The Tattersalls December Foal Sale posted a mixed set of returns following its conclusion last week. Strong demand at the head of the market enabled the five-day sale to post a record turnover of just over 33.5m gns. The average of 41,800gns improved fractionally on last year but the median did drop by 20% to 20,000gns.Furthermore, the market was quite selective at times, as evidenced by a 74% clearance rate.

This was the third largest December Foal Sale on record and the clearance rate again underlines that supply is outrunning demand and that any further increase in the size of the foal crops will stretch demand all too thinly.

ADVERTISEMENT

The highlight of the week was easily Friday’s session where a trio of Dubawi fillies, the only foals on offer by the sire, became the third, fourth and fifth most expensive foals to come under the hammer at this sale.

The fillies in question made 800,000gns, 720,000gns and 625,000 and the most expensive of these was a daughter of the classy High Heeled who was snapped up by Sheikh Mohammed’s bloodstock adviser John Ferguson.