Disbelief at lack of buyers and quality stock

WALL STREET lent its broken dreams and crashing prices to the most famous of yearling sales in Kentucky on Monday night.

At an event to which the bloodstock world looks for market analysis, and Sheikh Mohammed for his Kentucky Derby winner, a sense of disbelief dug in as buyers went AWOL on the night when the breeding industry needed them most.

The figures said it all by the halfway point of the 59th July Selected Yearling Sale; average down 35%, turnover down 39%, horses going home after failing to sell, up 48%.