A pair of seven figure yearlings, headed by a €1.55m son of Dubawi, lit up the opening exchanges of the European yearling sales season at the weekend.

All eyes were on Deauville last Saturday for the Arqana August Sale which got off to a flying start with a red hot opening session. But, with a more trying second day the clearance rate for the first two days of the sale dropped from 80% last year to 75% this time.

From slightly fewer horses offered the aggregate of just over €29m was largely on a par with 2016 while the average of €240,008 was running 13 points ahead of last year’s sale at the same stage.

Meanwhile, the €165,000 median represented an advance of 10% on the previous year.

The €1.55m sale-topping Dubawi colt was bought by agent Kerri Radcliffe on behalf of Phoenix Thoroughbreds. The colt in question is a son of the Group 1-winning Giofra.

The other seven figure yearling was a €1m son of Galileo who is a half-brother to the Group 1 scorer Ectot and Most Improved. He was bought by M.V. Magnier and the South African outfit Mayfair Speculators.

Tattersalls August Sale

Earlier in the week the last major National Hunt store auction of the summer took place with the Tattersalls Ireland August Sale posting some of its best returns for a number of years.

Of the 54 horses offered 383 were sold for an average of €9,389, up 19% on last year. The €6,500 median grew by 30% which was the highest for a decade while an aggregate of just over €3.7m was a 30% improvement on last year.

This year just one horse made €50,000 compared to four last year. However, there was an improvement in the number of lots making at least €30,000.

Results over the last few months bode well for the November National Hunt Sale later this year.

One point to note is the clearance rate of 70%, which was a 3% improvement on last year, continues to illustrate that supply is running somewhat ahead of demand. It is critical for the industry that National Hunt foal crop numbers don’t rise sharply in the coming years as the market won’t be able to absorb growing numbers.