On the racing front 2009 has started encouragingly with 9 winners to date. Two runners look to have especial promise: All In Black (Don Eduardo – All in Grace) and Showcause (Giant’s Causeway – Showella). Also of note is our first ever winer in Japan – Earth’s Gravity (Galileo – Star Affair).
Mentioning the latter two stallions provides a neat link to this year’s yearling sales and the central theme of the fickleness of the market. Galileo is one of the very best stallions on the planet and yet down here his progeny have gained little recent recognition in the salering. Sure, Sadler’s Wells sons are not the easiest horses to mate with our commercial broodmare population but when a nicely-bred yearling by one of his major sons steps up to be sold, buyers seem unable to judge the quality of what is in front of them. A case in point is the Galileo – Star Affair colt passed in at only $150,000. Last year his full-brother made A$550,000 at the Sydney Easter Sale; both were outstanding types.
Another example of fickleness is the comparison of prices paid for well-bred and conformed K2 (and in some cases K1) fillies as opposed to the cheques written out for well-made K3 colts. Buyers had a wide selection of very acceptable fillies in the $20,000 to $25,000 range, but it was very difficult to purchase a nice K3 colt for similar money.
However, I was certainly very pleased with the quality of the lots which Cloughmore clients were able to purchase. These included the K1 Pins – American Cash filly and the K2 fillies by Savabeel – Montreal Gold, Southern Image – Ringside, Storm Creek – All In Grace, Postponed – All In Time, O’Reilly – Caught Kanudling and Shamardal – Carnegie Belle. As a further measure of the market, I had excluded some of these fillies from my original list of recommendations on the grounds that they were very likely to be too expensive; fortunately clients were able to receive further feedback by phone during the course of the sales. I had originally valued the Pins filly as being likely to make around $100,000; when I saw her go through the ring and be passed in for around half that figure I was able to recommend to a client that she was worth serious consideration.
The only A+ rated horse purchased by clients was the Pentire – Cabella colt. I rated him as one of the best two likely value for money colts in the Select Sale.
At the Festival Sale, clients were able to secure another four lots: colts by Thorn Park – Class Mistress and Falkirk – Durham Walk and fillies by Gold Mine – Super Wench and Zenno Rob Roy – Valentine Red.
In addition to the above lots, I also had a strong interest in following the fortunes of a number of yearlings bred as a result of my recommendations. Apart from the Galileo colt and fillies by Postponed and Storm Creek mentioned above, these horses included the Pentire – Our Tristajet, No Excuse Needed – Little Gem, Tale of the Cat – Superjet, Faltaat – All In Magic and Captain Rio – Golden Lights colts. The Keeper – Copper Flame and Spartacus – Oblige fillies rounded out the “draft”.
