Nielsen Buys Top Lot at Cape Premier Yearling Sale

A recognizable buying combination returned to a familiar theme at the Jan. 16 Cape Premier Yearling Sale as Nic Jonsson and Stradivarius's owner, Bjorn Nielsen, were responsible for the three million rand (US$208,518) top price of the one-day event.

The Silvano colt (Lot 99), provisionally named I Want It All, was seemingly held in high regard by his breeders at Drakenstein Stud, and such high rolling will surely fuel the interest whenever his 2-year-old half sister Orange Bowl makes her debut for the Justin Snaith stable. She was picked up for 3.2 million rand 12 months ago.

The pair are the first and second foals of Giant's Causeway's Song of Happiness, a minor winner in South Africa who is out of the group 1-winning Captain Al mare Captain's Lover.

Jonsson, whose family has established a global company producing uniforms and work wear, is continuing a dynasty of ownership by his forefathers that stretches back well over a century. He is a partner in Snaith's Do It Again, last year's South African champion who landed the Vodacom Durban July (G1) among a slew of big-race wins but has not looked on his "A" game so far this term.

Nielsen, meanwhile, is a more recent arrival within the Snaith yard and had a first runner in his black and yellow silks at Kenilworth on  Friday.

"I've bought him with my friend Bjorn Nielsen. We bought the sister by Duke of Marmalade here last year, and she looks as if she might be quite special," Jonsson said. "We thought we might have to pay more for him, so we're quite happy. It's not a pedigree we see very often in South Africa, that Giant's Causeway-Storm Cat cross, and I did think he was the best of the sale."

Skiffington Backs New Boy Rafeef

Amanda Skiffington and her client Fiona Carmichael have been regular visitors to this sale, and they paid enormous faith in the progeny of Rafeef, a grade 1-winning sprinter for Mike de Kock whose first crop from Ridgemont Highlands were being offered.

A colt out of the Encosta de Lago mare Aneefa (Lot 145) was substantially the most expensive of a trio Skiffington had signed for when bidding concluded at 2.2 million rand ($152,913).

"We've had some luck with first-crop sires before, and after going through a lot of horses, we thought he was the best colt. He wasn't cheap, though," said the agent, who confirmed the youngster would be going into training with Cape Town-based Brett Crawford.

That price was equaled by Lot 174, the Gimmethegreenlight half brother to last weekend's L'Ormarins Queen's Plate (G1) winner Vardy, offered by Klawervlei Stud.

It only became apparent afterward that a bidding war had developed between two different partners in Adam Marcus's new star colt, with the stakes being raised by a table containing Bernard Kantor, and another with agent Christopher Santos, who was bidding on behalf of Jimmy Sarkis.

Santos, who appeared rather overwhelmed to have won the tussle, said: "I only got a late call about him, as Jimmy Sarkis owns some of Vardy and, I believe, some of the mare. He was a strong colt, and after Vardy did what he did, I knew that he would be popular."

It seems most likely Marcus will receive the young sibling.

There was also some international interest from another jurisdiction through sustained bidding for Avontuur Thoroughbreds' Trippi filly, who is a half sister to Miss Frankel, the first of the Juddmonte superstar's progeny to appear, and win, in South Africa.

She was picked up for 1.65 million rand ($114,685) by New Zealand-based Ric Wylie, along with an earlier 600,000 rand for a Visionaire filly who traced back to wonderful Australian producer Barkada.

"They've been bought for Australia, but they'll be going the long way, with a quiet summer in England being broken in," Wylie said. "It was my client's idea to try to buy some fillies here, and they were two of our best five."

Slow Progress

The session-topping colt cost less than his female half sister, and that was a fair indication indication at the halfway stage that trade was fairly slow.

It took until Lot 37 to break the seven-figure barrier with the offering of Avontuur's Live My Life, a daughter of Gimmethegreenlight whose third dam is Susurration, a smart miler for John Gosden.

After reaching a figure of  1.1 million rand, the filly was knocked down to Derek Brugman, who signed the docket under Silver Ripples for an undisclosed client and trainer.

"I thought she was one of the best three or four fillies in the sale. A bit of a standout," Brugman said. "Gimmethegreenlight is now stepping up behind some of our captains of industry, like Dynasty and Silvano, and hopefully she has a nice future."

The final figures would make somber reading for most vendors, particularly as they spiraled downward in the preceding year. There were only five seven-figure lots, and turnover was recorded at 56.49 million rand ($3,923,440), down 32%.

The average slipped to 326,531 rand, a decrease by 25%. The median dropped 16.7% to 250,000 rand, and 173 of the 216 lots sold at a clearance rate of 80%.

"The figures are obviously disappointing, but we knew we were operating in a tough economic environment at the moment," Cape Thoroughbred Sales CEO Wehann Smith said. "It's a huge positive that there was some new international money, and there was still a three million rand top lot. We'll just have to revisit our approach and see what we have to do to make things work."