MANY people ask me, particularly those on the periphery of the bloodstock world, what do we do when there are no sales taking place? Well inspections begin for the breeze-up sales the first week in January, and continue with the Derby Sale inspections from February right through to the end of March; yearlings inspections commence at the end of April until the end of June.

There are advertising and promotional plans to finalise and planning for each sale for the year ahead. Reviews of each sale from every aspect - from bedding, to hay, to vetting and logistics – are part of the regular process and we take considerations and recommendations seriously from vendors and purchasers alike.

With the acquisition of Brightwells by Tattersalls in October 2015, the sales at Cheltenham and Ascot are now run by Tattersalls Ireland and personnel include several of the previous Brightwells staff.

a real mix

This acquisition has added 14 different sales to the Tattersalls Ireland schedule. With Richard Pugh heading up the Ascot and Cheltenham divisions, the acquisition has been a huge success and fits well within the overall group. A large number of the Tattersalls Ireland team are at every Ascot and Cheltenham sale and we are fully engaged in building further on the successes.

Tattersalls Ireland is also sponsoring 55 point-to-points throughout the autumn, winter and spring so there is a responsibility on the team at Tattersalls Ireland to be present, at the very least, at our sponsored races.

We would also attend the majority of other meetings throughout the season with a view to sourcing horses for our Cheltenham and, increasingly, our Ascot sales. It is also an excellent opportunity to meet with our clients.

It is one of the most enjoyable parts of the business and to see the enthusiasm and genuine love that Irish people have for the National Hunt game is reassuring and means that the industry is in good hands.

I recently attended Dromahane point-to-point on Sunday, April 9th where we sponsored the five and six-year-old mares’ maiden race. This was divided and it’s a healthy sign of the business when more and more individuals are putting mares in training.

Increasingly there is a better programme of races for mares. Fairyhouse held the first of two Grade 1 races for mares staged in Ireland on Easter Sunday, which was won by the Yeats mare Augusta Kate, and with the ITBA bonus scheme for mares only maiden winners, breeders and buyers can be confident of having a much better opportunity of winning a race.

When the National Hunt programme mirrors that of the flat programme then a lot will have been achieved.

As I sit here and write this piece at Tattersalls in Newmarket for the Craven Sale on the second day of what is Europe’s number one breeze-up sale, Tuesday night’s session was extraordinary. The average was up 48% to just under 142,000gns and the median was up 83% to 110,000gns.

INTELLO COLT

The top lot was an Intello colt sold by Brendan Holland’s Fermoy-based Grove Stud for 575,000gns. It is amazing how, all bar a handful of UK based consignors, the catalogue is comprised of Irish vendors.

A number of us attended the Tattersalls Ireland George Mernagh Memorial Sales Bumper, which was held at Fairyhouse Easter Festival on Easter Sunday, and this race is for graduates from the previous year’s Derby and August Sales.

This year’s race was won by John Quinlan’s Moyneard Stables-consigned Red Jack, owned by J.P. McManus and trained by Noel Meade. He was purchased for €23,000 at last year’s Derby Sale and won €59,000 for winning this race.