A colt from the second crop of G1 Melbourne Cup winner Americain (Dynaformer) brought A$175,000 from Singaporean Thomas Loke to top Session II of the Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale on Wednesday. The day marked the fourth and final day of trade for the auction.
After three days of increased figures during Session I of the sale, Session II returned marginal declines. With 152 sold from 182 offered, the buyback rate of 16% was up from 12% last year. The average dipped 6.2% to A$42,868, while the median was down 5% at A$38,000. Gross receipts of A$6,516,000 were down slightly from last year's A$6,718,000 for the session, despite slightly more horses being sold.
Speaking about the Premier sale as a whole, Inglis's Victorian Bloodstock Manager Simon Vivian described the sales as “a great success all round.”
“Vendors left happy, buyers left happy, there was a great atmosphere on every day with great crowds, and to set a new record with the A$1.4-million colt on day two was fantastic,” he said.
The session-topping Americain colt (lot 624) is the second foal out of Reveal The Goddess (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}), a winner over 2400 metres. His second dam is the New Zealand champion stayer Honor Babe (NZ) (Honor Grades). Loke had to see off trainer Tony McEvoy to secure the colt, but the pair later struck a deal to team up, with McEvoy to train the youngster.
“I approached the buyer through his representative and congratulated him, told him I thought the horse looked exactly like Zabeel,” McEvoy explained. “He's obviously out of a Zabeel mare and I was at Lindsay Park when Zabeel came through as a yearling and this horse just kept giving me flashbacks of him. As it turns out, the owner wanted to keep the horse in Australia and didn't have a trainer, so after a short discussion they offered me the horse to train, which I'm so excited by.”
“You won't see him run at two,” McEvoy added. “I'll take him home, give him time and develop him into a Melbourne Cup winner.”
Session II's second top lot was also scooped up by Singapore interests, with J Sung going to A$145,000 for a son of Turffontein (Aus) (lot 585). Sun Bloodstock, a big spender during Session I, returned to action to pick up a first-crop son of its Sun Stud resident sire Fighting Sun (Aus) (lot 559) for A$115,000.
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