The Tattersalls December Foal Sale ended on Saturday.
At the conclusion of the sale 663 of the 921 lots offered were sold for 29,338,300gns, down 16% from the 2018 figure when 681 lots of the 969 offered sold for 34,924,757gns. The average fell 14% from 51,285gns to 44,251ngs whilst the median decreased 12% from 25,000gns to 22,000gns this year. Overall 72% of the lots offered were sold.
The final day was topped by lot 1139, a colt by Farhh who sold for 110,000gns to bloodstock agent Ross Doyle. Out of the Dutch Art mare Duchess Of Fife the sale continued the fabulous week enjoyed by breeder Colin and Melba Bryce's Laundry Cottage Stud and consignor Jamie Railton.
The team had topped the second day of the sale when their colt by Bated Breath sold for 185,000gns.
"It is great, we are very lucky," smiled Bryce. "We bred the mare Duchess Of Fife and this was always a fabulous foal, a great walker. It was Melba who decided on Farhh - she loved him when she saw him at Darley."
Duchess Of Fife is in foal to Unfortunately and is catalogued as lot 1983 at next week's Tattersalls December Mare Sale. She won a race at 3 and the Farhh colt is her first foal. She is out of winning mare La Adelita who is a half-sister to the Listed winner and Group 1 placed Princess Loulou.
The second top price of the day came for a colt by Nathaniel out of the Cadeaux Genereux mare Robema from the Flintshire Stud draft. He was bought by Ballyhane Stud's Joe Foley who had to go to 95,000gns to secure the colt leaving Yeomanstown Stud's Gay O'Callaghan the underbidder.
Dave Weston of the Marlborough-based Flintshire Stud said: "This is a lovely foal and has always been very straightforward. The very first mare we bought was from Joe Foley and Joe was underbidder when we bought Robema.
"We started Flintshire 15 years ago it was a derelict dairy farm. We have trained National Hunt horses from there under a permit but have recently got a Flat licence too. We want to train our own and then, once we get going, a few for syndicates, but we don't want to train for lots of outside owners.
"We have four mares and are looking to upgrade them now so we can produce Book 1 and Book 2 type yearlings. We hope to buy next week."
At the conclusion of the 2019 Tattersalls December Foal Sale, Tattersalls Chairman Edmond Mahony commented;
"A sale average of almost 45,000gns, second only to last year's wide margin record, combined with an improved clearance rate and turnover well in excess of any other European foal sale, are all positive indicators, yet again reinforcing the status of the Tattersalls December Foal Sale as the premier fixture of its kind in Europe.
"Demand for quality British, Irish, French and German foals has been unrelenting, and while we should continue to recognise the selective nature of the current market, we have had more than 70 foals selling for 100,000gns or more this week, as well as an impressive 14 foals breaking the 300,000gns mark and international buyers making a significant impact at all levels of the market.
"Following on from their prolific buying at Books 1 and 2 of our October Yearling Sales, it was particularly encouraging to see American buyers continuing to make their presence felt alongside buyers from throughout Euope, the Gulf region and Japan, all of whom have also made a major contribution to this week's sale."
The Tattersalls December Mare Sale begins on Monday.
