Today's Sydney Morning Herald’s Column 8 contained an interesting post: “On the fourth of next month, at 2 minutes and 3 seconds past 1am, the time and date will be 01:02.03, 04/05/06. It will take approximately 400 generations before such figures are repeated”.

(Whilst breeders will certainly hope I am proven wrong) I couldn’t help but absorb the numbers and ask myself if the “400 generations” argument could equally be applied to the final figures from this year's Easter Sale. A total of AUD$117,130,000 changed hands for 403 yearlings, a 29% increase on last year’s record gross despite the fact that the 2006 catalogue contained less horses while the average leapt a huge 40 per cent to $288,497. Can such record breaking figures spiral still higher in 2007?

Do other people remember the day when a seven figure yearling would produce a round of applause when it was sold? A total of fourteen yearlings made in excess of $1,000,000 this year compared to eight at last year’s sale. The crowds seemed so immune to the million plus results that when Lot 385 (the full sister to Shamekha - pictured left) sold for $2.2 million to the bid of Gai Waterhouse the only response apart from the congratulatory note from Jonathan Darcy was the rather bored tones of the person sitting in front of me who yawned and stretched and asked if any of his colleagues would care for a coffee!

The 3 days of selling saw all number of records broken including the highest price paid for a filly (the full sister to Alinghi fetching AUD$2.6 million) and also for a colt (AUD$3m paid for the Redoute’s Choice ex Deja Slew colt). The clearance rate was a very healthy 90%.

It was also a record few days for Yarraman Stud, a farm that can arguably be said to be one of the quieter players in the distinguished inner sanctum of the Hunter Valley. The Mitchell Brothers netted $10,750,000 for their 14 lots and they sold the top 3 lots as well which prompted Arthur Mitchell to comment "Every dog has its day". One of the enduring memories of this year’s sale was the sheer number of people around Newmarket who were heard to remark “good on them, Harry and Arthur really deserve to do well.”

John Messara’s Arrowfield Stud deserves a mention – not just for their exceptional catering and attentive staff at the stud’s marquee that gave a few city restaurants a run for their money - but also the stud’s superstar Redoute’s Choice who didn’t let anyone down, selling 6 of the 14 million dollar lots, and progeny selling for an average of $710,857. The stud was also leading vendor by aggregate selling 33 yearlings for $13,660,000. This ended the long reign of Coolmore Stud in this category, with the Jerry’s Plains farm running a close second with gross receipts of $12,830,000 for 41 lots sold.

Another Arrowfield stallion whose progeny caught the eye was Hussonet – a stallion whose progeny’s performances in South America have been described by many as “devastatingly good” (in fact one very good judge who not only owns a few Hussonet yearlings but is one of Australia’s finest vets – and who is not prone to excessive adjectives when he speaks) spent a good 20 minutes and no end of superlatives describing just how good one of his fillies is. Judging by similar stories from other industry players one can’t help but wonder if Arrowfield might well have another super star on its door step.

Boutique Highgrove Stud certainly had the formula right as well. They arrived with just 2 yearlings from Queensland - a Redoute’s Choice colt from Chief’s Crown mare Brilliant Crown, which sold for $950,000 on Wednesday, while Thursday’s millionaire was out of a Snippets full-sister to three stakes-winners.

“It’s been fantastic,” said Gilbert, echoing the sentiments of many vendors. “We only bought the two here and have sold beyond our wildest expectations.”

The Ingham family’s Woodlands Stud remained the sale’s top buyers, spending $13,110,000 on 27 yearlings.

In other news, 2 years ago another Athlone contributor - John Baxter - and I were standing with Peta and Allan Tilden from Boscobel Stud when they sold a grey Encosta de Lago colt for $40k. Richard Turnley was one of those rare vendors who didn’t believe in reserves for his stock. John O’Shea came rushing back to the stables after he had signed the sales docket and ran his eye yet again over the well framed and agreeably mannered colt.

“What’s wrong with him?” he asked Allan.

