00:01At the Tattersalls February sale, the industry was introduced to Thomas Connolly, an Irish
00:06native who stepped onto the rostrum at Park Paddocks as if auctioneering was
00:10second nature. Since then, Tom has joined Tattersalls Ireland in a full-time
00:15position in the Bloodstock department. He tells TDN about his background in the
00:19industry and about his passion for auctioneering. I've been very lucky to
00:24grow up in the industry and born in a stud far in Burkidge, so it's been Carlow and
00:28yeah, ever since I could walk I was out with horses and we breed national hunt
00:33horses at home, we stallions as well. I was lucky to spend a lot of time abroad. I
00:37went to France when I was in secondary school, I was about 17 and went to a
00:40Curie de Monceau for a summer which was brilliant. I spent some time also in
00:45America with Gabriel Deignan in Springhouse Farm, did a summer there which was
00:48fantastic and learned an awful lot there. I'm very lucky to start in Tattersalls
00:51Ireland three months ago, so I began just after the February sale in Newmarket
00:56and day to day I've just been getting stuck in on different aspects of it. My
01:00grandfather was one of the first Irish men to sell a Newmarket back a long
01:05time ago now and my mum spotted for Tattersalls a Newmarket when she lived in
01:08England and I suppose it's something that I've always really admired this
01:12company here. Everyone here is really committed to the one result which is
01:16getting the best for the company if they possibly can and you look at the
01:19graduates every year from both Newmarket and in Ireland it's pretty
01:22incredible and it's a company that you know is done very well. The auctioneering
01:28is something I've always it's what I've always wanted to do I suppose in my car
01:33there's no Spotify raft it's more different auctioneers who I listen to
01:36every day so I'm quite boring to be in the car with but I just love it. It's an
01:41obsession of mine to be honest and to get given the opportunity this February
01:44gone was incredible and I'm very grateful to Matt Prior and Edmund Mahoney
01:48especially Newmarket for giving me that opportunity because it was a big leap of
01:52faith for them to take in me and you know I hope I've proved them that it was a
01:55good decision and I really hope that I can keep progressing and hopefully one
01:58day be able to sell it book one. Looking back on it it's incredible to think of in
02:02my first auction in Newmarket it's a hallowed ground you know it's the most
02:06famous sales ring in the world. I never imagined that I'd be selling a horse for
02:10six figures on my second sale which was an incredible I got goosebumps after a
02:13hundred thousand guineas and it was just an incredible feeling. I just hope to keep
02:16selling horses in England and hopefully get my license in Ireland soon. I work in
02:21the blood stock department which is headed by Orlan McKenna who does a
02:23fantastic job and I think we just pulled together really well as a company here
02:27in Ireland and it can be seen in in our results and and people coming here you
02:31know people come back and there's a lot of loyalty towards the company and I
02:33think that's because everyone puts their shoulder to the wheel here and works
02:35really hard for our clients. Obviously the yearling sale then in September it
02:40won't be long coming around and at the moment we're busy inspecting on the road I
02:43mean that sale has been incredible also. Three Royal Ascot winners last year you
02:47know records smashed across every aspect of the sale last year and I think
02:51people now see that we try really hard along with ITM our marketing team here
02:55do a great job and we try really hard to get a lot of international clients in.
02:58Thank you so much for joining us and thank you so much for joining us today.
03:08You
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