With a 14% drop in the number of horses cataloged for the Tattersalls December foal sale, the average purchase price rose to a record-high of $39,515 (26,400 guineas) for the four-day sale, which concluded December 1 in Newmarket.The increase in average kept total receipts relatively steady with 709 foals sold for $20,310,869 (13,569,750 guineas). Last year, 805 foals were sold for 14,677,400 guineas, an average of 24,140 guineas.

"As well as the record average, the turnover from a smaller catalogue has been only fractionally lower than at last year's record breaking sale," said Tattersalls Chairman Edmond Mahoney. "And the sustained demand throughout the week has definitely exceeded expectations."

The topper for Saturday's final session was a colt by European champion sprinter Desert Prince (Ire) who was purchased for $359,226 (240,000 guineas) by local bloodstock agent Richard Frisby on the behalf of Colin Davey. The bay weanling is the first foal out of the Last Tycoon mare Mobilia, who is a half sister European highweight Desert Style.

The sale topper, a filly by Sadler's Wells out of the European champion Urban Sea, by Miswaki, thus a full sister to dual European classic winner Galileo (Ire), was purchased by John Magnier on Friday for $1,643,795 (1.1-million guineas).