Price record tumbles at Melbourne yearling sale

A fresh Australian record for a harness racing yearling sold at auction of $270,000 was established for the Captaintreacherous colt from the top racemare Carla’s Pixel on the opening day of the Nutrien Equine Melbourne Yearling Sale at Oaklands Junction.

Offered by Shannon and Megan Nixon, of Nixon Bloodstock, Bacchus Marsh, the striking bay colt was purchased by Adelaide couple Terry and Rosalie Cluse, clients of Nathan Jack’s Shepparton stable.

The colt is the first foal out of Carlas Pixel, a winner of 19 races and $480,128 and who took a record of 1:49.5 winning the 2018 NSW Ladyship Mile.

In demand sire Captaintreacherous had three of the seven youngsters to reach six figures at the sale.

A Captaintreacherous colt from the dual Group winner Bamako Mali 1:55.6 ($259,309), consigned by Benstud Standardbreds, fetched $170,000 on the bid of Bannnockburn horseman Geoff Webster, while another colt, from the Listed winner and multiple Group 1 placegetter Perfect Sense 1:55.5 ($143,530), offered by Bruce Edwards’ Durham Park Standardbreds, was secured by Summit Bloodstock for $100,000.

A pair of colts by leading sire Bettor’s Delight and both offered by Benstud Standardbreds were the third and fourth highest priced youngsters.

A Bettor’s Delight colt from the Mach Three mare Annalise, a half-sister to the Group 3 winner Petillante 1:53.4 ($183,640), was bought by Nutrien Bendigo as agent for $160,000, while a colt from the Breeders Crown runner-up Angel Of Arts 1:55.5 ($100,600) realised $150,000 on the bid of Luke and Belinda McCarthy’s Cobbitty Equine Farm.

Two trotting yearlings – both offered by Pat Driscoll’s Yabby Dam Farms – topped the second day at $100,000 each.

The Father Patrick colt out of the French-bred mare Destinee Jenilou 1:59.4 ($109,755) was bought by Jim Connelly’s Kyvalley Racing, while a filly by Volstead out of the Group winning Love You mare Egee Money Fra (1:58.1) was knocked down to Jess Tubbs, of Larajay Farms.

A Muscle Hill colt from the American-bred mare Real Babe 1:52.4 ($386,103), offered by Emilio and Mary Rosati, was passed-in for $160,000.

The sale grossed $6,163,000 for 192 lots sold at an average price of $32,098 compared to last year’s sale which grossed $4,062,500 for 111 lots at an average of $36,599, a decrease of 12 per cent on average price.

A total of 137 pacing yearlings grossed $4,717,500 for 137 lots sold and the trotters aggregated $1,445,500 for 55 lots.

The demand for colts who averaged out at $39,604 far outweighed the fillies ($22,945).

The clearance rate for the colts was a creditable 77 per cent, however the overcall clearance was only 67 per cent.

The Best Presented Awards were: Pacing colt: Art Major-Miss Celebrity (Alabar Bloodstock); Pacing filly: Captain Crunch-Nicki Rocks (Rhiannon Park); Trotting colt: Tactical Landing-Maple Eve Phoenix (Benstud Standardbreds), Trotting filly: Father Patrick-Front And Square (Rhiannon Park).

The American-bred Kabbalah Karen B Ca and Elusive Charm have won the Harness Breeders Victoria Broodmare of the Year awards for 2022 for pacers and trotters respectively.

Kabbalah Karen B, who is owned by Lauriston Bloodstock’s Bill and Anne Anderson, left three winners for the year in Ladies In Red (Queen of the Pacific and The Rising Sun), Our Little Jet and Perfect In Pink.

Elusive Charm, owned by Cranbourne identity David Scott, produced four winners in Cognati (The Redwood), Locksley Lover (Vicbred 4YO Final), Melpark Magic and Theyallendiny.

Cant Top This, the stunning winner of the $30,000 Ararat Pacing Cup and the three-year-old filly Delightfull Tammy, who won on the same card, were both bred by Ballarat breeders Bruce and Vicki Edward and are closely related.

Cant Top This, a six-year-old gelding by Rock N Roll Heaven, is out of the American-bred mare Tamara Hall USA, also the grand-dam of Delightfull Tammy (by Bettor’s Delight).

The trotting sire Peak, who is standing at Shane Murphy’s Mountainview Stud at Ballarat, left two important winners last week.

Jungle Eyes, a four-year-old gelding, won the $25,500 NSW Trotters Foundation Final at Menangle and Peakz Luck NZ took out the Gawler Hambletonian.

Actually, Peak is headed for his best season ever with 20 individual winners and almost $300,000 in progeny earnings in Australia and NZ to date.

by Peter Wharton, for Harness Racing Victoria