On a day that began with the shock news that Gigginstown House Stud are to wind down on a scaled basis over the next few years, the Tattersalls Ireland May Store Sale concluded with a set of returns that showed an upswing on those from twelve months ago.

The first edition of this auction, which is the opening store sale of the summer months, produced a top price of €65,000 twelve months ago and while that mark was out of reach there were encouraging signs from other key indicators. The aggregate of over €2.5m was up 14 percent, the median grew by 15 percent to €15,000 while the average of €17,677 was up by 16 percent.