2006 End Of Year Statement
150,000 Guineas Lot Finishes Year On A High
DBS returned their best ever annual figures in 2006, which prompted the following statement from DBS Managing Director, Henry Beeby:
"It was most appropriate to finish on a high note today as 2006 has proved to be the best year in DBS' forty-four year history with a record turnover of 38,658,040 guineas which rose by 20% and a record average of 13,404 guineas which was up 11%.
Our three flagship sales all returned record figures. The Breeze-Up Sales average has risen by 165% since 2000 and enjoyed a very impressive 81% clearance rate. There may have been fireworks elsewhere this year but the Doncaster Breeze-Up is a consistently solid sale and more than proved it's worth becoming the first to sell a Classic winner when SPECIOSA won the 1000 Guineas. Top two year old WI DUD illustrates that there is continuing quality on offer at Europe's Leading Breeze-Up for winners which will enjoy totally fresh ground on which to breeze in 2007 as there will have been no racing at Doncaster for eighteen months.
The Spring Sales confirmed its' position as the World's Premier National Hunt Sales by selling the World's top National Hunt price of the year for the fifth consecutive year during a three lot purple patch that totalled 780,000 guineas. The strength of the Store sales was illustrated by a record median that rose 9% and another impressive clearance rate of 81%.
The St. Leger Yearling Sales is surely the success story of the Bloodstock World and rose again for the ninth consecutive year - the only major European Yearling Sales with this to it's credit. The 30% rise in average included fourteen six figure lots and the record median proved the second highest at a British Yearling Sale in 2006. We are excited by our plans for next year with the St. Leger Yearling Sales 1 on the corresponding days at the end of August and St. Leger Yearling Sales 2 on the traditional dates during the St. Leger Festival.
These are exciting times for DBS. We are regularly returning premium prices for a whole range of horses and our graduates are consistently winning at the highest level. I fully expect to finally be in a position to make an announcement that work has started on our new Sales Complex in the very near future and we firmly believe that this massive DBS investment will herald the start of a new dawn for the Company. We remain indebted to every Vendor and every Purchaser, however big or small, and I assure them that the personal service that has been the hallmark of DBS for so many years will only be enhanced from our new premises next year."