Godolphin's Canyon City topped the Tattersalls Ireland Ascot December Sale on Monday when knocked down for £85,000.
The sale concluded with a median of £2,500 ( 67%), an average of £4,830 ( 26%) and an aggregate of £391,250 ( 39%). The clearance rate was 66%.
Canyon City (Lot 85) proved a popular commodity attracting leading National Hunt trainers and agents from Ireland and Great Britain. There was lively bidding from Nick Taylor representing Tom Malone but it was Oliver Murphy who signed the docket at £85,000 on behalf of trainer Neil King.
A three-year-old by Authorized and consigned by Godolphin, the colt has been placed on all of his six starts and is closely related to leading sire Kayf Tara in the second dam.
The second highest price of the day was the Fforrest Farm Stables consigned Cornish Warrior (Lot 147). Placed three times out of his four starts, the Oscar gelding was knocked down to trainer Neil Mulholland for £26,000.
Consistently the Godolphin draft is popular at Ascot and it was no different providing 5 of the top 10 lots and selling at an aggregate of £175,800.
John O'Shea of Elton Racing purchased the third highest price of the day. Lot 91, Cape Dignity, a lightly raced Teofilo colt who was placed on both of his two outings, was knocked down to O'Shea for £20,000.
Dark Magic, another Godolphin consigned lot (Lot 90) was the next lot. An Invincible Spirit two-year-old gelding, he is out of Listed winner DARK PROMISE and was secured by Dean Ivory Racing for £14,000 to continue his career.
Offered by trainer David Loder, The Groove, a lightly raced gelding by Azamour, was also the subject of trainers' attention today and was knocked down to Fergal O'Brien for £11,500 (Lot 113).
The sale at Ascot concludes a progressive year for the sales venue for 2016. The highlight of the year was undoubtedly the Two-Year-Old Breeze-Up held in April which saw vibrant trade and considerable increases including a 120% rise in the aggregate and 100% rise in the median.
The July Sale witnessed the highest price for a National Hunt horse at the venue when KNOCK HOUSE was sold for £110,000. With improved trade at Ascot in 2016, Tattersalls Ireland now look forward to further enhancing sales in 2017 with the first sale, the March Sale on 23 March 2017.
