WITH all of the top lots selling on day one, the vibrant trade nonetheless continued for the remainder of the week.

On day two, 10 lots were sold for €100,000 or more, a pair more than last year. The top price was for the Francis-Henri Graffard trained Shahnameh, offered from the Aga Khan Studs. The daughter of Churchill was knocked down for €175,000 with the winning bid made online by BBA Ireland.

The first crop of Persian King generated a lot of interest from buyers. Of the 10 colts and fillies that went under the hammer during the first two days, nine were sold for an average of €79,000. Top price was €160,000, paid by Robert O’Callaghan for a colt from the family of classic winners Miss Tahiti and Miss France. O’Callaghan said: “He is for us one of the nicest foals in the sale. He ticks all the boxes. We are really happy.”

Momentum

The momentum continued on Monday, day three, when Vazzana sold for €120,000, another Aga Khan homebred trained by Francis-Henri Graffard. The unraced daughter of Teofilo is out of the Group 1 Prix Saint-Alary winner Vazira. Busherstown’s Katie Rudd had the final say, and commented: “She’ll come back to Ireland. It’s the first time I’ve bought at the Vente d’Elevage – the market is strong.”

With all the indicators up throughout the four days, the sale achieved unprecedented results. The turnover exceeded the €50 million mark for the first time, reaching the historic sum of €56,786,000. Écurie des Monceaux sold 30 lots that realised a total of €9,959,000 to head the vendors’ list. Having purchased 46 lots for a total of €9,211,000, the BBA Ireland team took the top spot among buyers.