Avontuur‘s Pippa Mickleburgh declared herself satisfied after the weekend’s National Yearling Sale and philosophically suggested that, after many good years, the slump meant that Avontuur was giving something in financial terms, other than fine horses, back to their loyal supporters.
Calling it an interesting and solid Sale in the middle, she maintained her realistic approach and kept her feet on the ground by selling all of her fifteen lots. She pointed out also that the Cape Premier Sale had been far better marketed all round than the past weekend’s Sale but that the experience of networking and interacting with industry players had been a useful marketing and exposure tool for her business.
Pippa has been around the block a few times in the past thirty odd years and has seen it all. She doesn’t stress out too much and says that things will turn. She says that she was impressed by the strength of the market at the top end and also in the middle but felt that the Cape Premier Sale had undoubtedly impacted on the Johannesbuirg Sale. These thoughts were echoed by South Africa’s leading Bloodstock Consultant Jehan Malherbe, who was also the leading buyer in Johannesburg, who said that the 300 lots on the Cape Sale included 150 good quality lots which would have been on the Johannesburtg sale. He said that they were replaced with inferior grade stock on the Joburg Sale and in the circumstances, things had stood up pretty well. Malherbe said that he was pretty well pleased with his purchases : “ I feel that things have not been as bad as touted in certain quarters if one takes cognizance of the draining effect of the Cape Sale. And the breeders are never really happy any way!” he said with a smile.
To quote from a recent statement by another leading Bloodstock Consultant, Robin Bruss:
“ The market is healthy! What we are experiencing is a re-ordering as the Cape Premier Sale impacts on the distribution of sales.
The Cape Premier was designed to attract new money and new buyers, in order to arrest the decline in ownership we have been experiencing, PLUS attract foreign investment.
As is well documented and discussed, the foreigners came to Cape Town, loved it and largely indicated that next year they will be back in force with buying power and new clients. The sale can only grow from here and must continue. I believe that next year, it will be more select and that the average price in that sale will rise to R600k +
In terms of what happened at NYS these past few days, we anticipated a down year and the average fell by 24%. However, clearance was 88% which means that most breeders sold their horses.
The fact that the overall spend has INCREASED by 14% is very good considering the impact of the global recession and the outbreak of AHS which limited foreign participation at the NYS.
I thought it valid to point this out straight away so that you understand the nature of the market place and do not panic at the 24% drop in NYS. All is well!”
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Winter Serious
The Cape Winter Series kicks off on Saturday with the running of the Grade 3 Tekkie Town Winter Guineas over the 1600m of the Kenilworth Summer course.
A smart field of sixteen three year olds has accepted to run in the first leg of the Winter Triple Crown – which I assume is still on offer with its R250 000 bonus. I say this as there has been precious little hype and publicity on what is a great series and a Tellytrack presenter referred to it as the Rossgo Winter Series just a month ago.Whatever happened to Rossgo I don’t know but full marks to Tekkie Town for coming on board – I just hope they haven’t put their foot in it and get the Tellytrack exposure and value for their rand that they deserve The only previous horse to win this series was the now retired Pocket Power and Joey Ramsden’s Champion Winter Solstice came perilously close when pipped in the third leg in a horrible result by his own stable-mate Set To Music. The latter went on to ignominy in the back waters of Kimberley but Winter Solstice joined the greats and met a tragic end from a lightening strike in a Drakenstein Stud paddock recently.
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One Way Traffic
The Kenilworth third race saw a late scratching at the start in the form of the Piet Steyn-trained Eagle Award.
I thought that Course to Tellytrack communication processes had gone haywire again after the recent excellent improvement shown by Theresa Esplin and the on-course team. The crucial factor for Pick 6 punters is that the scratching formed part of a four way coupling and there is nothing more irritating than not doubling up when the tote favourite wins. In this case the tote favourite ran unplaced but the fact that we weren’t notified of the scratching other than a muttering by the on –course commentator as the field was about to jump, was cause for concern. A phone call to Gold Circle has revealed that Theresa was not on duty but that a signal problem has been hampering two-way radio communications between the start and the duty manager, depending on the weather and the location of the stalls. This was particularly bad on Saturday as the stalls were at the distant 1200m marker. I am assured by the powers-that-be that the radio communications are being sorted out and the situation will be attended to promptly. Subject closed.
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Kimberly gems
Two great performances by brilliant sand specialists were the highlights of Kimberley’s Monday meeting.
The six year old son of Rakeen – who one earth called him Petrus? – was winning his fifth race from just six starts when cantering home in the MR 70 Handicap over 1600m. He may have beaten the blind school but the Markus Jooste and Peter Miller-owned gelding is top-class on sand and looks a great successor to the grey Lawful Leader who ran in the Wilgerbosdrift silks for Miller.He is obviously beset with problems but hell he can run and while he may never justify his R1, 2 million price, he will win plenty at Kimberley and the Vaal.
Jannie Borman trains the smart five year old sprinter Beach Flight who won his fifth from eleven starts when winning the 1000m Pinnacle Stakes earlier. Well placed and rated a ridiculous 73, he looks an exciting prospect and Borman was ecstatic saying he ‘couldn’t believe’ what they had paid for the son of Jet Master. If memory serves me correctly, the horse ran in the Jooste silks for Charles Laird and wasn’t too good in his turf days. Borman said he was ‘probably the best I have trained’ and he reckoned he would now be even better on the turf. Just goes to show – don’t dump the dead wood till you have given Kimberley a shot!
