Online transfer for Highclere as Great House is signed up for £175,000

Great House, the Galileo colt who won a maiden at Limerick on his second racecourse outing in June, is to represent Highclere Thoroughbred Racing in Australia after being bought for £175,000 at the Tattersalls Online August Sale.

The Coolmore-bred half-brother to French Group 3 winner Aboulie and Rifqah (dam of Mustajeeb) was offered by trainer Donnacha O’Brien under the banner of Bawnmore Racing.

He was of particular note as he was born on December 28, 2016 and hence would be more suited to a southern hemisphere age bracket.

View sales results here

Harry Herbert, chairman and managing director of Highclere, said: "I had spent a bit of time with Donnacha, which was fascinating, and he had mentioned this being a horse who was of interest, particularly as he’s perfect for Australia.

"He’s had to run against older horses when he’s really only three, he’s done very well and is absolutely gorgeous looking.

"We’ve had a good time with the Australian syndicates since we took Libran out there, we had a nice winner with another Tattersalls purchase, Lord Belvedere, and have others like Bartholomeu Dias in training.

Highclere's team of Harry Herbert (left) and John Warren were looking for recruits for AustraliaCredit: Patrick McCann

"I hadn’t bought a horse online before and it’s all quite quick but I’d have thought Great House would go straight down there now and we’ll decide on a trainer."

Calculations were still being completed on Friday afternoon, with the market having closed after 48 hours of trading, but it looked as if Great House was the top lot from the five of 14 offered horses to have changed hands for an aggregate of £590,000 and an average of £118,000.

Akhania, a winning daughter of Prix Saint Alary scorer Fidelite who came not only in foal to Golden Horn but with a Night Of Thunder colt at foot, reached the second highest price of £155,000 when bought by bloodstock agent Alex Elliott.

Fozzy Stack, who bought back last weekend’s Group 1 Phoenix Stakes placed Aloha Star for £600,000, did move useful three-year-old Meaningful Vote along for £135,000 to Peter Chu.

Inner Beauty will continue her career in America after being purchased by Kern Thoroughbreds' Joe Miller for £100,000 on behalf of Tim Cohen's Red Baron's Barn and Rancho Temescal.

The two-year-old daughter of Starspangledbanner was a close fourth in the Group 2 Airlie Stud Stakes and Miller said: "The whole Tattersalls online sale process went very smoothly and it is a well-constructed easy to use platform.

"We were delighted to buy Inner Beauty for Tim Cohen who has always done well buying at Tattersalls, most notably with Grade 1 winner River Boyne."

After the conclusion of the sale, Tattersalls chairman Edmond Mahony said: "This was only the second Tattersalls Online Sale and the feedback has been extremely positive.

"The international participation was particularly encouraging with three of the five purchases set to continue their racing careers abroad, in Australia, Hong Kong and the USA."

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