Newmarket’s famous Tattersalls auction produces plenty of drama as buyers seek a future champion… with sales of 2,000,000 ‘guineas’ generated in the first 15 minutes

• The Tattersalls auction in Newmarket produced drama aplenty this week 
• Buyers were quick to splash cash as they sought out a future champion horse 

Outside the theatre of hopes and dreams, a young chestnut colt is tentatively jig-jogging on the spot as he waits to be paraded.

It is just before 11am on Wednesday and on his hindquarters is a badge with the number 178. He is the first lot on the second day of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sales from Book 1 — the tome with the most beautifully bred horses in the world.

And this little chap, who has second thoughts about walking into the ring, is the product of high-achieving parents. His father, Siyouni, competed in all the best races over a mile before retiring in 2010. Since then, he has become one of the most influential sires in the business.

His mother, Vorda, was champion two-year-old in France in 2013 and, as a broodmare, has produced five winners. There is a buzz of expectation as auctioneer John O’Kelly runs through a few regulations before No 178 trots in under the spotlights.

‘May I remind,’ O’Kelly says. ‘The minimum sale for a horse here is £5,000. We wish you a successful day — this is the sale that produces all those Classic winners.’

The famous Tattersalls horse auction caused plenty of drama and bidding wars this week

You wouldn’t get much for £5,000 here. Soon No 178 walks obediently in a circle and O’Kelly speaks so quickly it’s hard to grasp what he is saying. Behind him, on a screen, numbers are turning over at a speed you would associate with a petrol pump. The total is shown in four other currencies: Australian and US dollars, Euros and Yen.

‘Four hundred… 425… do I have 450? I do! Back to you, sir. Will you go to 475? You will. Do I have anymore? It’s going now,’ says O’Kelly, bringing his gavel down with a crack. ‘Sold to MV Magnier. Congratulations. I hope he’s as lucky as the others (by Siyouni) have been for you.’

So, the first sale of the day is done. For 475,000 guineas — a guinea, in old money, is a pound and a shilling — Magnier, representing the formidable Coolmore operation, has acquired a youngster with limitless potential and kick-started a day of dramatic trading.

It is a who’s who of the racing world, with all the top trainers looking to re-stock, but there are so many other faces, from Alan Brazil and Ossie Ardiles to Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, and his brother Sheik Ahmed. Members of the public are out in force too.

There was a buzz of expectation as rapid-fire auctioneer John O’Kelly ran through regulations 

The Tattersalls Sales were established by Richard Tattersall in 1776 at Hyde Park Corner. The Yearling Sales had spells in Knightsbridge Green and Doncaster but, since 1958, they have taken place in Newmarket and the facility drips with history.

‘The fascination of it all,’ says Sir Mark Prescott, one of the town’s most respected trainers, ‘is that walking around here will be two, maybe three, future champions. You can see them all, you can feel their legs, you can have them X-rayed. You just don’t know what is under the bonnet.

‘The enormously wealthy can buy a Picasso or a Greek Island and know what they are getting. But with a racehorse? There is no guarantee the more you spend, the more likely you are to win.’

Last year’s turnover at Tattersalls was more than 400million guineas; on Tuesday, the opening day of Book 1, the total for sales was 30,638,000 guineas, with an average price of 247,080 guineas.

In the first 15 minutes here, five sales generate 2,145,000 guineas. There is apparently no limit to the spending when those within racing are pursuing success.

Which brings us to lot 240. Consigned by Paul McCarten, who has a stud in Limerick, a bonny bay colt, whose father is champion sprinter Blue Point, is a half-brother to another champion sprinter, Battaash, who was nicknamed The Bat Mobile. His entrance causes a stir.

Buyers turned up in their droves eager to pick out a future champion horse – splashing out more than 2million guineas in the first 15 minutes

‘What a gorgeous colt,’ auctioneer Simon Kerins purrs. ‘Look at him walking, so athletic.’ Back and forth bids go, first in multiples of 50, then multiples of 100.

The interest is huge and the exchange is like a table-tennis rally, your eyes bouncing around the auditorium to see which heads are nodding and hands are going up discreetly. Then Kerins says: ‘Do I have a million? Yes. One million.’

A hush descends. Kerins is looking through the giant entrance directly at Anthony Stroud, long-time bloodstock adviser to Sheik Mohammed. The Sheik, who is in a green tracksuit and running trainers, looks away as Stroud nods at regular intervals. ‘A million three,’ says Kerins, quietly. ‘A million three is what I have.’

Stroud thinks he has business done. But then, from nowhere, Saud Al Qahtani — a Saudi Arabian bidding for Najd Stud — comes into play. He takes it to 1.4m but Stroud returns. The deal is sealed at 1.5m.

‘That was so very exciting,’ says McCarten, explaining how the mare, Anna Law, has yearling receipts at Tattersalls totalling 5.23m guineas. ‘I knew all the right people would want him.’

Later, MV Magnier went head-to-head with Godolphin for lot 266. The sire was Frankel, the greatest horse many of us will ever see; the mother a mare called Bizzarria, whose sole success was in a Kempton Park maiden.

And this combination of genes, remarkably, ended with Magnier raising his iPad to close at 2million guineas, buying Europe’s most expensive yearling of 2023.

‘The best case scenario for him?’ Magnier said with a smile. ‘That he wins the Dewhurst, the Guineas, the Derby and the St Leger. Seriously, we just hope he proves to be a good racehorse.’

It’s all anyone here wants. The dream of becoming a champion, however, is never too far away. The next phase is to see whether the stars align.

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