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i, t - , . IRISH MARKET HIT HARD English Import Tax Plays Havoo With Thoroughbred Sales. Only Half of 662 Head Listed Offered for Auction Total of 310 Brings 7,500, Average of 10 Per Head. Special Correspondence. DUBLIN, Ireland. The tariff war be-; tween the governments of England and the Irish Free State was severely felt at tha recent Dublin Horse Show and at the annual thoroughbred yearling sales held in conjunction with this world-famous exhibition. Even if there were no tariff tax to be considered, the market for both classes of horses was certain to be dull. The" demand for hunters had been moderate except for high class horses, which will always fetch good prices, while that for thoroughbred yearlings rather alarmed breeders, who had sent consignments to the Newmarket July sales and elsewhere. The burning question among Irish breeders for many weeks before the Dublin sale3 was whether they would suffer the same experience. There was a chance that they would escape until shortly before the sales, when the twenty per cent tax was imposed on imports of all horses into Great Britain. This was the last straw for Irish breeders. It is impossible to calculate what damage the twenty per cent ad valorem tax on imports to England has had upon the Irish hunter market. That it is tremendous is certain. It was much the same with " the thoroughbred yearling bloodstock sales. On, the whole, these proved better than anticipations. Many yearlings were sold for almost nothing, and many were not sold, but the average price for those which did change hands was only twenty-five per cent below last years average. This was considered remarkably good, for the decline in bloodstock values generally is approximately fifty per cent below last years standard. LESS THAN HALF OF CATALOG SOLD. In all, 662 head of yearlings were cataloged for sale by Robert J. Goff and Company, auctioneers for the Royal Dublin Horse Show Society, but many of these were not sent into the ring. Actually 310 youngsters were sold for about 7,560, an average of about 10 per head. English owners and trainers, who for years have been the mainstay of the Dublin yearling sales, were conspicuous by their absence. Few sportsmen for the mother country were present. Still it was surprising . to find Irish trainers so active in buying, -with the outlook so bleak and uncertain and with racing in Ireland at present having a fight to exist. Chief purchasers among the Irish division were the County Dublin trainer, Harry Usher, who bid in fourteen lots including most of the best priced ones and also gave the top price of the sale, about ,670, for a beautifully molded, good looking half-brother to the smart two-year-old Solar Bay, winner of two stakes in England this season. A son of the Derby hero, Spion Kop, from Najmi, by the Derby winner Grand Parade, from Chivalry, by Amadis this colt was offered by Colonel Giles Loder who disposed of eight lots for a total of about 3,575. HARTIGAN BUYS FOURTEEN. Hubert M. Hartigan was another larga buyer among the Irish trainers, securing fourteen lots. Others were W. Ashe, purchaser of eight youngsters; Senator J. J. Parkinson, buyer of seven head, and tha Anglo-Irish Bloodstock Agency, buying supposedly for trainer Rodney More OFerrall seven offerings. The second highest price of the sales was paid by the Italian sportsman, E. Crespi, of the firm of Crespi Brothers, artificial silk manufacturers, of Milan, who gave ,890 for the half-brother to the good winners Silver Lark, Toureen and Clogheen, a colt by the St. Leger winner, Solario, from Laverock, by My Prince, from Cantilena, by Spearmint. He was sold by Col. R. B. Char-teris. The English sportsman, Sir Alfred Mc-Alpine, paid ,645 for the bay or brown colt by Achtoi, from Think Twice, by Blink from Two Strings, by Bachelors Double from Golden Harp, the granddam of Royal Minstrel. Real proof of how the bottom has fallen out of the Irish thoroughbred yearling market was given when eight yearlings offered by the National Stud, Kildare, and by such high class sires as Gainsborough, Manna, Gay Crusader, Diophon, Diligence, Warden, of the Marches and Foxlaw, almost all from the dams of winners, brought only ,665 The combined fees of the stallions mentioned were more than 0,850 when tha mares were bred to them in 1931.
