TATTERSALLS Ireland has decided to postpone its two days of store sales in July until mid-August, due to the difficulty in bringing British buyers to the sales.

This week’s Derby Sale was dealt a major blow on the eve of the sale when the Government withdrew the permission it had granted for a ‘British bubble’ of buyers to bypass the usual quarantine requirements and attend the sale in person.

Just under 50 British buyers were based in three Co Meath hotels and they had to be informed they would only be allowed to bid remotely. Fortunately, the key buyers had already carried out their inspections and went on to make a significant number of purchases (see pages 38-39).

However, Tattersalls feels it cannot risk scheduling another store horse sale until it becomes easier for British buyers to attend. As a result the May and July Store Sales have been postponed until Tuesday, August 10th and Wednesday, August 11th, with the August NH Sale following directly after on Thursday, August 12th.

A statement from the sales company said: “The postponement follows consultation from vendors and purchasers, and reacts to concerns that overseas purchasers, in particular those from the UK, will be unable to visit Ireland without quarantine until international travel is permitted once again from July 19th.”

‘Enormous challenge’

Tattersalls Ireland CEO Simon Kerins said: “In light of the enormous challenges faced this week - with our loyal British purchasers being informed at the 11th hour that they were not permitted to attend the Derby Sale - we have made the decision to move the May and July Store Sale to August. We feel that it is not in the best interests of our vendors or purchasers who have supported us with a quality selection of store horses to proceed with a sale in just over two weeks’ time.

“It is expected that from July 19th the Irish Government will launch the EU’s Covid-19 digital passport that aims to facilitate the movement of people within the EU and, from that date, Ireland will also broadly align itself to the EU approach to non-essential travel into the EU from third countries such as the UK. Specifically, from that date if a passenger has valid proof of vaccination, no travel-related testing or quarantine will be necessary.

“The Covid-19 landscape is fluid and constantly changing but it is of the utmost importance to us that there is no barrier for any purchaser coming to the sale, and we feel that can be best achieved by waiting for the changes above to come into effect.”

Kerins added that a decision on the location of the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale will be made early next week.

The next on-site sale at Goffs in Kildare is the Orby Sale at the end of September. Goffs CEO Henry Beeby said: “In terms of the sales calendar we are going to take a few days to review the situation and discuss it with key clients, HRI, ITM and Tattersalls.

“I have already had discussions with Tattersalls and, like last year, anticipate that any reorganisation of our sales calendars that may be required will be coordinated to ensure we serve the whole market as best we can, given the circumstances and that we have so many mutual clients. To that end we are meeting early next week in an effort to give clarity to yearling vendors as they make their final decisions around sales choices.”