Hong Kong buyers to fore at record-setting Easter Sale
It took no time at all for Hong Kong buyers to make their presence felt at yesterday's third round of the William Inglis Australian Easter Sale in Sydney, with a half-brother to Elegant Fashion causing a Hong Kong bidding war.
The colt, by Precision's sire Anabaa, was the first lot into the ring and it was obvious from the outset that Elegant Fashion's trainer, David Hayes, was the man to beat.
However, after a frenetic duel, Hayes' final bid of A$725,000 was trumped by that of an undisclosed Hong Kong buyer. 'He was a lovely horse and I would have loved to have got him,' Hayes said, 'but we extended ourselves to A$725,000 and that was our final bid. We had to let him go.'
Hayes' fellow Australian, John Moore, denied being the mystery buyer. 'I agree he was a very nice colt but he was a bit too expensive for me,' Moore said. 'For that sort of money, I'd prefer to buy a proven horse like Tiber, where there's a lot less risk.'
Identifiable Hong Kong buyers bought 23 lots across the three days of the sale, with a combined outlay of A$5,970,000 ($33.3 million). But there may well have been more, hidden behind the names of the plethora of bloodstock agents that worked this major sale.
The most prolific Hong Kong buyer was Causeway Bay agent Willie Leung, who signed for seven lots totaling A$1,945,000. Leung's top-priced purchase yesterday was a colt by first-season sire Fusaichi Pegasus, winner of the 2000 Kentucky Derby, for A$500,000.
The Jockey Club bought two lots, which will both be prepared for the International Sale in December. The first was a colt by Fusaichi Pegasus from Impulsive Rhythm, secured cheaply early in the sale for only A$100,000 - equal to the stallion's service fee in 2001 and less than half the average price for the sale.
The Club's second buy was an Anabaa colt from a half-sister to champion sprinter turned leading sire Snippets, for A$450,000.
The final figures were Australian records. A total of 368 lots changed hands for an aggregate of A$75,477,500, with an average price of A$205,102.
The average was up an incredible 41.3 per cent on last year's A$145,139, itself a record, while the aggregate was an 11.8 per cent improvement on the previous record of A$67.5 million, established in 2001.
However, the clearance rate of 81 per cent was a bit disappointing, given that the sale played to the strongest market in its history.
Reg Inglis, the auction company's managing director, echoed his statements from earlier in the week: 'The real star this Easter was the buying bench, which is the largest and most diverse we have ever attracted to this sale.'
Yesterday's top price was the A$1.5 million given for a chestnut colt by Japan's late champion sire Sunday Silence from the American-bred mare Bright Finish, a daughter of the Nureyev stallion Zilzal.
The colt was knocked down to Rosehill trainer Tim Martin on behalf of an unnamed syndicate.
Martin is the trainer of dual Group One-winning Danehill colt Exceed And Excel, bought last month for a reported A$22 million by Sheikh Mohammed's Darley Stud.
