The first two days of the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale was described thus in an Inglis press release, “An extraordinary two days of trade at Riverside has seen the Easter Yearling Sale rise against pre-sale trepidation and an industry-wide market correction to again assert itself as the ‘Best of the Best’ yearling sale in the Southern Hemisphere.”
That puts into perspective the feat of South African-bred Var mare Via Africa having the highest price lot on day two of the sale.
Her Silverdale Farm-bred filly by Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice) was sold to Arrowfield Stud – who stand the stallion – and Hermitage Thoroughbreds for a sale-topping $1.8m.
It was an extraordinary result for Silverdale, who had purchased the filly (pictured) for $600,000 as a weanling.
“What a result!’’ a stunned Rob Petith of Silverdale said.
“Everyone is over the moon. This is all the long days, late nights, early starts, this is what we do it for.
“When it all comes together it’s just fantastic and very satisfying. Easter is where you bring quality and in one word, that’s how you describe this filly. [Easter] was the obvious choice. We’ve been very fortunate, it’s all lined up, we’re all very proud.’’
Arrowfield’s John Messara described the Via Africa filly as “something special’’.
“She is by our stallion, we’re very proud of him and we are very hopeful about him and she was an absolute queen, a true athlete,’’ Messara said.
“I think she’s a particularly exciting prospect because of her physical characteristics – she had balance, she had scope, she had substance, she was a great mover, she had everything you look for.
“She’s a very valuable commodity, we paid a lot of money for her.’’
Via Africa has had two runners to date. Pleasant Endeavor, a gelding by Redoute’s Choice won four times over 1000m – 1200m, and In The Congo, a colt by Snitzel, is a Grade 1 winner who has been retired to stud.
Carry On Alice’s bay colt by Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice), sold on the first day of the sale by Arrowfield, went for Aus$1.1 million to China Horse Club / Newgate / Go Bloodstock / Trilogy.
Carry On Alice’s first foal is an unraced three-year-old.
