A Pair of A$400,000 colts headed the opening session of the four day Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale on Sunday. Day one, which also included a Blue Riband session of 39 yearlings posted a set of returns broadly in line with 2017 with 116 of the 145 (80%) offered yearlings selling for a total of A$14,648,000 (+6.5%). The combined average for the two sessions came to A$126,276 (+2%) while the median settled at A$110,000, the same as the corresponding day last year. These figures left Inglis’ Victorian Bloodstock Manager Simon Vivian optimistic for the next few days at Oaklands Junction.
“It was a largely predictable day, on par with this time last year and there are still a lot of very good horses from very good stallions to enter the ring,” Vivian said. “We would obviously like to see the clearance rate improve over the coming days but I’m extremely confident that will be the case as there is a lot of great stock still to be offered. The average of over $126,000 is pleasing knowing what is being offered over the coming days,” he added.
It was lot 63 that staked an early claim for top lot honours and the son of Pierro (Aus) was eventually knocked down to James Harron Bloodstock for A$400,000. Offered by Supeme Thoroughbreds as the first living produce out of the group 2 winning mare Scandiva (Aus) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}), the bay colt, who will be trained by Peter and Paul Snowden also hails from the family of Black Caviar (Aus) (Bel Esprit {Aus}).
“He’s come into his own in the last month. He was so popular here this week, everybody wanted a piece of him,” Brent Grayling of Supreme Thoroughbreds said.
“The key to him was everyone who knew the mother knew this colt because he’s just a dead-ringer for mum. The way Pierro is going, he’s potentially a stud horse of the future this horse.”
James Harron was in full agreement with that assessment and said, “He’s a cracking colt by the sire of the moment in Pierro out of a fantastic mare with one of the biggest pages in the book. He has a great attitude, lovely depth of girth, great strong hip, very powerful sort of colt. He looks very strong and speedy. His mother was precocious so it’s a fast family. He does tick boxes to be an early-type of horse.”
The co-topper, lot 137, came from the Blue Riband session when bloodstock agent Paul Moroney bid A$400,000 for a son of Fastnet Rock (Aus) offered by Blue Gum Farm. The colt’s dam Bird Of Fire (NZ) (Stravinsky) was a multiple stakes winner up to group 2 level and is already proving her prowess as a broodmare through the exploits of her stakes placed son Firehouse Rock (Aus) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}). The colt will join the team of the purchasers brother Mike Moroney.
China Horse Club purchased the next most expensive yearling when acquiring lot 26 for A$340,000, a son of Zoustar (Aus)) offered by Mill Park Stud while that price was matched when a colt by Toronado (Ire) sold to Hawkes Racing and Cameron Cooke Bloodstock. Lot 83 was offered by Gilgai Farm out of the stakes winning mare She’s Got Gears (Aus) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}). Trainer Tony McEvoy’s shopping included four six figure lots headed by a Written Tycoon (Aus) colt, lot 19, which was knocked down for A$230,000.
Selling resumes on Monday morning at 11a.m. local time beginning with lot 161.