News

Premier continues on upward surge

1st Mar 2021

The popularity and strength of the Inglis Select Yearling Sales Series was again to the fore at Oaklands today as Day 2 of the Premier Yearling Sale continued on an upward spiral.

On another satisfying day of trade, six of the nine top lots of the sale overall were sold as the buyers’ appetite for yearlings showed no sign of easing.

The diversity and strength of the buying bench – both at Oaklands and via significant levels of online bidding – was especially active at the top end of the market.

At the conclusion of Day 2, a total of 35 lots have sold for $300,000 or more, almost double the amount of the entire Book 1 last year with 60 lots still to sell tomorrow.

The day’s top lot was a Lord Kanaloa x Believe Yourself colt (lot 504) offered by Kulani Park as agent for Arrowfield Stud.

It was purchased by Ciaron Maher Bloodstock in conjunction with Coolmore for $900,000, making it the third-most expensive horse ever sold at Oaklands.

“You’ve got to do your homework but the horses you like you have to go a bid or two more because it’s always strong here in Melbourne,’’ Maher said.

“This colt is just such a great physical out of a sharp, early-running mare. I thought he was the colt of the sale and he’s now got the price tag to match.

“To us he was a pretty obvious horse and it was quite early on that Coolmore indicated they thought the same.’’

For Arrowfield the colt (pictured) was the jewel in the crown in what has been a spectacular Premier Sale, selling all 12 of their offerings – nine through Kulani Park and three through Milburn Creek.

“With our big Easter draft of 49 yearlings it was just too much for us to do this Melbourne draft under our own banner so we split them up but we are very glad to have been involved, it’s been a fabulous sale so far,’’ Arrowfield’s Jon Freyer said.

“The Lord Kanaloa was amazingly well-liked. He had a record number of X-Ray hits, around 36 which is largely unheard of.’’

Kulani Park’s Rhys Smith backed up Freyer’s sentiment surrounding the horse’s popularity.

“He’s been flat out, he’s done over 230 parades which is an extreme amount. He’s handled himself really well the whole time, that’s why he made this type of money,’’ Smith said.

“The whole week has been extremely busy, there’s plenty of people here wanting to buy and a lot of happy vendors, us included.’’

The day’s second-top lot was lot 287, an I Am Invincible x Risque colt of Vinery Stud, which was knocked down to Busuttin Racing at $700,000.

“He’s the right type of colt, he looks a runner, looks a 2YO, he’s got all the attributes everyone wants and he’s out of a Group 1-winning mare, so he was never going to go cheap,’’ the trainer said.

“They don’t miss them, not here this week. You’ve just got to pay for them.''

Vinery’s Adam White added: “We really wanted a lead horse here at Premier, he was the one for us and he did his job.

“There’s going to be quite a few I Am Invincibles at Easter and this horse was easily good enough for there but we thought he might stand out a bit more here and he certainly did.’’

The day’s third-top lot was a huge result for vendor Caithness Breeding, selling their Capitalist x Asheerah colt to Lindsey Smith and Boomer Bloodstock for $600,000.

For Caithness, it smashed their previous best result which was a Kermadec yearling at last year’s Premier Sale which realised $230,000.

“For him to make that sort of money today is outstanding, just absolutely amazing, I’m just so thrilled,’’ Caithness’ Sean Dingwall said.

“When we came here and we do our budgets etc we valued him as a $200,000 colt at our upper limit with the real expectation that he might make $100,000…so a $300,000 opening bid was not expected, you might say, let alone a final price of $600,000.’’

To view our Facebook Live review of today’s action, CLICK HERE.

Lots 531-804 have been catalogued for Day 3 of the sale, which begins at 10am tomorrow at Oaklands.

The first 60 lots conclude the Main Book before the Showcase Session begins at lot 591.

To view the catalogue, CLICK HERE.

Day 3 action will again be broadcast live on the Inglis website and Facebook page via our Sale Day Live broadcast, hosted by Jason Richardson and Caroline Searcy.

Online Bidding and Make An Offer services will again be available.

To enquire on a passed in lot from the opening two days of the sale, contact Will Stott on 0408 126 952.

PREMIER SALE STATISTICS END OF DAY 2

Sold: 398

Clearance Rate: 86%

Average Price: $143,195

Median Price: $110,000

Top Price: $1,100,000

Gross: $56,991,500