Shirley Anderson-Jolag breaks new ground with auction debut

Shirley Anderson-Jolag made history on Tuesday morning when becoming the first female auctioneer to ever take to the rostrum in the British bloodstock industry.

Lot 211 at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale was the horse under the hammer in a sale that will now be forever in the record books, as Anderson-Jolag brought the gavel down during her draft of five lots.

A round of applause followed and after her first stint in command of the ring, Anderson-Jolag will return on Saturday for the final day of the foal sale.

“When I decided that this is what I wanted to do, it has been two years of practising, with a good solid year of practice with Edmond (Mahony, Tattersalls chairman),” she said.

“Harvey Bell (associate director of Tattersalls) has been really helpful, too, and I have sold cattle, antiques, sold after auction races and at charity events.

“About a year and a half ago, it was Hannah Wall and David Redvers (of Tweenhills) who gave me my first charity auction at a hunt ball – they kind of made me do it, which was great, as I would probably have said no.

“It has been nothing but positive from everyone, and I am glad I have finally done it.

“Standing behind Edmond to go up to the front of the rostrum, I felt as sick as a dog, but I knew I had the support of people and, once I saw people coming into the ring, that made me really happy, it was lovely.

“Once I got that first lot under my belt, I was OK.

“Hopefully, in five years it will be the norm, and loads of women will be doing this.

“It did weigh on me a bit coming into today, but only for positive reasons because I wanted to be good for other women coming through.”