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Record-Breaking Derby Sale Closes

Tattersalls Ireland's two-day Derby Sale drew to a close on Thursday with records achieved for the average and median price at the sale. An average of €54,018 and a median of €48,000 were achieved at the sale which returned a clearance rate of 86% for 299 lots sold. Twenty-four lots sold for six figures.

Sons of Walk In The Park (Ire) filled the top two spots, with the sale-topping lot 389 picked up by Eddie O'Leary for Bective Stud for €280,000. He is the most expensive National Hunt store horse sold this year.

“He is for Bective Stud and he goes to Gordon Elliott,” said O'Leary. “Gordon has the brother, who is quite a good horse, but this is an absolute king of a horse. He is by what looks to be a top-class young sire. I hope he is half as good as he looks.”

Another son of Walk In The Park, a three-quarters brother to Hurricane Fly (lot 216), was purchased by Michael Shefflin and Paul Holden for €200,000.

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Full-Sister To Minding, Empress Josephine Debuts

16.30 Curragh, Mdn, €16,500, 2yo, 6fT
Coolmore and Westerberg's THE LUTE PLAYER (IRE) (Caravaggio) is a son of G3 Ballyogan S. third Sparrow (Ire) (Oasis Dream {GB}) and thus a half-brother to G1 Cox Plate and G1 Tancred S. hero Sir Dragonet (Ire) (Camelot {GB}). The Aidan O'Brien-conditioned newcomer faces a cast of 10, which includes Johnny Murtagh trainee War Effort (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}), who is a half-brother and stablemate to last term's G1 Matron S. victrix Champers Elysees (Ire) (Elzaam {Aus}).

17.00 Curragh, Mdn, €16,500, 2yo, f, 7fT
Aidan O'Brien trainee TUESDAY (IRE) (Galileo {Ire}) is another to represent the Coolmore-Westerberg axis and she faces a deep field in this debut. The June-foaled bay is a full-sister to seven-time Group 1 heroine Minding (Ire) and this term's G1 Irish 1000 Guineas winner Empress Josephine (Ire). Her opposition includes Jim Bolger's Hymn Book Two (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}), who is a half-sister to MG1SW sire Dawn Approach (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}); Mise Le Meas (Ire) (New Bay {GB}), a Johnny Murtagh-trained half-sister to G1 Falmouth S. victrix Nahoodh (Ire) (Clodovil {Ire}); Shadwell homebred Alaroos (Ire) (Golden Horn {GB}), a half-sister to MGSW G1 Epsom Derby runner-up Madhmoon (Ire) (Dawn Approach {Ire}), from the Kevin Prendergast stable; and Jessica Harrington trainee Discoveries (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}), who is a once-raced full-sister to MG1SW G1 Irish 1000 Guineas heroine Alpha Centauri (Ire) and a half to last term's G1 Coronation S. victrix Alpha Lupi (Ire) (Sea The Moon {Ger}).

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Mojo Ready For Second Derby Test

Europe's most famous maiden Mojo Star (Ire) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) will face 10 rivals in Saturday's G1 Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby at The Curragh after Thursday's confirmation stage. Amo Racing's G1 Epsom Derby runner-up was supplemented at a cost of €75,000 by Richard Hannon this week and is the foremost representative of the June 5 blue riband, with the third Hurricane Lane (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) and fourth Mac Swiney (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}) set to re-oppose for Charlie Appleby and Jim Bolger, respectively. Hurricane Lane is in three, while the May 22 G1 Irish 2000 Guineas hero Mac Swiney has stall seven. There will be no issues with the draw in four for Mojo Star, who is due to be ridden by the owners' retained jockey Rossa Ryan after he completed his recovery from injury. Aidan O'Brien is responsible for a quartet headed by 'TDN Rising Star' High Definition (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) who is drawn in 10, while Seamie Heffernan is on Wednesday's G2 Queen's Vase runner-up Wordsworth (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) drawn widest of all and Colin Keane comes in for the ride on Van Gogh (American Pharoah) who starts from stall six.

Hannon said he is confident that Mojo Star will prove his Derby run to be no fluke and said, “He was always a very laid-back horse. I thought he was a nice horse, but didn't know he was a very good horse. You could have knocked me over with a feather when he was beaten at Newbury earlier this season. I managed to get both him and Snow Lantern beaten on the same day and I thought 'this is going to be a long year'. In hindsight, he's a very big horse and he's grown. It was a bit of a leap of faith putting him in the Derby, but as soon as he pulled up at Newbury I thought he was a Derby horse if I'd ever seen one.”

“We got a bit held up on Tattenham Corner–we were travelling very well and the ground he was making at the line was very pleasing,” Hannon added. “I think this track will suit him a lot more. I was delighted with second and he was a running-on second. We're hardly synonymous with Derby horses. I remember one year at school my dad had the favourite and second-favourite and they were last and second-last. I used to go to the Irish Derby with a few mates from Ireland as a kid. We took Alriffa one year and he wasn't good enough, but to have one with a chance is great.”

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Godolphin Duo Light Up Leicester

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Today's Observations features a high-profile Godolphin auction purchase.

5.45 Leicester, Novice, £8,000, 2yo, 7f (AWT)
PRIVATE SIGNAL (GB) (Sea the Stars {Ire}), a 680,000gns purchase by Godolphin at the Tattersalls October Book 1 Sale, bids to build on a narrow second at Doncaster earlier this month. Out of a half-sister to the G1 1000 Guineas, G1 Nassau S. and G1 Matron S. heroine Legatissimo (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) from the family of Fame and Glory (GB), he is one of two from the Charlie Appleby stable alongside the unraced Stormy Ocean (Frankel {GB}), a 480,000gns Tattersalls October Yearling Sale Book 1 graduate whose dam is a half to Eminent (Ire) (Frankel {GB}).

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