average of €16,778 and the €8,500 median were down by 35% and 30% respectively. However this part of the sale actually returned quite a heartening level of trade and the clearance rate jumped from 55% to 75% which is one the strongest recent returns for the mares sale.

For the sixth year in a row, Willie Mullins supplied the top-priced mare as Treasa O’Keeffe, standing with Cue Card’s breeder Roland Crellin, had to go to €140,000 to secure Camelia De Cotte who was sold in-foal to Australia. The seven-year-old mare came into her own over fences last season when she notched up six victories that took in a Grade 2, a pair of Grade 3s and a listed contest. This mare was bought to replace the ill-fated Airlie Beach.

The next lot into the ring was the Mullins-trained Limini whose finest hour came when she won the inaugural Dawn Run Mares Novice Hurdle at the 2016 Cheltenham Festival. This daughter of Peintre Celebre and relation to Vintage Tipple was sold in-foal to Australia and was bought by English-based Will Kinsey for €75,000 which was a price that looked to represent very reasonable value.

A date with Poet’s Word is on the cards for the listed bumper winner Copper Kay after she was snapped up by Boardsmill Stud’s John Flood for €60,000. This daughter of Kayf Tara is carrying to Soldier Of Fortune.

Joseph O’Brien’s Grey Waters, who was Grade 1-placed as a juvenile hurdler and finished second to Camelia De Cotte at Thurles last January, was snapped up by the BBA Ireland for €45,000.

Two other mares reached the €40,000 mark and the first of these was Agathe Rosalie who is in-foal to Sir Percy and comes from the family of the high-class Afsoun. She was bought by Timothy Mulhare. A short while later Kieran Cotter went to €40,000 for Truly Amazing, a daughter of the top-class Asian Maze who is an own-sister to the Grade 3 scorer Cup Final.