NATIONAL YEARLING SALES
An extraordinary revelation is all one should say about the new face of the South African Premier Yearling Sales season. Are we heading in the right direction? Too many horses being pitched at the prime end of our relatively small market with very little hope of export without hassle?
I pose that as a question not a statement because despite the increased number of yearlings on offer the market held up well and in fact actually showed growth. This speaks volumes in the current economy for the resilience of this market. As hard as it is to read buy backs at any sale, and as much as they cloud sale facts we have to deal with them as sales – at least the auctioneer gets paid. We hope!
You don’t have to be an economist to make assumptions about our market and it would be extremely odd if we did not show growth on last year’s poor returns as the major Australian sales showed enormous growth in 2010 the Inglis And Magic Millions sales were up by 23% and 25% respectively and the NZ sale produced it’s second highest average in history: let’s consider the top end of the SA market – specifically with regard to what we have been led to accept as “premier or select yearlings”. In 2010 there were 603 Premier Sale lots catalogued at the National Yearling Sales – 497 of these sold for R161m at an average price of R324k. This year the TBA offered 890 premier sale lots at 2 venues – 290 at the Cape Premier Sale and 600 at Gosforth Park. They sold 686 in total for an aggregate of R203 million – an increase of 26% on turnover and the average increased slightly to R327k. Remarkable that the averaged increased as at least 1/3 of the horses offered at Germiston this year would not normally have made the cut. The fact that overseas buyers dominate the markets in Australia and NZ makes a massive difference. We lament our continuing lack of ability to deliver in this arena. Racing SA has just not been able to make any progress in this regard despite the massive financial drain it makes on our resources.
Of course both the local aggregate and average belie the harsh reality of some really expensive buy backs and on the face of it there seem to be quite a few. Don’t even try and understand why anyone would buy back a top priced horse on any sale, let alone at R3.2m. Consider the case of the Jet Master filly out of the Jallad mare Jalberry. The nation watched agape as the spectacle unfolded on TV. She was bought back by her breeder bid for bid in public at a figure that many felt was way beyond real value. Granted she was a really well made specimen and the mare has given notice that she is doing the job – he first foal Count Express, by Count Dubois has won 3 and been placed 2nd in the Gr3 Man O’War Sprint and 3rd in the Gr2 Merchants. It’s a hot and happening family and the filly was near the top of our main list but who could have predicted that she’d be the sale topper and bought back?
In January, SA buyers faced 61 lots for the Est. Late Graham Beck which generated R10m. Two weeks later the Equimark Ready to Run Sale generated R2.3m from 62 lots. – barely two days before the Inaugural Cape Premier Yearling Sale which saw 214 yearlings yield R88m. The rival regional sales held by Bloodstock SA and Equimark a day apart offered a staggering 440 more yearlings which generated another R13m in sales. Mike Holmes Bloodstock also offered 95 yearlings in Durban in February.
In a period of just 4 months buyers spent R229m on an unprecedented 1650 yearlings. No other country in the world manages to sell more than 50% of its annual production at auction. Amazing. Bloodstock South Africa (the TBA’s sale arm) claims that the Cape Premier Sale was a success because they brought in a whole bunch of international buyers. No question that an important group of new overseas “buyers” came to SA as guests of the sale company and they, like myself, went to the sale with the best of intentions and were, to a man, impressed with the whole show. But to say that they contributed as significantly to the turnover as the TBA would have us believe is untrue. Forty One new overseas visitors bought 2 or 3 lots and one may question whether these were all real sales. No question that past visitors like Barry Irwin and Pat Shaw made a significant impact but they are existing clients. Will they come back and contribute in future. I guess not. Racing SA seem unable to do anything constructive about the export problems we face and until this is sorted out we remain an international back-water for exports.
TBA Sales Complex Gosforth Park
Great news from the 2011 sale complex is that the Stud Farm Grooms’ Co-op system was a major success. Seven co-ops sold 8 horses between the National Yearling Sales and the Cape Sale. The horses were bought as yearlings for R1.045m and sold for R2.76. Founder of the Co-ops Adrian Todd reports that only one of the co-ops made a loss on input costs. The top lot was a superbly made half-brother to the very smart Joey Ramsden trained Captain Al filly Trinity House. He a son of Silvano made R1.4m. I wish that I had a camera the moment that the grooms came out of the vendors box. What a delight to see their faces. I had written about Trinity House’s success a few days before the sale and evidently the grooms must have heard me say while viewing the colt in Riverton’s draft that I thought he was the right type because this groom came up to me brimming with joy and thanked me. I had a bid on the colt as he was one of our top choices but I got nowhere near the R1.4m that Mike de Kock paid for him. Let’s hope he does well for them and that the concept of the Grooms’ Co-ops goes from strength to strength. This can only be good for our industry in future.
