Inglis Easter yearling sale: Fastnet Rock colt paces continued strong trade

Led by another superlative session topper, Wednesday’s trade at the Inglis Easter yearling sale continued the strong momentum established during the opening session, as the select auction held in Sydney, Australia wrapped up its second of three sessions with two-day totals well above last year’s sale.

A colt by Fastnet Rock sold for about $4.22 million ($4 million Australian currency), the second-highest price paid for a yearling in Australian auction history. The price trails only the record $5 million Australian price established during the opening session by a Redoute’s Choice half-brother to Horse of the Year Black Caviar. The previous record of $3 million Australian was set by horses at prior Inglis Easter sales in 2006 and 2007.

Through two sessions, Inglis reported 249 yearlings sold for about $79.4 million ($75.3 million Australian), a 32 percent increase compared with the first two sessions in 2012, where 258 hips sold for about $60.3 million. The average price of about $318,840 jumped 36 percent from a year ago, and the median of about $210,840 spiked 18 percent. The buyback rate of 25 percent through two sessions marked a slight increase over last year’s 23 percent.

“To eclipse the [top price] record in two days is a great thrill, but we are also stoked with the depth across all buying levels at the sale evidenced by the 18 percent increase in median from last year,” Inglis managing director Mark Webster said. Webster also added that 14 hips from the Tuesday session were privately sold after official trading ended, totaling about $2.05 million.

Wednesday’s top-selling Fastnet Rock colt was purchased by Emirates Park Pty. Ltd. and will race for a partnership between Nasser Lootah and Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al-Maktoum. They outbid Coolmore, which stands Fastnet Rock at its Australian division. The colt is out of the Group 1-winning Hurricane Sky mare River Dove, and is from the family of Group 2-winning sprinters One World and First Command among several other group stakes winners.

“I just loved the athleticism of him, the way he walked, he’s got the best temperament and nothing upsets him,” Emirates Park CEO Trevor Lobb said of the colt. “He’s one of those horses you don’t see often at a yearling sale, and [Fastnet Rock] is the Australian stallion.”

A daughter of Fastnet Rock secured the second-highest price on Wednesday, as James Bester Bloodstock went to about $1.63 million ($1.55 million Australian) for a bay filly out of 2008 Spinaway Stakes winner Mani Bhavan. That Storm Boot mare also won the Adirondack Stakes and is a half-sister to this year’s San Felipe Stakes winner Hear the Ghost, who recently was taken off the Kentucky Derby trail due to injury.

The Inglis Easter sale was set to conclude on Thursday with a final session, beginning at 11 a.m. local time.

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