Australasian Classic continues to break records

It is not unusual for people in the harness racing industry to have a bit of a gloomy outlook in New Zealand with all the difficult issues they are facing but you would never guess it by the mood at the Australasian Classic Yearling Sale at Karaka today.

From the time the first lot entered the ring and was sold for $42,500, the tempo just did not let up all day and well presented and bred yearlings sold for huge money all day.

Present a yearling with a fault or by a sire that is not top shelf and the message from the buying bench was clear.

We are not interested.

It also appears that a handful of vendors in our opinion looked to have burnt their bridges with a lot of the buying bench at todays sale.

Three vendors appeared to be singled out with their stock fetching way less than others of a similar type in the sale.

The three vendors stock in the main was well bred and was well presented but all three vendors struggled all day to get bids anywhere close to their value and ending up taking a lot of them home.

When we approached quite a few of the prospective buyers today, the answer was pretty consistent.

They were adamant that the three vendors in question had repeatedly taken horses home rather than meet the market at previous sales over a long period and they just weren't going to waste their time looking at their yearlings or bid on them.

Not quite sure how you resolve the issue but it is something the PGG are going to have to look at because it is holding the sale back without a doubt. 

Even with that going on, the Australasian Classic Yearling Sale broke all records going for the fourth year in a row.

*Turnover has risen by over $1,000,000 each year for the last three years.

*Over the last four years, the average has risen 65% in that time.

*Todays average of $45,037 was an increase of just under 8% on last year and a new record for the Australasian Classic Sale.

*85% of the yearlings were sold on the day and several more are under offer so the clearance rate    is superb.

*Colts averaged a staggering $52,073 while the fillies trailed behind at $34,543, but both figures are still great for a standardbred sale.

The leading stallions had a fantastic sale but the big surprise was how Art Major completely out muscled Bettors Delight by over $22,000 on the colts average and nearly $20,000 overall.

Bettor's Delight

(Sold 30)    Overall average $49,266          Colts average  $53,343               Fillies average $44,571

Art Major

 (Sold 15)   Overall average $69,553          Colts average $75,458                Fillies average $45,833  

Other stallions who had large drafts of note or large averages were:

Mach Three

Sold 20      Overall average  $32,388            Colts average  $38,083                Fillies average $25,200

Somebeachsomewhere

(Sold 5)      Overall average $93,000-            Colts average $85,000               Fillies average $125,000

American Ideal

(Sold 15)    Overall average $ 34,066            Colts average $42,500               Fillies average $24,428  

Rocknroll Hanover  

(Sold 7)      Overall average   $40,785            Colts average $44,125               Fillies average $36,333

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