29 Mar EBN: Sales Talk

The result was a bonus for Tattersalls and potential buyers who would not have been in Dubai had the horses arrived at their originally-planned destination. The draft included the three-year-old gelding Isle of Jura, who was sold for £150,000, a record for a Tattersalls Ascot mixed sale and bettered only at the company’s former breeze-up auctions held at the venue.

Turnover on the day shot up by 135 per cent to a figure of £1,661,100 – a record for a mixed sale run by Tattersalls Ascot – the average gained 140 per cent when reaching £17,485, while the median rose 71 per cent to £6,500. Of 106 lots who walked the ring, 90 per cent found a new home.

JACKSON-STOPS SHOWS SPIRIT TO SECURE ISLE OF JURA

Heading trade yesterday with a £150,000 valuation was Godolphin’s Isle Of Jura (Lot 64), a son of New Approach and the Stakes-winning mare Falls Of Lora (Street Cry).

Godolphin-bred horses cannot all be champions, but they are never short of pedigree, and Isle Of Jura‘s top-class full-brother Cascadian won ten races in Australia, including two at Gr.1 level. His half-brother Albahr (Dubawi) won the Gr.1 Summer Stakes at Woodbine and the Listed Stonehenge Stakes at Salisbury.

In contrast, Isle Of Jura could boast of just a fifth place at Wolverhampton for the stable of Charlie Appleby, but he had been gelded since the run and could find plenty of improvement in his sophomore season. Newmarket-based TJ Kent and an online bidder clearly thought so and drove the price up to six figures, but when the hammer came down, the man in pole position was bloodstock agent Billy Jackson-Stops.

Saying he had been forced to dig deeper than expected, the buyer said: “I’ve bought him for an owner who has horses with George Scott. George has had a humongous 18 months and we are excited to get him this one. We’ll give him a bit of time. He’s a big horse and has been very green, but the form of his run looks good.

“He’s been gelded so that’s been done for us and he’s a big, raw horse from a good family. The mare has been amazing. They [her progeny] have all been rated 95-plus and she has produced two Gr.1 winners. If this horse is anything like his brothers, we should have a bit of fun with him”