News

International Buyers Return to Happy Hunting Ground

1st Apr 2009

The who’s who of the bloodstock world have arrived at Newmarket ahead of next week’s Australian Easter Sale, with many hoping to replicate previous successful raids on the Southern Hemisphere’s best yearling sale.

The biggest names from Europe, the Middle East and Asia have enjoyed great success in buying at Easter through the years and another strong contingent will be in attendance at this year’s sale, to be held from April 5-7.

Angus Gold, representative for Sheikh Hamdan, has returned to Sydney in the search for another Group 1 winner. Gold plucked Nadeem from the 2005 sale and in 2007 secured Reaan. Both colts trained on to win the G1 Blue Diamond.

The Sheikh’s agent almost came up with the big double at the 2005 sale, finishing as the underbidder on the Redoute’s Choice-Forest Pearl filly.

He was beaten to the punch by fellow European based buyer Grant Pritchard-Gordon, who made a successful $450,000 bid for the filly who went on to race as Miss Finland, winning five Group 1 races and $4.6million.

Darley’s John Ferguson has been a major player at Easter in recent times and purchases like Come Hither, Colour and Estee have won black type races this season, while fellow Easter graduate Sousa will also sport the Darley colours in next week’s G1 Australian Derby.

Coolmore Stud have also enjoyed their share of success with Easter graduates and Demi O’Byrne has arrived for this year’s sale with MV Magnier. The stud is represented in Saturday’s Golden Slipper by Easter graduate Indian Ocean.

BBA Ireland’s Adrian Nicoll is another major international buyer with a strong connection to Easter, with his recent purchases highlighted by Champion filly Serenade Rose.

John Tyrell secured Mrs Kipling for Plantation Stud at last year’s Easter Sale and he has returned with owner Dermot O’Rourke’s son David.

While the European contingent have enjoyed much success at this sale, so too have a number of Asian buyers.

Hong Kong Champion Lucky Owners was raced by Kai Fai Leung, who is attending the sale, as is John Moore, who prepared Inspiration to win last December’s G1 Hong Kong International Sprint. Floral Pegasus is another HK G1 winner and Magnus Equine’s Willie Leung is attending this year. Lucky Owners, Floral Pegasus and Inspiration are all Easter graduates.

The Yoshida family have also attained great success at Easter over the years, with the most recent success being Katsumi Yoshida’s Charge Forward youngster Vilmart, who has beaten three-year-olds in Japan this year.