TATTERSALLS has decided to stop hosting sales at Ascot with immediate effect. The July and November auctions scheduled for the racecourse site have been transferred to the company’s headquarters in Newmarket.

is to discontinue sales at Ascot with the final sale hosted under the Tattersalls banner being the Ascot June Sale which took place at the Berkshire Racecourse on Tuesday, 6th June.

Edmnd Mahony, chairman of Tattersalls, said: “We have enjoyed our seven-year association with Ascot Sales and would like to thank all the loyal vendors and purchasers who have contributed to some memorable moments in that time, as well as the support team at Ascot Racecourse. We will continue to serve this sector of the market with mixed sales at our Park Paddocks base in Newmarket in addition to the market leading mixed and online sales which we already stage throughout the year.”

The relocated sales will be conducted in guineas with a vendor commission of 5% in line with all Tattersalls sales.

Mahony added: “Just as with the Tattersalls sales at Ascot, the relocated sales will continue to cater for all categories, both flat and National Hunt, with the added advantage that we can also accept mares in foal and foals, which was not an option at Ascot.

“Vendors and purchasers will also benefit from the outstanding facilities at Park Paddocks and the lowest commission rate in Europe.”

The first Ascot Sales were staged in 1953 at the Royal Ascot Hotel Stables before moving to its present racecourse site in 1977. Brightwells took over the lease from Botterills in 1998. Tattersalls bought out Brightwells in 2015, also acquiring that company’s Cheltenham Sales at the same time.

Ascot hosted what turned out to be its final sale last Tuesday and it was dominated by the Godolphin consignment. Godolphin sold 15 horses for a turnover of £385,500 and filled the top four prices. Trainer Ian Williams bought eight lots from Godolphin at the March Sale here and he continued where he left off by paying £120,000 to acquire Tuesday’s top lot, Silent Film. A five-year-old son of New Approach, Silent Film has run 14 times and is a four-time winner. He is BHA-rated 100 and ran twice this spring at Meydan finishing third on his last start and fifth on his Dubai debut; he has good form with the Williams-trained,100-rated Spirit Of Light.

“We are keen to set up a base in the Middle East this winter to enable our clients to enjoy the advantages of racing there and he is a horse very capable of competing in that arena,” reported the trainer, adding: “He has been bought on spec.”

Bloodstock agent Ted Durcan was acting on behalf of a client of trainer Gary Moore when he gave £100,000 for Through The Ages, a three-year-old Golden Horn gelding also from the Godolphin draft who has been placed on both his lifetime starts.

“Gary [Moore] loves the sire and he has been lucky with the sire before,” reported Durcan.

“This is a lovely, big stamp of a horse, he vetted well. He is fine horse and is a perfect horse for Gary to run on the flat and, further down the road, over hurdles, let’s hope he is a fun horse.”

The store horse section of the mixed sale was topped by an Elusive Pimpernel three-year-old sold for £20,000 by Doug and Pauline Harkin. The May-born gelding is a second foal out of Popaway, the winner of four chases under Rules,16 point-to-points and placed 12 times.

The sale’s highest-priced NH horse in training, the Paul Nicholls-trained 108-rated novice chaser Magistrato, made £22,000 and was bought by Knowle Racing. Magistrato won a three-runner chase on his latest start, on May 31st.

The one-day session produced a record turnover of £929,700, an average of £8,854, a median of £5,000 and a clearance rate of 91%.