The rescheduled Tattersalls Ireland Cheltenham January Sale, postponed from Jan. 30 due to inclement weather affecting racing, went off without a hitch, with 23 of the 32 horses offered sold for £1,230,000 at a clearance rate of 72%. The average of £53,478 was down 8% from the comparable sale staged by Brightwells last year, and the median of £40,000 was up 2.5%.
The sale of National Hunt horses with form and point-to-pointers was topped by wildcard entry Cesar Collonges (Fr) (Fragrant Mix {Ire}) (lot 25), a 4-year-old winning Irish point-to-pointer. He was bought by trainer Evan Williams for £200,000. Williams, the sale's leading buyer, secured another of the day's four six-figure lots: bumper winner Billy Bronco (GB) (Central Park {Ire}) (lot 7) for £110,000. Also hitting six figures was Burren Life (Ire) (Pelder {Ire}) (lot 16), bought by Gordon Elliott Racing for £135,000, and Reality Bites (Ire) (Mahler {GB}) (lot 29), purchased by Highflyer Bloodstock/Alan King for £100,000.
Richard Pugh, the Tattersalls Ireland Director of Horses-in-Training Sales, said, “We are delighted to have consolidated the recent results achieved at the January Sale, despite the need to change the date. It has been a challenging time for many of our customers in finding suitable races for their horses. In a normal winter a date in January is fine. We have achieved a top price lot of £200,000, improved the median, and the average figure is very satisfactory and we now look forward to next month's Festival Sale, which has become an important event in the jumps sales calendar.”
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