Cape breeder Dan de Wet must have breathed a sigh of relief when his yearling filly out of Gem Queen fell to a bid of R360k at the one-day Cape Regional yearling Sale at Sandringham. The price was more than double of what the second highest priced yearling fetched at a sale which had almost as many withdrawals and RNA’s as horses sold (70 vs. 84).
The top priced yearling was sired by Trippi, who offspring is much in the limelight in the US this year and whose purchase to stand in South Africa is looking more inspired by the day.
The dam of the youngster is a two-time winning sprinter by Damascus Gate, and comes from the ‘Susan’-family with which the De Wets have been successful. The buyer was Mike Bass, who trained the mare’s first foal Victoriana (Jet Master) to win 3 races and be Gr3 placed at 2.
The Cape Regional Sale averaged a shade under R48k (50k for colts, R46k for fillies) with 84 lots sold. The median price was R40k (45k for colts, 30k for fillies). These prices were in much the same ballpark as what was achieved at the Vintage Yearling Sale, held on the two following days. Prices suggest that many breeders made a loss on the selling of their yearlings, or are still saddled with stock which may be equally hard to sell later in the year.
