Tattersalls opened for business for 2026 with a routine day of trade at the Feb. 5 opening session of the Tattersalls February Sale. The leading light came late in the piece when agent Ted Durcan bid 100,000 guineas (US$142,263, 1 guinea=US$1.42) for George Boughey's recent Wolverhampton novice winner Sovereign Wealth (Lot 149).
The 3-year-old son of Frankel hit a peak Racing Post Rating of 78 for that breakthrough success, for which he carried the colors of Forz Europe, the banner that Ace Stud races its European string under.
He previously ran for Zhang Yuesheng, having been picked up by Yulong Investments as a 450,000-guinea Tattersalls October Yearling Sale Book 1 yearling in 2024. Sovereign Wealth was last seen finishing third in a 1-mile handicap at Lingfield from an official mark of 77.
Durcan was shopping on behalf of an ownership group who have already enjoyed success with a previous Tattersalls purchase in the shape of UAE Two Thousand Guineas (G3) scorer Six Speed (Not This Time ).
"He's been bought for Blue Blood Racing, the previous owners of Six Speed," Durcan said. "Obviously, they did extremely well with him. They sold him on, so they were very anxious to reinvest, and this horse will be going back out to Bhupat Seemar. The lads themselves had him earmarked, I had him earmarked, and he vetted out extremely well. He's very well bred, a nice, solid individual, and he's still a young horse, so we hope there's some upside to him."
The session topper, the sole six-figure lot on the day, was sold through The Castlebridge Consignment. The operation topped the vendors' table with 25 sold lots grossing 492,500 guineas.
Turnover for the session closed at 1,863,000 guineas (US$2,650,368), a 26% year-on-year drop; the average price was down 19% at 17,745 guineas (US$25,244); while the median was down by 17 points at 12,000 guineas (US$17,072). The clearance rate stood at 79% as 105 lots sold from 133 offered.
Godolphin sold 16 lots during the session, including the 80,000-guinea Naval Command. The thrice-raced 4-year-old is set to move from Charlie Appleby to Ralph Beckett, having been knocked down to agent Alex Elliott.
The 360,000-guinea Book 1 yearling purchase ran three times for Godolphin and was last seen hitting an RPR of 82 in a Newmarket novice event over 1 mile last June. Not only is there the promise contained within that performance, but his three winning siblings include dual St Leger (G1) scorer Eldar Eldarov and the New Zealand group 1 winner Kingswood.
"He's been bought for Ralph Beckett," Elliott said. "A couple of years ago, we got an order for a horse for St Moritz. We bought Lord Melbourne for 16,000 guineas, who went on to win the November Handicap. He didn't make St Moritz last year, but he's going to make it this year, and the partners (in the Clarendon Partnership) were keen to get another horse to go to war with, although not necessarily for St Moritz.
"I know he hasn't run for a while, but the Godolphin notes showed not a lot had gone wrong; he's had some time off since he ran on very fast ground. He's got an official mark (85), and we think we're going to stretch him out in distance. We think he'll be better on softer ground, and he should suit Ralph's program really well. He's a nice staying horse to go forward with. He's been bought for the same partners but a little on spec as well, so there'll be some shares available."
The Godolphin draft brought a combined 355,000 guineas.
