South Africa’s leading bloodstock consultant and stallion manager John Freeman declared the two days of the National Yearling Sale this past week a positive and encouraging experience, with quality bargains there for the taking in a genuine buyer’s market.
Our best established nationally representative sale was held on Thursday and Friday at the TBA Sales Complex in Germiston, back in its traditional slot after a pandemic enforced late July schedule in 2020.
John Freeman – praised resilience of racing and breeding folk
An aggregate of R102 540 000 was achieved from the 462 catalogued lots this week, reflecting an average of R276 388 and a median of R200 000.
Given the extraordinary circumstances prevailing last year, where 138 lots were withdrawn from a similarly sized catalogue, traditional year-on-year yardsticks are largely academic, with the sale average down from a 2020 mark of R295 136, and the median jumping 14% from R175 000 to R200 000.
This clearly reflected the absence of the skewing impact at the top end of ‘telephone number’ price tags.
The straight-shooting Freeman, who was thrilled with his 27 lots purchased for just over R16 million, confirmed to the Sporting Post that ‘there was no top end of the market this year’.
Thirteen yearlings were sold for R1 million and more.
In 2020 the high water mark was set at R7 million, while in 2019 it reached R9 million.
On Friday, Form Bloodstock paid R2,8 million for Klawervlei’s lot 351, who was to end as the 2021 Nationals chart-topper.
The striking grey Gimmethegreenlight colt – pictured below – is out of the multiple Gr1 winning Captain Al champion All Is Secret -a full-sister to Gr1 winner The Secret Is Out.
The Gimmethegreenlight sale topper (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
Gimmethegreenlight and Form Bloodstock were again the partners in the top-selling filly of the sale, when the hammer fell at R1,1 million for Varsfontein product Bonifacio.
She is out of a stakes placed Fort Wood half-sister to top sprinter Erik The Red and the Hong Kong based Gr1 Medallion second Varallo.
“It was good to have the Hong Kong Jockey Club buying (they spent R4,9 million on 3 lots). But with our onerous export restrictions they could only look at yearlings who were tested for pyro. There really was no top end as such to the market, and the bottom end again saw little appetite,” added John Freeman, who said that he felt for the breeders as he had purchased top quality horseflesh at below what he saw as the real worth in many cases.
On the sire front, the traditional balance of power is evening out in what appears to be a transitional phase of a changing of the guard.
Varsfontein’s Gimmethegreenlight was in high demand, with his 50 yearlings grossing R20 960 000 at an average of R419 200.
Highest average in the multiple sales range was the deceased champion Dynasty, whose 13 lots grossed R7 580 000 for an average tag of R583 088.
The now retired Maine Chance champion Silvano saw his 25 babies average R445 000, grossing R11 125 00.
The Ridgemont Highlands team will be pleased with the demand for their fast rising new ‘top gun’ Rafeef.
The Gr1 Computaform Sprint winning son of Redoute’s Choice has had the market talking for a while now and turned heads as his 20 grossed R6 355 000 at an average of R317 750.
John Freeman commended the spirit and atmosphere prevailing at the sale.
“The resilience and camaraderie of our racing and breeding folk is amazing. These are difficult days, but the focus of much of the discussion was on the quality of the yearlings and better times ahead. This sale was a rebuilding block in many respects, and I feel that overall we can be very satisfied collectively.”
The veteran bloodstock man cited an example of a 3yo he had syndicated as a stallion in December 2020.
“Breeders are whacked and exhausted at that time. And any idea of how your investment is performing is really five years away. But they snapped the shares up with vigour. We are all in this for the love of it and for the long run. That’s why we must remain positive and focussed on only going forward.”
The burden at the current time is being carried by South African breeders who started on the road to this week’s catalogue when Covid-19 and its impact on the world was still in the realm of science fiction.
And while it’s a testing time for the breeders, what with the future of racing very hazy and much still in the air, buyers have stepped forward bravely.
It must be the hope of every horseracing fan, including the breeders who may have sold under the gun, that this week’s buyers go on to great things and have fun with their acquisitions.
The next major BSA sale is the KZN Yearling Sale in Durban July week.
