A record price for a store sold anywhere in Ireland this year, combined with a record number of 38 lots sold for €100,000 and above, were among the highlights at this year's Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale, which concluded on Thursday.
The sale topper was lot 338, the Walk In The Park gelding out of the smart racemare Posh Trish (Stowaway), who went the way of trainer Dan Skelton and Ryan Mahon for €285,000 to cap a successful sale for John Dwan's Ballyreddin Stud and Katie Rudd's Busherstown.
On Wednesday, the partnership also consigned the top-priced two-year-old, the filly by Ectot (lot 216), who made €100,000 and was also bought by Skelton and Mahon.
“He has incredible movement, he has good size, and has everything we want,” Skelton said of the Walk In The Park gelding. “He is a proper athlete, comes from a good hotel, he is out of a great mare and by the right sire. We thought he'd make €250,000, and then it was just a few arm wrestles after. He deserves to be a lot of money because he is a beauty–he is the most expensive store we have ever bought!”
Later on Thursday, agent Tom Malone – buying with trainer Gavin Cromwell and on behalf of owner Owen Daley – went to €260,000 for lot 370, a filly by Tunis named Moscovite and sold by Moanmore Stables, who enjoyed a fine pinhook return having secured her last year for just €43,000.
Overall, the sale also recorded its highest turnover since 2022 at €17,576,000, an increase of 26% on last year's aggregate. Of the 401 lots offered, 330 sold at a healthy clearance rate of 82% (from 79% in 2024). The average increased by 11% to €53,261 and the median was up by 13% to €43,000.
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