A Written Tycoon colt for $1.1m, topping the opening day of strong trade at the Inglis Melbourne Premier Sale on Monday.
The colt, out of the juvenile stakes winner Gtbe (Fastnet Rock) was eventually knocked down to agent James Harron and is the second highest lot sold in a Premier sale.
Harron was standing with Anthony Freedman and confirmed the father and son pair would train the colt,said he “oozed class’’ and “would have stacked up well at any sale this year’’.
“He’s a top-quality colt. His mother Gybe was very talented and obviously Written Tycoon is doing an amazing job,’’ Harron said.
“I thought he was a million dollar horse every day of the week from what we’ve seen this year. He was always going to demand a lot of attention.
“It’s very difficult to breed that type of horse, out of a Gimcrack winner by Fastnet Rock, off a really good breeder and farm, by Written Tycoon who’s doing an amazing job.
“He’s a horse we really loved and were really keen to take home, he oozed class’ and “would have stacked up well at any sale this year’’.
The day’s second-top lot was a Shalaa colt consigned by Yulong which sold late in the afternoon for $700,000 and yo be trained by Matt Laurie, who described the colt a “faultless specimen’’.
“I’ve got a handful of Shalaas at home that I’m excited to get to the track but this guy was just a very special colt,’’ the trainer said.
“You don’t see them like him every day. I had a feeling he would bring the big bucks and I suppose I wasn’t wrong.’’
Harris Li – the son-in-law of Yulong’s owner Mr Zhang, said: “We have been developing for three-to-five years here in Victoria now and results like this are fantastic, they make it all worthwhile.
“We want to thank the Victorian breeders, they support us a lot and do a great job themselves and everything is going so well here at the moment and we will do our best to continue supporting the whole industry here in Australia.
The day’s third-top lot and leading filly to date is a Zoustar out of Humma Mumma which sold to Redgum Racing’s John McArdle for $600,000.
She’s the fifth foal of Humma Mumma that McArdle has purchased and trained, which includes Saturday’s Listed Flemington winner Tycoon Humma.
“Yesterday’s result probably cost me a bit more money today but the prizemoney helped go towards this one too I suppose,’’ McArdle said.
“This filly, she’s just spectacular. I saw her as a foal, I saw her on the farm, I saw her a fair few times here this past week, it was probably the worst kept secret in the world that I wanted to buy her and I’m more than happy to secure her now and get her home.
“This sale, it just keeps improving. I’ve been coming here a long time and the vendors are just producing better and better-quality horses and people can come here and buy with confidence.’’
Inglis’ Managing Director Mark Webster was buoyed by the Day 1 trade.
“We always believed we had put together the right catalogue and all the foot traffic of inspection days and feedback we had received backed up our thoughts but it’s still nice to see the breeders and vendors getting the results they deserve as they have done today,’’ Webster said.
“To end day 1 with a clearance in the mid 80%’s and growing at a healthy average and record gross is yet another pointer to how lucky we all are to be involved in this industry in this part of the world.”
The Day 1 gross of $27,813,000 set a new individual day of turnover record for a Premier Yearling Sale at an average of $144,109 with a clearance rate of 83% and 42 yearlings selling for $200,000 or more, a 27% increase from the same time last year.
The sale continues Monday.