IT took a private deal for the top lot to emerge at the first sale of the year in the Tattersalls Ascot sale ring on Thursday. Led out without a buyer after bidding reached £48,000, the Jeremy’ gelding Sonru, offered from Donnchadh Doyle’s Monbeg Stables, was sold for £50,000 by the Melbourne 10 Racing Partnership, a group well-known to Irish racegoers.