By Sarah Whitelaw
The 2013 Cape Premier Yearling Sale is set to get underway Jan. 24. The two-day event starts at 17:00 (SAST) and is the first South African sale to take place in 2013.
As it has been since its inception, the Premier Sale will be held in the Cape Town International Convention Centre, located in the heart of Cape Town. The 2012 sale sold 268 horses for a gross of R107,835,000 (US$12,178,000) and an average of R402,369 ($45,440). Compared with the 2011 sale, 25.2% more horses were sold in 2012, which contributed to the average sliding 21.8% from $58,101.
The Premier Sale began in 2011, and graduates include champion Soft Falling Rain, by National Assembly—an impressive recent winner of the UAE 2000 Guineas Trial, and a leading contender for some of Dubai's classic races.
Other talented performers to have emerged from the inaugural sale include grade I winners The Hangman (Jallad) and War Horse (Victory Moon).
Cape Thoroughbred Sales hosts the boutique sale, which will see 234 yearlings (14 withdrawals) cataloged to go through the ring.
The 2013 Cape Premier Yearling Sale selection will include eight members of the final crop of Jet Master (Rakeen) pass through the ring. Jet Master, who has been champion sire locally for the past six years, sired the top-priced lots at both the 2011 and 2012 Cape Premier Yearling Sales.
Other leading sires represented include Captain Al (Al Mufti), Dynasty (Fort Wood), Fort Wood (Sadler's Wells), Silvano (Lomitas), Trippi (End Sweep), Var (Forest Wildcat) and Western Winter (Gone West). Promising young sires represented by their first local crop include Elusive Fort (Fort Wood), King's Apostle (King's Best), Lateral (Singspiel), Mambo In Seattle (Kingmambo), Oracy (Zabeel), and Seventh Rock (Rock of Gibraltar).
There will be yearlings offered by such high-profile international stallions such as Archipenko (Kingmambo), Danehill Dancer (Danehill) andTapit (Pulpit).
Sale company CEO Robin Bruss is optimistic the sale's growing international profile will continue to rise.
"For all the extensive advertising and promotion of the CPYS-Book 1, results have shown that the sale offers major value for money, not only for local buyers but also for domestic," Bruss said. "I'm expecting a new breed of buyer to emerge: the pinhooker. Results have shown horses bought early in the year and sold in the Ready to Run Sale at substantial profit.
"The catalog is solid, with entries I would term, the real deal. It's a proper catalog of inspected and selected horses and given the ongoing success of SA horses, rises in prize money, the successful reorganization of Cape racing, and a record stock market, it's hard not to be optimistic that the sale will be a good one."
The catalog is available online at www.capethoroughbredsales.co.za. Results will be updated throughout the sale.
Watch the sale stream live at: http://www.bloodhorse.com/capetbred/.