Rhyds Ideal fetches £48,000 at Brightwells Sale

Builth Wells, UK – Following on from the trend at York Sale, it was the yearlings imported in utero from Harrisburg that commanded the highest prices at the 26th annual Brightwells Standardbred Sale.

RHYDS IDEAL (American Ideal-Sandfly Hanover-The Panderosa) topped the yearling colts, selling for £48,000 ($74,000 US) to David Morton, Scotland. Sandfly Hanover is also the dam of Mosquito Blue Chip (1.49.3), NYSS 2YO Fillies Champion, and was purchased by John and Grethe Wright, Rhyds Stud, north Wales in 2013.

OAKWOOD DRAGONESS (Dragon Again-Abbey Won-The Panderosa) was the highest priced yearling filly, selling for £15,000 to Simon Elvin, north Wales. It is understood that the filly is owned by an international syndicate including, amongst others, World Champion driver Dexter Dunn, New Zealand trainer Cran Dalgety, Australian sports presenter Gareth Hall, as well as the filly's vendors Oakwood Stud and Mr Elvin himself.

Other notable purchases include OAKWOOD CISCO (c. Kikikolt-Olympic Sign-Life Sign) who sold for £13,000 to D Gibbons, England; TEATIME PREACHER (f. The Preacher Pan-Teatime Hall-Blissful Hall – a half-sister to 2YO British record holder Stamp Hill) who sold for £10,000 to A Flower, England; and RHYDS DECOY (c. Hasty Hall-CPR-Life Sign – a full brother to Rhyds Destiny, Rhyds Desire, Rhyds Design and Rhyds Topaz, all winners of major British stakes races) who sold for £9,000 to the BKB Syndicate.

Of 54 entries, 51 horses were presented for sale on the day (94%), with 40 of these sold under the auctioneer's hammer (78%). The total sale value was £166,700, giving an average across the broodmares, yearlings, 2YO and racehorses categories of £4,168.

Excluding the highest-priced yearling, the average for the 40 horses sold through the ring was £3,044. The average yearling price was £5,243 (excluding the highest-priced yearling, this was £3,659), with 28 of the 34 yearlings sold (82%).

In comparison with the 2014 sale, which included the record-breaking sale amount of £51,000 for Rhyds Megastar (Hasty Hall-Tonda Star-Albert Albert), there were 74 entries, 67 of which were presented for sale on the day (91%). Of these, 50 were sold through the ring (75%) with the total sale value amounting to £145,570. The average sale value across all categories was £2,911 (excluding the highest-priced yearling this was £1,930).

The average yearling price was £3,968 (excluding the highest-priced yearling which is comparable to the 2015 sale, the average yearling price was £2,543), with 34 of the 43 yearlings sold (79%).

As predicted the 2014 sale results would prove to be anomalous when analysing the 2015 sale results, however in terms of the highest priced yearlings the results have almost mirrored those of last year. The top-selling colt in 2014 was sold for £51,000, with this year's colt selling for £48,000; the top-selling filly in 2014 sold for £18,000, with this year's filly selling for £15,000. It has therefore been easier than anticipated to draw a conclusion from this year's sale when analysing both years together.

The number of yearlings produced for sale at public auction has decreased from 2014 to 2015, which reflects the reduction in breeding figures across the UK and Ireland.

This has again led to demand outweighing supply, which has resulted in sellers receiving overall higher prices for their stock. It is interesting to note that the number of yearlings sold for less than £1,000 has dropped from 9 (26%) to 3 (11%), which suggests that although the top end of the market has decreased slightly, the bottom end of the market has seen an overall improvement. Despite there being less horses presented for sale in 2015 compared to 2014, the overall sale amount increased by £21,130.

It was encouraging to see that the market appears to be on the rise again following both Standardbred sales and this must be attributed at least in part to the rise of the profile of juvenile races across Great Britain and Ireland.

We would like to wish all those who purchased horses at York and Builth Wells and the best of luck with their new acquisitions and hope to see many of them at the races in 2016.

By Sarah Thomas, for Harnesslink.com