This Lammerskraal Stud-bred filly by Vercingetorix out of the Gr 1 Garden Province Stakes-winning Western Winter mare Redberry Lane was the top priced lot on Day 2 at R3 million. (Candiese Lenferna Photography).
Bloodstock South Africa should be over the moon that this year’s BSA National Yearling Sale was only slighly down on last year, because the increase seen in the 2024 Sale was nothing short of phenomenal.
The 2024 Sale saw an increase in average from R442,672 in 2023 to R581,948 and this year saw a slight decrease to R563,852.
That is some going especially with the Sale having fallen slap bang in the middle of the Trump Tariffs saga.
There are some who say the median is a better indicator of the depth of a Sale than the average and the median was unchanged from last year to this year on R400,000.
‘Furthermore, there were less horses on this year’s Sale than last year’s but there were exactly the same number of seven figure lots, 43 last year and 43 this year.
The top price last year was R6,000,000 and there were three lots that were R5 million or above, whereas this year’s top lot was R4,250,000.
The number of lots sold decreased from 344 to 305, which mirrors the lament that there are not enough horses being bred in the country at present. The opening of direct travel to Europe proceeded last year’s blockbuster Sale and hopefully it will also lead to more horses being bred. Next year’s Sale numbers should give an indication of whether we are going in the right direction.
The Not Sold figure decreased from 20 last year to eleven this year, which was a positive change.
The aggregate decreased from R200,190,000 to R171,975,000.
The highest price was for a Rafeef colt called October Rush, who is out of the Var mare Miss October. This colt is a half-brother to two Gr 1 winners, Tempting Fate (Master Of My Fate) and October Morn (Trippi), and Form Bloodstock went to R4,250,0000 to secure him. The colt was vendored by Avontuur Estate but was bred by Avontuur in partnership with the late David Abery.
On Day 2 of the Sale the highest priced lot was R3 million for a Lammerskraal Stud-bred filly by Vercingetorix out of the Gr 1 Garden Province Stakes-winning Western Winter mare Redberry Lane.
She was purchased by Form Bloodstock.
Form Bloodstock in fact purchased all of the top 4 lots over the two days and were top buyers, their 15 purchases amounting to 27,075,000 for an average of R1,805,000.
The top vendor was Wilgerbosdrift with 20 lots fetching R20,075,000 for an average of R1,003,750.
Vercingetorix was the top sire as expected with 25 lots going for R35,875,000 for an average of R1,435,000.
It was interesting to see Rafeef in second place and he was also the only other sire to average above R1 million.
Freshman sire Hawwaam was third by aggregate, although reigning champion stallion Gimmerthegreenlight was third by average.
Malmoos proved popular and was prominent in the statistics.
