EASTER YEARLING SALE : Don't stop the Music... this song can go on forever!

John FergusonThe Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale reached a spectacular crescendo on Tuesday, with Darley confirming it intends to be an increasing part of the picture Down Under, by outlaying a shade over A$19 million on 20 yearlings, including Tuesday ’ s sale-topping pair of Redoute ’ s Choice (Aus) colts.

During three days of selling, Inglis sold 28 yearlings for A$1-million or more, including four that topped the A$2-million mark. Yesterday, Sheikh Mohammed’ s bloodstock advisor John Ferguson signed the ticket for a A$2.7- million son of Redoute ’ s Choice.

Arrowfield’s John Messara (where top selling sire Redoubte’s Choice stands), was quoted as saying, “It has been an outstanding sale given the circumstances of the year, including Equine Influenza and the stock market. I think Session II will follow up the old saying of [the late] Colin Hayes ‘one up, all up ’ and that theory certainly stood up this year, after New Zealand and the Gold Coast were up. But I was surprised to see how strong it was this year… I think there was genuine apprehension, with stock markets falling over two or three months, I really wasn’t thinking we would have 28 yearlings sell for a million or more. ”

TUESDAY’S TOP TEN COLTS

Lot Sire/Dam Price

351 Redoute’s Choice (Aus) Salameh (Aus) 2,700,000

377 Redoute’s Choice (Aus) Snowdrift (Fr) 2,500,000

373 EncostadeLago (Aus) Skates (Aus) 1,700,000

395 Redoute’s Choice (Aus) Stella Artois (Aus) 1,300,000

330 Encosta de Lago (Aus) Republic Lass (Aus) 1,200,000

404 Hussonet/ Sunday Valentine (Aus) 1,200,000

464 Encosta de Lago (Aus) Ylang Ylang (Ire) 1,200,000

359 Redoute’s Choice (Aus) Sequin (Aus) 1,100,000

489 Redoute’s Choice (Aus) Angelic Smile (Aus) 1,100,000

322 Redoute’s Choice (Aus) Red Hot Mama (Aus) 1,000,000

TUESDAY’S TOP SEVEN FILLIES

427 Redoute’s Choice (Aus) Tugela 1,800,000

328 More Than Ready Regrowth (Aus) 1,600,000

327 Redoute’s Choice (Aus) Regimental Gal (Aus) 1,500,000

384 Encosta de Lago (Aus) Special Harmony (Aus) 1,500,000

412 MoreThan Ready Tambour (Aus) 1,200,000

409 Redoute’s Choice (Aus) Sydney’s Dream (Aus) 1,000,000

420 Redoute’s Choice (Aus) Toast of the Coast (Aus) 1,000,000

Comments

[magid]

I don't know if this is standard, but I find it interesting that all but a couple of the priciest lots were by Aussie-bred stallions & out of Aussie-bred mares. I've never done the exercise but I'd be willing to have a friendly(i.e. no money on the table) bet that the overwhelming majority of the most expensive yearlings at a S.A. sale would have at least one imported parent, if not both.Should not some expert investigate the reason for this &, more important,whether S.A. breeders are not losing out by paying inadequate attention to S,A.-bred stallions other than National Emblem, Jet Master,&
Victory Moon?

[Mick Goss]

Dear Alan

Your most recent response to our sales numbers contained some interesting observations. You are right, in the case of Summerhill, our best prices have been generated by our Australian horses, but that wasn’t the case last year, certainly not at the National Sales where we found them a little “sticky” to move. That said, we had a better crew this year, and it so happens that the fashion moved in favour of those horses again. Markus Jooste’s Aussie-breds have had a better year at the races in 2008, and so they were in demand.

However, there is a deep rooted cultural issue at stake here. Those of us who have grown up in the Colonies suffer still, and particularly the baby boomers, from “colonial creep”, and we continue to believe, even if we don’t admit to it, that anything from outside is better than the local product. While there were some well-proven local stallions such as Elevation, Harry Hotspur and Model Man from the past, it wasn’t until Summerhill and one or two other farms made it known at every opportunity we had, that we believed that our own home-grown stallions deserved greater respect, and put our money where our mouths were by investing in horses such as National Emblem and Captain Al, that people began to believe it. Somebody needed to take a lead, as the horses I’ve referred to, while successful, never quite hit the top of the commercial “hot spots”. To a degree, National Emblem began to break the mould, and today Jet Master has completed the transition.

The reasons are not too difficult to work out. These horses have grown up here, they’ve performed on our tracks in our conditions, and at stud, they’ve gelled with our broodmares. Horses coming from outside the country have always got to prove that their progeny are versatile enough to perform here, and so there’s quite a high rate of attrition. For this reason, particularly, we’ve gone for strains that work across the globe, such as Machiavellian (and his father Mr. Prospector), and of course, Danehill, who has been the most successful stallion in history in both hemispheres. Let’s hope we’re right.

However, in Cataloochee, we made another dip into the local well, and we hope he comes off. There’s already a precedent for a high quality son of Al Mufti at stud here in Captain Al, and we like what we see in Cataloochee’s progeny.

As I mentioned in my previous note to you, the shuttle doesn’t always work. Indeed, it seldom works, but people cling to the memory of Danehill in the hope that there’ll be another one not too long from now. That said, the sons of the shuttlers have added considerable value to the stallion scene in Australia, and while that responsibility has rested principally with Danehill, we are seeing it again with horses like Encosta de Lago (by Sadler’s Wells brother, Fairy King), who will be their Champion Sire this year and six or seven of Danehills off-spring. The Australians have now come to the conclusion that their best stallion prospects are the colonially bred sons of the shuttlers, as opposed to the shuttlers themselves, and they’re paying more for the progeny of those horses now than for those of the shuttlers.

Regards
Mick