A MIX of flat yearlings, foals and breeding stock was on offer at the single session Sapphire Sale at Tattersalls Ireland on Friday. Despite good competition for the choicer lots, a clearance rate of 42% reflects the current state of the market at the lower end of the spectrum.

Turnover for the day amounted to €532,100 while the average and median prices came in at €6,822 and €4,000.

It was from the foal section that the sale-topper came when John Foley of Ballyvolane Stud paid €37,000 for a Cotai Glory colt consigned by Railstown Stud. He is out of La Cuvee, making him a half-brother to Group 1 Matron Stakes victor Champers Elysees.

Foley has a good knack of turning foal purchases into very profitable yearlings and a return to a sales ring next year is on the cards for this brother to four winners. “He is a fine foal, a half-brother to a Group 1 winner, and we will see what happens. I’ve had a few by the stallion, he is good sire and has had a Group 1 winner and is very commercial,” Foley said.

Yearlings by Darley stallion Ghaiyyath made a big impression at the main sales in the autumn and it was no surprise to see the two foals catalogued by him sell well on Friday.

First up was a filly from Castledillon Stud who sold to Jerry Horan of Paragon Bloodstock for €26,000. This filly out of Arabescatta is a half-sister to a stakes winner in Italy this year from the Group 1 family of Coronet and Midas Touch.

The other Ghaiyyath foal, a colt, also consigned by Castledillon, made €25,000 to the bid of Finn Kent.

Out of Italian Group 3 winner Kykuit who has bred two stakes performers from seven winners this colt is also likely to appear at an auction next autumn.

“He is for resale, and has been bought for an Irish partnership and stays in Ireland. Ghaiyyath is a classy stallion, and this colt has a good blacktype page,” Finn Kent said.

Also destined to stay in Ireland for another date in a sales ring is a filly by Alkumait from Railstown Stud bought by Paul Harley for €22,000.

“She has been purchased for a client for resale. She will stay in Ireland and hopefully will come back here next September. She’s a really nice type and I like the Alkumaits that I have seen,” Harley said.

Another foal to sell well was the Olive O’Connor-consigned son of Nando Parrado who was knocked down to Paul McCartan for €24,000. Of course McCartan has history with the stallion having raced him with Clive Cox when the colt landed the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot before retiring to the Irish National Stud for stallion duties.

Danny Murphy has made a great start to training again in his own right on the Curragh, landing a Group 3 race race at Dundalk recently with Dun Na Sead. Murphy bolstered his 2024 squad with the purchase of a Bungle Inthejungle yearling for €28,000.

This colt was offered by the Burns family’s Rathasker Stud and is a half-brother to four-time Italian winner Balthassar from the family of 2000 Guineas winner Refuse To Bend.

“We’ve started off really well and we wanted an early two-year-old type and we have had a bit of luck with a ‘Bungle’ before,” Murphy said. “We gave a bit more than we planned, I kept walking away but got drawn back in! This is a real two-year-old and he will be owned by Damien Moore, who asked me to buy him one.”

The very smart Kitty Rose showed that Invincible Army was well capable of siring a good horse and a yearling filly by the Yeomanstown stallion was bought for €13,000 by a good judge in Peter Nolan.

Offered by Castleboy Farm, the well-grown filly is out of a half-sister to multiple stakes winner Battalion from the family of Galiway and will go into training with Noel Meade.