An experienced horseman and well known farrier, Allan can crush anyone’s hand using his most mild of hand shakes. He enjoys a good cup of coffee, is always willing to have a chat (unless he thinks you're an idiot), looks you straight in the eye when he speaks to you, and calls a spade a spade.

He laughed. “Absolutely nothing.”

Someone suggested to me on Wednesday evening that the guru of the 2004 sale was not the person with a blank cheque book who could buy whatever they wanted in the seven figure vicinity; rather it was the likes of John O’Shea who could see something in the grey Encosta colt from a small farm that no-one else deemed "commercial". And because that same $40k colt fleeced the field in this week’s Doncaster, rumour has it that Encosta de Lago’s stud fee is about to be increased to $150k. Me thinks a fair percentage of that increase should be sent to John O'Shea for vision that no-one else appeared to have that night.

Anyone who has queried South Africa’s economic resurgence or belief in the long term future of racing only needed to look at the money they spent this week to see that the country has set in train an extraordinary commitment to the upgrading of local bloodlines. Following his spending spree at January’s Magic Millions sale, Charles Laird (on behalf of prominent owner Marcus Jooste) broke the Australasian record for a colt sold at auction when he bid AUD$3 million for the Redoute’s Choice ex Deja Slew colt on Wednesday evening. He also paid a seven figure sum for a Giant’s Causeway colt and 3 lots later $550,000 for another colt by the same sire. Other purchases included fillies by Redoute’s Choice, Giant’s Causeway and Red Ransom and another colt by Royal Academy. Overall Laird purchased 8 yearlings for an aggregate of AUD$5,640,000 and average of AUD$705,000.

The number of international buyers played an integral role in the overall sale’s success and ensured that averages stayed high. Buyers were attracted from the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, Japan, South Africa, USA, Singapore and New Zealand. A few local buyers were heard to complain that they were priced out of the market. I certainly empathise with the dilemma, but Australia simply cannot continue to rewrite record books and accrue such incredible prices at these top end sales if they are not willing to look outside their local boundaries for investors. Be realistic – if you are going to stand a handful of stallions in the vicinity of $100k - $300k then equally you need the people who can afford to purchase them (and if there isn’t the return on investment for the breeder then who will stay in the market). You need more than local buyers to play at this level (remembering as well that a stallion may serve 150+ at those figures and yet only 15-30 yearlings may make it into Easter … that’s a lot of yearlings produced at extremely high service fees who have to find a sale that doesn’t produce the record stats we see twice a year at the January and Easter sales and also produce a strong return. It’s not an easy journey for many breeders to embark upon.)

I thought Inglis did a sterling job. The sale was well marketed, well attended, and seemed to offer all the extras that only Sydney can provide – perfect weather, so much black type in the catalogue that it provides a year’s re-reading for the pedigree enthusiasts, and a setting that I personally feel is unmatched anywhere in the world; perhaps the prices merely reflected the crowd’s appreciation of the same.

Images





Owners of the new Rockmount Lodge (formerly Vinery Australia's pre-training Centre) -Geoff Guest and Jill Kewish - purchased 2 lots at the Easter sale, a Galileo filly from Devil's Gold (dam of Bardego) [image 1 above] and a Fasliyev filly [image 2 - above] out of Dora Maar (an unraced Royal Academy half sister to Easy Rocking, Fairy King Prawn and Crevette). The Rockmount purchases - overseen by property manager Damian Murphy - reflect the market's renewed attraction to well bred fillies who offer significant residual value on the broodmare side.



Whilst the good news always makes the front pages there were a few vendors left wondering what had happened during the 3 days as well. Lot 58, a magnificently bred Johannesburg filly ex Soda Watch (dam of group winners Camena and Jai's Jump) offered by Lurline Lodge reared and fell (breaking her pelvis) whilst being prepared for the ring. Another colt (pictured above) by champion sire Sadlers Wells - Lot 375 - (a sire who commandeers one of the highest stud fees in the world) was sold by Coolmore Stud (as agent) for just AUD$25k.