Cape Sale Kicks Off Tonight

CAPE SALE KICKS OFF TONIGHT 
By Kelsey Riley 
The Southern Hemisphere yearling sales circuit moves to South Africa today for the two-session Cape Premier Yearling Sale in Cape Town. With a boutique catalogue of 202 youngsters on offer, shoppers are sure to have plenty to choose from, with both local and international leading sires represented as well as some of the best female families in the book. 
The Cape Premier Yearling Sale–as well as its parent company, Cape Thoroughbred Sales–is still very much in its infancy, as it stages just its fourth renewal this year. The sale’s flagship horse has thus far been Soft Falling Rain (SAf)(National Assembly), South Africa’s Group 1-winning Champion 2-Year-Old who also took last year’s G2 Godolphin Mile and G3 UAE 2000 Guineas in Dubai and G2 Joel S. in England. Soft Falling Rain was purchased from the first edition of the sale by Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum for R350,000 (about US$33,000). His half-brother by leading local sire Dynasty (SAf) (lot 89) is one of this year’s highlights on paper, as are lot 53, a Giant’s Causeway filly out of Captain’s Lover (SAf) (Captain Al {SAf}), a Group 1-winner in South Africa, Group 3 winner in France and listed winner in the U.S.; lot 62, a son of Captain Al who is the third foal out of dual South African champion Dancer’s Daughter (GB) (Act One {GB}), whose second foal sold for R2 million here last year; ieldlot 124, a Jay Peg (SAf) colt out of a winning half-sister to dual South African Horse of the Year Variety Club (SAf) (Var), and lot 143, a Trippi half-brother to multiple Group 1 winner Jackson (SAf) (Dynasty {SAf}). 
Adrian Todd, Chief Operating Officer of Cape Thoroughbred Sales, noted that refining of the catalogue and a focus on quality has produced one of the best books yet for Cape Premier Yearling Sale. 
“We’re very satisfied with the quality of the catalogue this year; we think it’s one of the strongest catalogues we’ve ever had,” Todd said. “We had quite a larger number of horses when [the sale] first started. We purposely trimmed it down to make it elite and high quality. I think the vendors have also changed the way they select their horses and prep them to get them ready for January. Every year it’s been an improvement to the next level.” 
The Cape Premier Yearling Sale is unique in that it takes place at the Cape Town International Convention Center in the middle of one of the world’s most vibrant and bustling cities. For two days each January the convention center is transformed, as portable stalls are erected, a stage brought in to serve as a sales ring and tables set up to accommodate shoppers in a theater-like atmosphere, with food and wine flowing freely as bidding escalates. 
In their spare time, visitors will have the chance to take in the sights of Cape Town, one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations. Cape Town recently topped the New York Times ‘52 Places to Go in 2014′, and indeed it is a city bursting with colorful social and cultural experiences, as well as excellent dining and shopping. 
The sale will also surely receive a boost by the performance of South African horses abroad. Despite the disadvantage of facing lengthy quarantine periods due to the endemic African Horse Sickness, South African horses continue to thrive on the global stage, and 2013 was an especially fruitful year. It started with a pair of victories on the Dubai World Cup undercard by Shea Shea (SAf) (National Emblem {SAf}) in the G1 Al Quoz Sprint and Soft Falling Rain in the G2 Godolphin Mile, and ended with the latter’s victory in the G2 Joel S. in September. In between, Shea Shea was beaten just a quarter-length and a half-length, respectively, in Royal Ascot’s G1 King’s Stand S. and York’s G1 Nunthorpe S., andThe Apache (SAf) (Mogok) hit the line first in the 
GI Arlington Million, only to be demoted for drifting out on Real Solution (Kitten’s Joy) in the final strides. 
Todd noted that these types of performances should make South African horses even more appealing to the Premier Sale’s international buyers. 
“Given the performances of South African horses abroad, I think more and more South African pedigrees are appealing in their own right to international buyers,” he said. 
The Cape Premier Yearling Sale has been a popular destination for international buyers since its inception, something that Todd noted doesn’t look likely to change this year. 
“We’re more than satisfied with the interest shown by buyers, both local and international,” he said. “There are a number of international buyers that have been attending our sales for years and they have returned, and there are also some interesting new faces here.” 
The sale starts at 6 p.m. local time tonight and tomorrow evening. For the full catalogue, visit www.capethoroughbredsales.com. 

