Breeding Stock

Tattersalls December Foal & Mare Sales

A RECORD number of six-figure lots (164) and the highest number of horses sold in 15 years were among the most notable statistics to emerge from the recent December Mare Sale.

As expected the sale readily outperformed last year and, as was the case at Goffs earlier in the month, the dramatic downscaling of the Shadwell empire played a vital part in the sale’s success. The Shadwell draft contributed close to six million guineas to the sale’s turnover and the enhanced level of quality on offer from this quarter had a really beneficial effect on the overall sale.

The previous week the foal market rebounded from 2020 while exhibiting some traits of the yearling sales season in that the very top of the market doesn’t seem quite as strong as it used to be.

The 25,000gns median was the highest in seven years and the clearance rate of 81% also represented a strong return for the sale but the number of six-figure foals dropped by two to 62 this year and this is the lowest figure in this category since 2012. On the other hand, the demand for foals between 50,000gns and 99,000gns was especially robust.

Goffs November Sale

A year of many positives for Goffs yielded another one in the shape of the company’s November Breeding Stock Sale which took on a new lease of life.

The strongest catalogue assembled for this sale for quite some time – the cornerstone of which was a superb Shadwell-owned draft – yielded an aggregate of just over €16.2 million which was double the corresponding figures from 2018 or 2019.

The average of €43,718 was the highest for five years and the number of six-figure transactions came in at 38 which was double the number who managed this feat in 2019.

The Breeding Stock sale clearance rate rose from 75% to 82% from a substantially bigger catalogue.

The middle market from €50,000 to €100,000 seemed very strong and this was where the real strength of the sale lay.

The number of six-figure foals (41) bettered both 2020 and 2018 but was lagging some way behind 2019 and 2017 and this partly due to the head of the market looking different to previous editions. The top price of €550,000 bettered last year’s top lot, but in 2020 there were five foals who made €300,000 or more as opposed to only one this year.