A protracted three-way tussle helped the progressive Space Invasion top this year's Tattersalls February Sale at 230,000 guineas (US$328,900, 1 guinea=US$1.43) Feb. 6.
After the hammer fell it was SackvilleDonald's brand that appeared on the docket, and agent Alastair Donald revealed the two-time winner had been purchased on behalf of familiar connections to continue his career in Bahrain.
The Space Blues colt will sport the colors of Shaikh Isa bin Salman and will be handled by the owner's in-house trainers Daniel and Claire Kubler.
Space Invasion made four starts for Richard Hannon and Clipper Logistics. The penny seemed to have dropped after his first two outings as his latest starts have resulted in back-to-back victories over a mile at Lingfield.
The 3-year-old colt was bred by Steve Parkin under the banner of Rathbride Farm. He is the third foal out of the listed-placed Peticoatgovernment, a Holy Roman Emperor half sister to the group 2 scorer Larchmont Lad.
"He's a good-looking horse with ideal fast ground conformation," Donald said. "He's shown a good turn of foot, and the horse (Sovereign Wealth) he stuffed last time made 100,000 guineas yesterday. He's progressive, well rated, and if he wins his next race he becomes a very valuable horse. The trainer was underbidder, and it's always encouraging when they want to keep them. Hopefully he's got a bright future. He looks ideal for Bahrain."
Prior hails positive start
While Day 1's results lagged behind the corresponding session 12 months ago, Day 2 showed some chunky year-on-year increases.
Despite a smaller offering, turnover increased by 23% to 1,776,000 guineas (US$2,539,680); the average price increased by 31% to 17,940 guineas (US$25,654); and the median rose from 8,000 guineas to 10,000 guineas (US$14,300), an upgrade of 25%.
The clearance rate was 88% as 99 lots sold from 113 offered.
All told, the two-day sale saw aggregate receipts of 3,639,000 guineas (US$5,203,770), which was down 8% against 2025's total, albeit from 15 fewer sold lots.
The average price was 17,840 guineas (US$25,511) and the median 11,000 guineas (US$15,730), both of which were virtually identical to 2025's figures. The combined clearance rate was 83% as 204 lots found a new home from 246 presented.
At the conclusion of trade, Tattersalls managing director Matthew Prior said: "The Tattersalls February Sale is undisputedly Europe's premier midwinter sale, and once again we welcomed a typically diverse domestic and international group of buyers to Park Paddocks in Newmarket.
"While the key metrics fell narrowly short of last year's figures, buyers from more than 20 countries and a turnover in excess of 3,500,000 guineas represents a positive start to 2026. We saw the second-highest-priced colt ever sold at this fixture, with Space Invasion realizing 230,000 guineas following an intercontinental bidding duel, while consignments from leading Newmarket-based operations Godolphin and Juddmonte again featured among the highlights of the Tattersalls February Sale."
