A fairly routine session of selling peaked when bloodstock agent Colm Sharkey, standing besides leading jockey Jamie Spencer, bid 220,000 guineas (US$288,200, 1 guinea=US$1.31) for the classy Godolphin runner Galashiels Jan. 30 during the opening session of the Tattersalls February Sale.
The 6-year-old son of Australia won five races during his time with Andre Fabre, with his most notable victories coming in listed contests at Clairefontaine and Longchamp.
The transaction is set to see Galashiels continue his racing career on the other side of the world, as after signing the six-figure docket, Sharkey said: "He's been bought by Ciaron Maher Racing. He has an obvious profile for Australia, so Ciaron was keen to get him.
"He vetted fine, his form and his pedigree all stack up. He's self explanatory really. Jamie was involved and it was really Ciaron who picked him out. I'm only a helping hand. He'll get a bit of time now and then he'll be on the flight to Australia. We've had luck buying off Fabre before so that wasn't a deterrent, even if it might've put other people off."
Galashiels was bred by Stonethorn Stud from Glenmayne, a listed-placed half sister to 2019 Cheveley Park Stakes (G1) winner Millisle. He was making his second appearance at public auction having been added to the Godolphin ranks at a cost of 115,000 guineas at Tattersalls October Yearling Sale Book 2 in 2020.
Godolphin-consigned lots completely dominated the head of the market as the draft saw 36 lots change hands for receipts totaling 1,394,500 guineas. That meant the consignment accounted for 56% of the day's turnover, while the group was also responsible for nine of the session's top 10 prices.
While Godolphin dominated the consignors' charts, bragging rights among buyers very much belonged to Alessandro Marconi. The agent was comfortably the day's leading purchaser by number of lots bought and aggregate spend, with 17 recruits secured for an outlay of 533,000 guineas.
The haul generated an average price of 31,353 guineas, with his purchases ranging from the 130,000 guineas Scarlet Princess, a twice-raced Godolphin-bred daughter of Kingman and 2008 Prix de l'Opera (G1) heroine Lady Marian, right through to 2-year-olds by Expert Eye, Starman, and Ten Sovereigns, each of whom were picked up for the minimum bid of 1,000 guineas.
The agent said training plans remained fluid with the haul set to be spread between various trainers and destinations.
"There's a big syndicate in Libya that has been very active and we're happy to be expanding in the Middle East and Europe at the moment," he said. "They've experienced some good success already, and that's why they're happy to keep coming back to Tatts to try and get lucky again. You must buy at every level of the market if you want to find the good ones."
The brisk session of selling saw 131 lots offered and 114 found a buyer for a solid clearance rate of 87%. In turn, those transactions brought the aggregate to 2,509,500 guineas (US$3,287,445), which was up 78% compared to the corresponding day 12 months ago.
The average price was up 56% at 22,013 guineas (US$28,837), while the median rose fully 107%, up from 7,000 guineas in 2024 to 14,500 guineas (US$18,995) Thursday.
The Tattersalls February Sale continues Jan. 31 at 10 a.m local time.