The TBA put on a really good show and the powers that be have given the complex a soul. Pictures of important role players paper the walls and it looks like an international hall of fame. Lunch in the yard was pathetic but they make up for this with the sumptuous fare on offer while the sale is in progress. Pity we can’t get both. The Enchanted Garden Restaurant is haunted by pathetically inept, under-stocked, inexperienced would-be caterers. They must go. It was brutally hopeless. We don’t mind slogging through the mud and doing our rounds but you can only look at so many horses at a stretch and need a rest. Sadly the haunted garden was not the place to get that.
Sires At The Sales
Captain Al continues to make steady progress up the sires log. He is still well ahead on the 2yo sires log, 2nd to Western Winter on the 3yo sires log and is now less than R300 000 behind Jet Master on the overall log which he leads by number of individual winners, number of races won and by % of winners/runners at 46%. He sold 27 of the 29 lots catalogued for R R6.1m at an average of R234k and 25 more at the Cape Premier Sale for R12.1m at an average of R485k – his total for the two events was 31 lots @ R18.2m and an average of R360k which is 5.14x the service fee that produced this crop.
Count Dubois has never been represented by large crops at any sale. All 8 of his offerings at the Cape Sale sold at an average of R329k and he had another 8 on the National Yearling Sales – again 100% sold but the average reflected the market. Buyers that kept faith were rewarded by a reduced average at R145k making his overall average R237k for the 16 lots. There was an interesting sale connection to Count Dubois on the distaff side this year. Lot 316 consigned by Wilgerbosdrift was a colt by Giant’s Causeway out of Count Dubois’ half-sister Nuance. The colt sold for R1.25m.
Dynasty – fans of SA’s latest boom sire may be asking themselves why he did not have another R1m yearling on this sale. The answer is quite simply that this was his 4ht crop and his smallest. Fresh off the back of his R1m lot at the Two Year Old sale last August he was expected to come back to the top end of the market again in 2011. But we all know that 4th crops just don’t happen like that. He averaged R261k for the few lots that he sold at the Cape and he had 11 lots catalogued at the National Yearling Sales all of which sold at an average R191k – his average for the two sales is R226k and represents a return of 19x his service fee in the year this crop was conceived.
Lot 217 Trippi x la Patoneur Bred by Klawervlei Stud sold for R2.1m
Trippi is hot property right now. His current status at the helm of the USA sire log and the athletic clean appearance of his youngsters have made him very popular. He is the leading “first crop” sire of all time in SA. All of his 20 lots catalogued sold for R8.65m at an average of R432k at the sale last week and he sold 21 at the Cape Premier sale for R11.9m at an average of R566k. His numbers for the two events:- R20.55m for 41 lots sold at an average of R499k – that’s about 5x his stud fee. Not many sires at that level can boast that.
JALLAD – it’s amazing how quickly our market forsakes past champions. We have never lost faith in Jallad as he has never failed to get a star performer in every one of his crops to date. The evidence that he passes the large heart gene to both his male and female progeny is irrefutable. Champion sire of 2002 he has been, until this year, consistently one of SA’s big 5. He is already the leading living broodmare sire in SA and will undoubtedly become a champion broodmare sire. Mark this spot. His sire line is rare and getting hard to find – a valuable foil for all of the Mr Prospector and Northern Dancer blood that is too often over duplicated in our pedigrees. There were some well-made youngsters both of both sexes on the National Yearling Sales – lucky are the buyers that picked them up so reasonably. We are delighted that Gary Player is to stand Russian Sage, the colt by Jallad that we bought as a yearling with Snaith Racing for Fieldspring Racing – Jallad finally has a dual Gr1 wining entire son at stud. News last weekend we read report from Hong Kong that his daughter Sweet Sanette, ridden by Greg Cheyne and trained by Tony Millard, denied Sacred Kingdom, the reigning Horse of the Year, a record-equalling 18th victory in the Gr3 Bauhinia Sprint Trophy over 1000m. Jallad sold 18 of the 19 lost catalogued at the National Yearling Sales for an average of R156k which was substantially down from the R232 he averaged at the Cape Sale. We learnt long ago never to say die! When Mexico was 26 we decided not to buy a well-made full brother to a colt we’d had success with “because the sire was too old” – this full brother became the 3rd Bloodline Million winner Fast Gun. Jallad will produce more stakes winners and no question that there will be some from the crop sold this year.
