Photo: Brent Abrahams Photography
A total of R111 million was spent on yearling racehorse prospects at the Cape Premier Yearling Sales at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on 21 and 22 January.
The sale topper was an unnamed colt by the stallion Frankel offered by Klawervlei Stud, which sold for R4-million. According to Cape Thoroughbred Sales (CTS), 221 horses were sold in all.
CTS CEO Wéhann Smith told Farmer’s Weekly that the total sales figure was down from last year’s R155-million, but this was nonetheless better than anticipated in light of the absence of the largest local buyer, Mayfair Speculators.
This entity managed the racehorse interests of Markus Jooste, former CEO of Steinhoff International.
Jooste resigned in December following investigations into accounting irregularities at Steinhoff, and Mayfair Speculators was in the process of being liquidated.
Smith said that international interest in the sale had been at an all-time high, with 30% of the horses being bought by overseas buyers. He was particularly pleased that the Hong Kong Jockey Club had spent more than R6 million on young racing prospects. These were expected to be exported to Singapore.
The top-priced colt, by the stallion Frankel out of the mare Pale Moon Rising, was bought by Western Cape-based bloodstock consultant John Freeman of the Thoroughbred Group. He purchased the colt for his clients, Jack Mitchell and his daughter, Nancy.
Freeman was upbeat about the future of the colt, both on the race track and in breeding. “This is a horse bred here, and if he becomes a champion here, with the name Frankel on top of it, there’s no question he’d have stallion potential anywhere in the world,” he said.
He said the colt would now have an opportunity to grow out and was not expected to “even see the training stable” until this time next year.
Freeman said he had spent about R17 million on horses for clients during the sale.
“I have never been to a sale where I got so many of the horses on my shortlist. I was extremely successful at this sale,” he said.
Smith was equally upbeat about the quality of the horses on offer. He said there had been “hugely positive comments” from local and international buyers about the horses presented.
“The Hong Kong Jockey Club guys, for instance, said our horses are at the very least on par with what’s available in Australia and elsewhere in the world,” he said.
He also felt positive about developments in export protocols and hoped that 2018 would see good progress in this respect.
