TATTERSALLS chairman Edmond Mahony was obviously delighted with the outcome of the three-day sale, and commented: “To have broken so many records over the past three days reflects a catalogue of truly outstanding quality and a sale with a global reputation for producing exceptional racehorses year after year.

“Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale is widely regarded as Europe’s premier yearling sale, but even by Book 1 standards we felt that this year’s catalogue was a bit special. The sale has produced wide-margin records across the board, and first and foremost we must pay tribute to the vendors who have allowed us to produce a truly vintage catalogue which has showcased so many of the finest yearlings to be found anywhere in the world.

“The quality of stallions currently standing in Europe is at an all-time high and there is no doubt that the world’s leading buyers recognise this. They want quality and Book 1 of the 2017 October Yearling Sale had quality in abundance. The statistics for this week’s sale are pretty astounding.

“Obviously the individual highlight was the four-million guinea Galileo filly out of Dank. She was not only the highest-priced auction yearling sold anywhere in the world this year, but also the second highest-priced yearling filly ever sold at public auction.

SALE TURNOVER

“The sale turnover of more than 100 million guineas is a record for the sixth consecutive year, more than double the level of only seven years ago, and the average and median have also soared to unprecedented heights. In short, the record books have been completely rewritten.

“Equally extraordinary is that last year’s record of nine yearlings selling for one million guineas or more has been almost doubled. There have been 17 seven-figure yearlings sold over the past three days and they have been shared between buyers from Dubai, Ireland, Japan, South Africa, Switzerland, Thailand and the USA.

“Many of the leading participants this week are first-time buyers in Europe and it has been a genuine pleasure to see so many new faces enjoying the unique atmosphere generated by Europe’s premier yearling sale.

“There is currently a genuine global demand for top-class thoroughbreds and nowhere has this been more obvious than at Tattersalls this week.

“Book 1 has kick-started the Tattersalls sales season in spectacular fashion and we look forward to sustaining the momentum for Books 2 and 3 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale next week.”