A STEADY opening session helped by condensed catalogue that greatly aided the sale’s clearance rate helped the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale get off to a solid if unspectacular start today.

At the close of proceedings on Tuesday evening, which marks the start of a pivotal four-week swing for the European yearling sales season, the first day of the September Sale grossed just over €5 million which was a marginal decrease on last year, but this came about from a session which was 15% smaller than last year’s.