Sunday Silence leads sale

LEXINGTON, Ky. - As expected, progeny by Japan's perennial leading sire, Sunday Silence, led selling at the Japan Racing Horse Association's two-day July foal sale in Hokkaido. Six foals by Sunday Silence, 1989's Horse of the Year, brought $1 million or more, including a $2,791,667 colt on Tuesday that was the auction's top seller.

The top price easily coasted by last year's high price of $1,507,936, also paid for a Sunday Silence colt.

Teruya Yoshida's Shadai Farm sold the sale-topper, a Sunday Silence colt out of the Nijinsky II mare Dancing Key. Takaya Shimakawa was the buyer. A bay colt, he is full brother to Japanese champions Dance Partner and Dance in the Dark and a half-brother to Japanese stakes-winner Air Dublin.

The two-day auction grossed $45,330,000 for 186 lots sold, resulting in an average price of $243,750. Compared with American figures from last year's auction, where 185 lots brought $40,998,412, gross rose 11 percent this year. The average climbed 10 percent from last year's figure of $221,587.