Cape Racing Sales brought the curtain down on a successful 2024 at Hollywoodbets Durbanville on Saturday evening, with the Breeze Up & Unbroken 2yo Sale producing pleasing year-on-year results.
Maine Chance kingpin Vercingetorix proved to be the buyers’ darling yet again, with the son of Silvano’s 16 offspring fetching a gross R9,8 million at an average of R612 500.
The last minute move by Cape Racing Sales to bring the sale forward from Sunday afternoon to Saturday evening after racing at Hollywoodbets Durbanville, as a result of inclement weather forecasts, proved a winner.
“It was a logistical challenge moving the sale but it was very well received by both buyers and vendors. We appreciate their flexibility and also need to thank all of the catering, bar staff, waiters, suppliers and our team for adjusting to the short notice change and rolling their sleeves up to put on a great show,” Cape Racing Executive Justin Vermaak told the Sporting Post afterwards.
Renaissance men Justin Vermaak and Greg Bortz are changing the dynamics (Pic – Troy Finch)
Year on year, with 25 more horses sold on Saturday evening – 125 were catalogued, 116 went through the ring and 109 were sold – the sale aggregate was R34 735 000, a remarkable increase of 86% on 2023.
The median jumped 51,52% to R250 000, with the average improving by 43,38% to R318 670.
Justin Vermaak said that it was quite a mixed catalogue in terms of the results, but that the numbers showed that this sale is evolving into a genuine unbroken 2yo platform and that was an angle that Cape Racing Sales would be taking cognizance of in their planning for 2025 and forward.
“One can see that some of the major farms actually dedicated high-quality unbroken 2yo’s to this sale and were duly rewarded. Look at the Maine Chance six – really high class Vercingetorix offspring from top-quality mares and the results showed. Winterbach Stud were another example with their lot 99, a high-quality One World colt attracting plenty of interest, while the Winterbach Talk Of The Town colt (lot 122) was a smashing specimen and fetched R400 000,” added Vermaak.
Top lot was the R1,3 million paid by Woodruff Racing for the Maine Chance Farms’ lot 111, appropriately named Vindicated.
Topseller! Lot 111, a daughter of Vercingetorix out of Victoria Lavelle (Captain Al) sold for R1,3 million (Pic – Supplied)
Bred on a cross that really and truly works, she is a 3/4 sister to 2 winners is out of the super-fast Captain Al sired Listed Laisserfaire Stakes winner Victoria Lavelle -who hails from the family of Vercingetorix’s smart daughter Ancient Epic.
The top priced colt was the Winterbach Stud as agent consigned Double Causeway, who was catalogued as lot 99 and fetched R1,2 million to the bid of Gareth van Zyl. Laurence Wernars, Greg Bortz and RIkesh Sewgoolam were the underbidders on this magnificent specimen, who is bred on the same cross as exciting dual Gr3 winner One Stripe, and is closely inbred to Giant’s Causeway, sporting daughters of Silvano, Jet Master and Giant’s Causeway as his first three dams.
Laurence Wernars purchased the joint second priced lot at R1,2 million in the Maine Chance consigned Slender Silhouette (lot 102), a daughter of Vercingetorix out of Var’s Gr1 South African Fillies Sprint winning daughter Sommerlied – whose half-sister Sommersonne produced last season’s Gr2 World Pool With Gold Circle Debutante/ Gr3 Tabgold Strelitzia Stakes winner Just Reckless. This is the female line of 2024 French Oaks winner Sparkling Plenty. Slender Silhouette will be trained by Sean Tarry.
Vercingetorix (Silvano) clearly topped the sire tables, while last season’s Freshman star One World (Captain Al) had his 10 gross R4 875 000, at an average of R487 500.
One World’s handsome son Double Causeway was joint second highest seller at R1,2 million (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
Varsfontein-based champion Gimmethegreenlight (More Than Ready) maintained his upward demand graph, with 6 lots selling for R3 050 00 at an average of R508 333.
While Maine Chance Farms’ Vercingetorix sextet lit up the arena, selling for a gross R5 150 000 and averaging R858 333, the bulk vendor numbers were carried by Julia Pilbeam’s dynamic Soetendal Estate which continues to go from strength to strength in the ready-to-run arena, with their banner selling 27 as agent for R7 865 000, an average of R291 296.
Soetendal’s Julia Pilbeam – another succesful sale (Pic – CRS)
Monique Schabort and her Paarl Diamant Estate team enjoyed one of their biggest and best sales, with their 22 going to new homes, grossing R5 665 000 at an average of R257 500.
Klawervlei as agent sold their sextet for R2 225 000, an average of R370 833, while the already mentioned Winterbach Stud father-and-son team will be pleased to have seen their quintet go for R2 050 000, an average of R410 000.
The buying bench was diverse and enthusiastic, with some of the main players, in no particular order being Woodruff Racing (gross of R2 005 000 for 4 lots at an average of R501 250), Laurence Wernars’ Triple 8 Clothing (gross of R2 200 000 for 5 lots at an average of R440 000), Lesley Sercombe (gross of R1 000 000 for 3 lots at an average of R333 333), the Hollywood Syndicate (gross of R1 575 000 for 4 lots at an average of R393 750), Jonathan Snaith (a gross of R945 000 for 5 lots at an average of R189 000), Justin Vermaak (a gross of R2 600 000 for 5 lots at an average of R520 000), Gareth van Zyl (a gross of R1 750 000 for 2 lots at an average of R875 000), Glen Kotzen (a gross of R1 235 000 for 6 lots at an average of R205 833), Greg Bortz (a gross of R2 075 000 for 3 lots at an average of R691 667), DC Racing (a gross of R1 850 000 for 5 lots at an average of 370 000) and Bass Racing (R2 150 000 for 4 lots at an average of R 537 500).
Please click here to see the full sale results.
Next up on the CRS calendar is the Summer Sale, a high-end boutique auction for forward and well-grown yearlings to be held at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth during WSB Cape Town Met Week on Thursday 23 January.
The CRS March Premier Sale follows that and is being held over two days – Friday 14 and Saturday 15 March.
