Buyer takes 19 in Australian sale

The big spender so far at the Magic Millions select yearling sale on Australia's Gold Coast hasn't been Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum or Coolmore Stud, the rivals who frequently head yearling buyers' lists worldwide. This week, Australia's most aggressive buyer has been Brisbane businessman Nathan Tinkler, represented by Roger Langley of Tinkler's Patinack Farm.

Patinack signed for 19 yearlings at Wednesday's third session, bringing its three-day total to 48 horses at a cost of about $12,061,170.

Tinkler, the 31-year-old former managing director of a coal-mining company, bought Wednesday's session-topper, an Exceed and Excel colt, for about $672,111. The bay colt is out of the New Zealand Group 2-placed mare Acupuncture. Willow Park Stud was the consignor.

Through Wednesday, the auction had sold 490 yearlings for about $68,786,570. The three-day cumulative average price was about $140,380.

American-based buyers on Wednesday included Asian Bloodstock Services, which purchased a Fastnet Rock-Tivoli Dancer colt for about $367,339, and yearling-to-juvenile reseller John Brocklebank, who picked up an Anabaa-Thong Special colt for about $110,201.