Meet Lot 39, the £2.73m colt that does not even have a name yet

and it is important for an organisation such as ours to try and buy the best bloodstock available.”

Mr Ferguson added: “This sale has, due to the breeders in Great Britain and Ireland, become the best source of bloodstock in the world.

“Breeders deserve to be getting this sort of money for the very best they produce – they have created valuable broodmare bands and invested in the very best of stallions. It is so hard to breed a good horse.”

The colt commands that sort of price tag because of his racing potential, but beyond that there is the hope he will go on to sire winners of his own.

Tops studs, such as Lot 39’s sire Dubawi – can command upwards of ‘We are lucky in Britain to have some of the best racing in the world and people want to be part of that’ £225,000 for their owners each time they cover, or breed with, a mare.

Galileo – one of the greatest studs of them all – is said to have a price tag of £500,000 for each covering and has sired more than 176 stakes winners.

Only last weekend Galileo’s offspring came an unprecedented first, second and third in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Chantilly.

Simon Marsh, who runs the Watership Down stud, owned by Lord LloydWebber, told the “We are incredibly lucky in Britain to have some of the best racing in the world and a lot of people want to be part of that.”

Tattersalls’s marketing manager, Jimmy George, added: “Most stallions used to be concentrated in Kentucky, in the US. But there has been a shift in the balance of power in the last 20 years or so, at least for those who want to race on turf.”