THE fourth renewal of the Tattersalls Ireland July Store Sale begins at 10am on Wednesday (July 24th), with 580 lots catalogued across the two days.
The original line-up has been boosted by a large number of wildcard entries, including siblings of Grade 1 scorer Lac Fontana (Lot 228A), Ladbrokes Trophy victor Cloth Cap (Lot 154A), Welsh National second Iron Bridge (Lot 150B) and Grade 3 heroine Gambling Girl (Lot 234A), herself the dam of dual listed winner Queens Gamble.
Pedigree highlights of the original catalogue include:
Lot 2: Capri half-brother to Grade 3 winner and Irish Grand National runner-up Run Wild Fred
Lot 62: Yeats half-brother to blacktype hurdler No Flies On Him, out of a Grade 2-placed mare
Lot 215: Kingston Hill half-sister to Magical Zoe, a dual blacktype winner and twice graded-placed over hurdles. Since the catalogue was printed, she has won a maiden and finished third in the Group 3 Stanerra Stakes
Lot 257: Walk In The Park half-sister to two graded winners, including Grade 1 performer Soaring Glory
Lot 334: Jukebox Jury half-sister to Grade 1 performer Minella Crooner, out of a listed-winning Monsun mare
Lot 471: Walk In The Park half-sister to Grade 3 hurdler and Group 1 flat performer Run For Oscar. He finished second in the Queen Alexandra Stakes at Royal Ascot since the catalogue was printed
Lot 522: Blue Bresil half-sister to Indefatigable, successful in a Grade 2 and twice at listed level
All horses catalogued are eligible for the €100,000 George Mernagh Memorial Sales Bumper 2025. The 2024 edition saw newcomer Kopek Des Border bolt up by 13 lengths, having been bought by Willie Mullins and Harold Kirk from Sluggara Farm at the Derby Sale for €130,000.
Aintree winner a fine advertisement
British buyers should be encouraged to travel off the back of Gwennie May Boy’s valuable win at Aintree, which took his record to three from three for Dan Skelton. The son of Mahler was sold by Dromod Stud at the first July Store Sale for €20,000 to Stroud Coleman and Jonjo O’Neill.
Matt Coleman is hoping to repeat the feat next week. “It’s a sale I’ve been lucky at in the past. I’ve had a number of blacktype horses out the sale for sensible money. There doesn’t tend to be many of the big, powerful buyers there, so if you hunt around, you can certainly find a bit of value.”
On his buying criteria, Coleman reveals, “I’d still be driven by pedigree somewhat and would tend to shop those kind of sales a little bit by pedigree. I would look for mares that have produced some decent horses, or if the mare didn’t race herself, that she is sort of unexposed in that she hasn’t had too many foals.
“I’d be driven more by ratings and blacktype, because some of that National Hunt blacktype can be fairly bogus. The Irish blacktype handicap system is a bit of a farce to be honest.
“So many of those national handicaps count as blacktype, but shouldn’t. It’s much worse in Ireland than England; they’ve got rid of most of those blacktype handicaps in the UK.”
Coleman also takes issue with how blacktype is catalogued for Irish National Hunt sales, with Grade A races listed as Grade 1, Grade B as Grade 2, and so on. “They should have a major overhaul of how they do blacktype in Irish National Hunt catalogues,” he says.
Proven source of value
The inaugural sale also produced Grade 2-winning novice hurdler Captain Cody, who was bought by Colm McBratney’s Templeburn Stables from Churchlands Stables for the bargain price of €7,500. It’s safe to presume connections received a larger sum following his promising fourth in a four-year-old maiden, which earned him a place in Willie Mullins’ string.
Garrett Murphy is another handler who unearthed a gem at the sale, having paid Rathkenty Stables €13,500 for Only By The Night and subsequently resold her for £110,000 following her maiden victory.
She went on to win her first three starts for Gavin Cromwell, including at listed level, and gained further blacktype at the Punchestown Festival last time out.
2022 saw the sale merge with the venue’s August NH Sale, whose graduates are led by Donal Hassett’s €6,500 purchase Noble Yeats. Glen Stables consigned the Grand National hero, while Ballincurrig House Stud sold dual Grade 1 winner Noah And The Ark to Thorne Farm for €9,000.
Chris O’Donovan paid Caroreigh Farm €10,000 for Shanagh Bob and after reselling for £200,000, the son of Mahler went on to win the Grade 2 Bristol Novices’ Hurdle. Irish Grand National winner Lord Lariat is another success story, having been sold by Harristown Stables to owner P.J. Casey for just €5,500.
Then and now
Ballincurrig House Stud, Caroreigh Farm and Glen Stables feature on the 2024 list of consignors, as do Castletown Quarry Stud, Galbertstown Stables, Peter Nolan Bloodstock and Rathbarry Stud, to name just a few.
Last year’s sale was held in two parts, though next week is catalogued as a single entity. Part 1 generated an average price of €13,595, median price of €11,000 and top price of €55,000.
The clearance rate of 72% represented a challenging market for vendors and even more so at Part 2, where it dipped to 56%. Given how figures fell at the earlier store sales this summer, vendors must be expecting more of the same next week.