Tattersalls creates lucrative sales races

Tattersalls announced the creation of three new sales races, worth a total

of £2.2

million, to be run at Newmarket beginning next year. Open to graduates of Part

One of the

2007 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, the races will be known collectively as

the Tattersalls

Millions and will be spearheaded by a £1-million race open to two-year-olds

that passed

through the ring at that sale. The seven-furlong event, to be run at the

Cambridgeshire meet in

October, will be the richest juvenile race in Britain, and second in prize money

only to the

Epsom Derby (Eng-G1).

There will also be a seven-furlong race restricted to fillies,

worth £800,000, at

that meet. A third sales race, boasting a purse of £400,000, will be the first

event of its kind for three-year-olds. Staged over 10 furlongs, the Tattersalls

£400,000 Three-Year-Old

Classic will take

place at the Craven Meeting in April 2009.

The Tattersalls Millions concept is an extension of the Tattersalls Tiffany

Highflyer S., inaugurated 17 years ago, and the Tattersalls Houghton Sales S.,

staged for the first time in 2001.

"Tattersalls has staged sales races at

Newmarket

since 1990, but these three new races will raise the bar to unprecedented

heights,"

Tattersalls Chairman Edmond Mahony said Monday. "Prize money is the life

blood

of racing and, in association with Newmarket Racecourses, our October Yearling

Sale vendors and, of course, the owners, we are delighted to be staging the two

most valuable two-year-old races ever run in Britain, as well as breaking new

ground with the unique Tattersalls £400,000 Three-Year-Old Classic'. Never before will a

European yearling sale have offered buyers so many opportunities for such

spectacular rewards, with 80 colts and fillies from Book One of the 2007

Tattersalls October Yearling Sale competing in three races worth £2,200,000 in

prize money."

"This is fantastic news for Newmarket and will take the overall value of next

year's

Cambridgeshire Meeting to nigh on £3 million," said Michael Prosser, Newmarket Racecourses' director of racing.

"If we run both races on the same

day, it will create the richest day's racing in Europe."

"This is

great news for owners, and I would like to congratulate both Tattersalls and

Newmarket Racecourses on this initiative,"

Newmarket-based trainer William Haggas said. "I am already looking

forward to the 2007 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale."

Further approval came

from Highclere Thoroughbred Racing's Managing Director Harry Herbert, whose

operation is a regular buyer at the October Sale.

"Sales Races have always been

a

major attraction when we are looking to find new owners for the Highclere

syndicates, and the Tattersalls Millions will, without doubt, prove to be a

huge

selling point," he commented. "We had a fantastic day when Tamarisk won the

1997 Tattersalls Houghton Sales S. and, with three races to aim at in the

Tattersalls Millions, we will have an even better chance of repeating that

success."

Simon Marsh of Watership Down Stud, one of the major consignors at the auction,

also spoke in favor of the concept.

"The Tattersalls Millions will provide

wonderful

incentives for owners at all levels of the market, and the Tattersalls £400,000

Three-Year-Old

Classic is a particularly exciting innovation," Marsh noted. "It adds a new dimension to the

Sales

Race concept, allowing the later-maturing horses to have a shot at the massive

prize money."

Part One of the 2007 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale will take

place from October 9-12 and is expected to number

approximately 750 yearlings.