Sun shines on members at the sales

On October 17 the weather decided to offer the ROA a reprieve and allow the 35 members and guests who attended the visit to the first day of Tattersalls Book 3 sales a lovely sunny day. 

The morning consisted of a packed itinerary of speakers, who were all very generous in giving up their time on what is obviously a very busy day for them.  Melissa Steele, Marketing Executive at Tattersalls started proceedings with a talk about the history of the world-renowned sales house and what goes on behind the scenes to allow such a huge event to take place. 

Taking over the reins from Melissa was Hattie Sparks of Rossdales veterinary practice, one of around 30 vets who would be on-site every day during the October yearling sales, offering vendor and consigner vettings, wind checks, blood tests and x-ray services.

Following on from Hattie was young, up-and-coming Epsom trainer Adam West, who provided a humorous look at the sales from the perspective of one operating at the lower end of the buying spectrum, as well as imparting valuable advice to the party about the pitfalls to avoid when doing their own purchasing. 

The next speaker was bloodstock agent Alex Elliott, of Elliott Bloodstock Services, who was fresh from a successful purchase in the ring, and offered more sage advice to the members, before discovering that in fact he had been responsible for the purchase of one of their 2yos!

The final two speakers on the day were transporter Paul Murphy of C&C Transport, who had started his day at 5am sending a lorry-load of yearlings to Mark Johnston’s, just some of the approximately 5,000 horses they transport per year; and finally trainer Eve Johnson Houghton who chatted about what she looks for in a yearling.

After absorbing all of this information the members were grateful to sit down in the Red Room Restaurant, for a delicious lunch that was kindly subsidised by Tattersalls. 

Thereafter they were free to explore the venue, and perhaps even make a purchase of their own!