2010 Autumn Horses in Training Sale Day 4 Press Release

The Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale concluded with a fourth and final session that saw a total of 158 lots sell for a total of 832,600 guineas at an average of 5,270 guineas and a median of 2,900 guineas. This took the four day total to 865 lots sold for 17,577,300 guineas at an average of 20,321 guineas and a median of 9,000 guineas, figures that were virtually the same as in 2009.

The top price on the final day was 42,000 guineas for the four-year-old DUBAI DESTINATION colt AAMAN consigned from Ed Vaughan’s Grange House Stables. The colt, rated 69 by ‘Timeform’ was purchased by dual-purpose trainer Bernard Llewellyn in order to give a helping hand to his grandson's race-riding career. The 16-year-old Robert Williams, who was a leading rider on the Welsh pony racing circuit, has ridden one winner under Rules when partnering MR UDAGAWA, trained by his grandfather, to success at Chepstow in September. He is keen to build on that and seemingly his grandfather is too.

"This is a lovely horse and has been bought for Robert to ride," said Llewellyn. "He is a nice stamp of a horse and we thought he would go for around 30,000gns. We had to pay a bit more, but then you have to get a nice horse. The horse will do a job and will go hurdling and will probably have a dual-purpose campaign."

At the conclusion of the 2010 Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale, Tattersalls Chairman Edmond Mahony commented;

“Our October Yearling Sales achieved figures broadly in line with last year’s returns and the trade this week at the Autumn Horses in Training Sale has performed very similarly. The turnover of just over 17,500,000 guineas is up a little on 2009, as is the average, while the median is the same as last year. The slightly larger catalogue has resulted in a lower clearance rate than the exceptional 85% at the 2009 fixture, but has improved upon the clearance rates in both 2007 and 2008. Another positive was the 550,000 guineas top price for HEARTS OF FIRE which was the second highest price ever at the Autumn Horses in Training Sale and the diversity amongst the leading buyers has been particularly encouraging.

“In many ways it has been a typical Autumn Horses in Training Sale – huge numbers of overseas buyers at all levels of the market, combined with solid domestic demand from both Flat and National Hunt owners and trainers. The global reputation of this sale for providing quality and value for money is the feature which continues to bring buyers to the sale in such numbers and the current weakness of sterling makes it even more enticing for our international clients. We continue to work closely with British Bloodstock Marketing and we are delighted to see the extensive programme of overseas promotional visits which we have undertaken throughout the year paying dividends.”