THE flow of high class flat horses from Europe to Australia continued on Tuesday when six of the top eight lots sold at the Tattersalls Autumn Horses In Training Sale were bought by Australian interests.

Top of the list came the Ralph Beckett-trained Balance Play, a three-year-old gelding by Lope De Vega who won off a mark of 95 at Newbury last month. He was sold for 575,000gns on Tuesday and will join the training partnership of Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott.

Claudia Miller, racing manager for Gai Waterhouse, said: "Balance Play is our highest-rated horse of the sale, we were under strict instructions not to leave without him! He is a lovely three-year-old, lightly raced, very consistent, effective on all going. He just is the exact profile of the horse we look for at this sale. We are very excited to get him."

Of the final price, Miller said: "It was strong, we knew it was going to be be strong, but he was a horse we were not leaving without. He could be anything for us, he is easily a stakes horse, there is a lot of improvement in him form-wise, physically as well – these Europeans seem to explode when they get down to the sunshine and the warmer weather. We are expecting more to come."

Will Bourne, who works for Aussie trainer Ciaron Maher, was the underbidder.

Through McKeever Bloodstock, the Waterhouse-Bott partnership paid 280,000gns for Bear On The Loose, a three-year-old gelding who won three of his five starts for trainer Kevin Philippart de Foy this season.

Miller said of this purchase: "A lovely horse we have purchased in partnership with My Racehorse. Again nice and lightly raced, plenty of improvement, he is a beautiful type, we really liked him on type and he came highly rated on form from Rob Waterhouse. He was around the mark we were looking at, price-wise."

Waterhouse and My Racehorse have teamed up before with Just Fine, a graduate of this sale and recent winner of the Group 1 Metropolitan.

"Hopefully, we can do the same!" she smiled.

Of the immediate plans for both horses, Miller said: "We will get them down to Australia probably give them both a good break, then look to the autumn and then the spring next year."

"There is so much interest in Australia for these types of horses as they are racing for so much money. We have had incredible success with European horses, and in particular from this sale, it is very happy hunting ground for us."

The aforementioned Ciaron Maher paid 360,000gns for Amleto, a three-year-old gelding trained by William Haggas. By Sea The Stars, Amleto has only raced four times and was rated 89 when he finished a 12-length second to The Goat on soft ground at Goodwood on his latest start.

Chris Waller, best known as the trainer of Winx, got in on the act when spending a total of 770,000gns on a trio of three-year-olds - Denmark, Florida and Unlimited. The first-named was trained by Aidan O'Brien and the other two came from the Haggas yard.

Irish buyers struggled to make an impression on Tuesday. One notable transaction was the 120,000gns paid by Shamrock Thoroughbreds for the Sir Mark Prescott-trained Eagle's Way. The same operation paid 85,000gns for Never Say Never, a consistent sprinter for Fozzy Stack this season.

The sale continues on Wednesday.