Gold Circle Pty (Ltd)

Today's Racing :

National 2YO sale ends on a high

David Thiselton
Emperors Palace National Two-Year-Old Sale ended encouragingly on Sunday. The sale, down 50% on the previous year after day one, recovered on the last two days to show a decline of just 14% on last year’s sale. The sale’s aggregate was R25 970 000 and pleasingly, the average of R75 714 was down just 4% on last year’s average of R78 951. The Dynasty colt, Jackson, topped the sale with Ian Longmore spending R1million for the colt. The first two day’s highlights of the sale saw the Vodacom Durban July winning and second-placed sires, Silvano and Dynasty respectively, drawing much attention. Taipan, lot 76, a magnificent bay consigned by Milkwood Stud, was knocked down for R350 000 to Cape trainer Dean Kannemeyer. Taipan is out of the unraced mare Fairy Footprints, a daughter of the top-class racemare Tarn Fairy. Meanwhile Silvano’s impressive chestnut son, Silver Haven, was sold to Good Hope Racing for R170 000. Consigned by Draken-stein Stud, Silver Haven is out of an unraced Al Mufti mare, and is bred on the same cross (Silvano on an Al Mufti mare) which produced Bold Silvano.
The lot prior to Silver Haven, lot 87, was Bonnard, an imposing son of Spectrum, and was knocked down for R180 000 to Dennis Drier. Consigned by Highlands, who stand Spectrum, Bonnard is out of the smart stakes placed mare For Rosalind. The R1 million purchase, Jackson, was the highlight on day two. A magnificent specimen, the Dynasty colt was consigned by Highlands Farm and is from the wonderful international No Class family responsible for such champions as Dance Smartly, Sky Classic and champion US sire Smart Strike. The latter is the sire of, amongst others, the 2010 Preakness Stakes winner Lookin At Lucky.
Lot 238 Desert Raptor, a handsome, powerful son of Silvano, consigned by Danika Stud as Agent, was knocked down to Alec Laird for R380 000. Desert Raptor’s dam, Oasis Song, is a half-sister to the stakes winning filly Atlantic Storm.
Varsfontein Stud’s Prince Igor - lot 187, a son of champion sire Jet Master - was purchased by Patrick Kalil for R375 000.
The final day started well with a Highlands-bred Daylami colt selling to Marlon Aronstram’s Anfield Sports for R400 000. Later Anfield Sports paid R475 000 for a Highlands-bred Dynasty colt and then went to R950 000 to buy a Western Winter colt from Varsfontein Stud. Mike de Kock Racing Stables bought a Wilgebosdrift-bred Tiger Ridge for R300 000 and Glen Kotzen went to R320 000 to buy a Var Colt from Spring Valley. Pine Lodge Stud paid R500 000 for an Ascot Stud-bred Lecture colt. The top purchase on the final day of the sale was Need to Know, a son of champion sire Western Winter. The colt was knocked down at R950 000 to Anfield Sports. Consigned by Varsfontein Stud, the colt is out of champion Promisefrommyheart. Six two-year-olds sold for R500 000 plus, whereas last year just two lots cracked the R500 000 barrier. CEO Jan Naude said “Though the sale started slowly, being down 50% on last year after day one, it picked up momentum over the final two days. So we were pleased with the recovery, particularly as the average was down just 4%. “This year the top price of R1 million compares favourably with last year’s sale topper. It shows that good horses made decent prices, whilst the progeny of unfashionable sires struggled at the bottom end of the market. “The market will continue to reject offspring of failed sires and mares, and this will continue to impact negatively on the sales prices and averages. This is reflected in the fact that 84 lots were unsold, as opposed to 28 in 2009.”

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