A Million Reasons to Buy… 
Cape Thoroughbred Sales stunned the South African industry in late October when unveiling its plan to host a $1 million race, The CTS Million Dollar, in January 2016 for graduates of its Cape Premier Yearling Sale and March Yearling Sale. The CTS Million Dollar, to be contested over 1400 meters at Kenilworth in January, will be the richest race ever contested in Africa, the most valuable race on the continent until now being the R3.5 million (about US$324,000) G1 Durban July. The winner will receive $500,000, and the vendor of the winning horse will get a $10,000 bonus. 
Cape Thoroughbred Sales Chief Operating Officer Adrian Todd noted that it has always been a goal of the organization to boost the sales industry in South Africa, and that’s how the idea for the CTS Million Dollar was born. 
“Ever since the conception of the Premier Yearling Sale and the advent of Cape Thoroughbred Sales, we’ve always tried and strived to take sales in South Africa to the next level,” Todd explained. “We’re always looking for new, innovative ideas to improve the market for both the buyers and the vendors, and I think this is something that will benefit both. We came up with the idea to push everything to the next level–to attract the highest quality horses and create added incentive for buyers to buy at our sales. It was an idea we had to try to lift the game, so to speak.” 
Todd pointed out that despite fluctuations in exchange rates, the race will always be worth $1 million. The South African Rand, which hit five-year lows earlier this month, currently sits at R10.85/$1. 
Of the decision to make the race 1400 meters, Todd said they felt it was the distance that would suit the greatest number of the sale’s graduates. 
“I believe 1400 meters is the distance that gives the majority of horses a chance,” he said. “If you had it at a mile, you would be excluding a lot of horses. If you had it at 1200 meters, you would also be excluding a lot of horses. I think 1400 meters is the distance that gives more opportunity for the broad base of horses that are in the sale.” 
To qualify their purchases for the race, buyers at the Cape Premier Yearling Sale must opt to pay an R5,000 (US$461) fee per horse at the time of purchase. At the March Sale, it will cost both the buyer and vendor R5,000 per horse. From 2015 onwards, the buy-in at the Premier Sale for both buyer and vendor will be R15,000 (US$1,385) per horse, while at the March Sale it will be R10,000 (US$923) for both the buyer and vendor. 

Out of America… 
Klawervlei Stud has a history of cultivating some of the best bloodlines in South Africa. The farm, situated North East of Cape Town, has bred and raised nine Group 1 winners, including G1 Cape Derby winner Big City Life (SAf) (Casey Tibbs {Ire}) and G1 Al Quoz Sprint hero Shea Shea (SAf) (National Emblem {SAf}). In 2010, however, the farm kicked off a new venture that saw the Klawervlei team travel to Keeneland November, where they purchased four in-foal mares. After letting the mares foal out in the U.S., Klawervlei bred them back on Southern Hemisphere time–three to Distorted Humor and one to Speightstown–before shipping them back to South Africa to foal. The resulting foals are being offered over the next two evenings at the Cape Premier Yearling Sale. They are lot 73, a filly by Distorted Humor out of a half-sister to G1 Ascot Gold Cup winner Estimate (Ire) (Monsun {Ger}) purchased for $150,000; lot 144, a Distorted Humor colt out of Ms Blue Blood (A.P. Indy), a half-sister to GI Kentucky Derby winner Monarchos bought for $190,000; lot 178, a son of Speightstown out of Rubicat (Storm Cat), a half-sister to multiple graded stakes winner Strut theStage (Theatrical) from the family of champion and Grade I winner Chief Bearhart (Chief’s Crown) and Grade I winner Private Zone (Macho Uno) purchased for $200,000, and lot 184, a Distorted Humor filly from the family of British Group 1 winners Duke of Marmalade (Ire) (Danehill) and Ruler of the World (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), bought for $110,000. 
Explaining the farm’s reasons for deciding to import American-bred mares, John Koster, Managing Director and part-owner of Klawervlei, said: “American female lines have done extremely well in South Africa. When you look at America, it’s all about the speed, so that was the reason we went there that specific year, was to get as many American lines as we could.” 
Koster explained that when the mares traveled to South Africa, they were placed in Klawervlei’s state-registered pregnant mare quarantine facility, where they foaled down. They have since produced foals by South African stallions, and the results have been such that the Klawervlei team returned to Keeneland November again last year and bought five more mares to run through the same program. 
“The whole idea is to boost the South African broodmare band,” Koster said. “We can’t shuttle our stallions, so the only way we can really improve our broodmare genes is to buy these mares from overseas. We’ve bought a lot of mares in Europe and we’ve decided to go the American route, and it’s really paid off when you look at the specimens we’ve got and the female lines we’ve been able to get.” 
“All four are really, really nice specimens,” he added. “It doesn’t often happen in this country that one can get purebred American yearlings at a sale like this, so they’ve attracted a lot of interest from the international people especially that have been coming down here.” 
The Klawervlei youngsters are not the only ones in the catalogue representing U.S.-based sires. Giant’s Causeway is represented by lot 53, listed above, and Tapit is the sire of lot 97, filly out of the U.S.-bred Granny Leah (Orientate), a daughter of South African champion Harry’s Charm (SAf).