THE 2019 Tattersalls July Sale finished with a flourish during the final session last Friday. Held after the races at Newmarket, there was plenty on offer to tempt buyers back, with the Ger Lyons-trained Inverleigh proving to be the star of the evening.

Runner-up in the Group 3 Ballycorus Stakes at Leopardstown on his latest outing, Inverleigh was knocked down to Rabbah Bloodstock’s Jono Mills for 350,000gns after a prolonged bidding duel with Dubai-based trainer Ahmed bin Harmash. The son of Excelebration won the Listed Committed Stakes at Navan in April.

The three-year-old colt was consigned by part-owner Michael Downey who said: “I and Peter Kavanagh [Kildaragh Stud] bought him as a foal to consign as a yearling, but for various reasons he missed his yearling sale. Peter’s son Roderick broke him in and we decided to keep him.

“Roderick and then trainer Ger Lyons have done a great job with the horse. He is athletic and everyone who saw him here loved him.”

Wildcard entry New Show, a four-time winning son of New Approach offered from Michael Bell’s Fitzroy House, is now in the ownership of Fawzi Nass following his sale for 130,000gns to Oliver St Lawrence. The agent faced stiff competition from Mags O’Toole, but the son of Group 1 Falmouth Stakes winner Music Show will now ply his trade for Nass who has stables in Dubai and Bahrain.

Paul Harley, acting for Emblem Stables, secured the six-time winning son of Big Bad Bob, Count Calabash, for 100,000gns. This close relation to Grade 1 runner-up Tangle was trained by Eve Johnson Houghton.

A recent victory in a maiden at Bellewstown was a great help to the Kevin Prendergast owned and trained Sam Langford when he came up for sale. Placed on both his prior starts, he will now head to Qatar when he became the latest in a list of 18 purchases during the week by leading buyer Gassim Mohammad Ghazali.

Tattersalls chairman Edmond Mahony summed up the trade at the sale’s conclusion. “This has been another strong renewal of the Tattersalls July Sale. Two lots selling for more than 400,000gns for the first time at this fixture, a record July price for a filly in training, and improved figures in all the key indicators of turnover, average, median and clearance rate are about as many positives as one could wish for.

“As is so often the case at Tattersalls, the most obvious features have been the depth to the trade and the uniquely international cast of buyers all of whom have contributed to the extraordinary clearance rate of 93%. Domestic British and Irish buyers have been prominent and every sector of the market has been further boosted by international demand, which has included the sale-topping 450,000gns three-year-old colt New King who was purchased by leading Australian-based bloodstock agent James Harron, the prolific buying of our loyal buyers from the Gulf region, and a particularly strong contingent of buyers from Greece. There have been buyers at Park Paddocks this week from more than 30 different countries and it is a source of pride that many of them would view Tattersalls as their primary, if not only, source of thoroughbreds year after year.

“We are constantly travelling the world looking to explore new markets or expand existing ones and sales like this year’s July Sale suggest that the Tattersalls brand is as strong as ever and that the July Sale remains firmly established as Europe’s premier midsummer sale.”