A Statue of Liberty — Saloon Bar Girl colt brought Aust$54,000 (approximately $39,031 in U.S. funds) to top the opening session of the William Inglis & Son Melbourne autumn yearling sale April 26 in Australia. Mark Young Racing purchased the colt from Tetrarch Park Stud.
The final figures for the session included a gross of Aust$1,046,750 ($756,595) for the 114 yearlings sold. The average price was Aust$9,182 ($6,637), meaning the sale is on track to better last year's overall average of $8,750. The median of Aust $7,000 ($5,060) is a significant improvement on the Aust$6,000 recorded during the opening session of 2008.
The clearance rate was 84%.
"We are absolutely delighted with today's result," Inglis director Peter Heagney said. "We had a stronger buying bench than we might have anticipated, and there was excellent competition on horses right throughout the day.
"There was good interest from country Victoria, Southeast Asia, and, indeed, from all states of Australia. On a pro rata basis, I would describe this as one of the strongest sales I have seen this year and tomorrow's catalog looks just as strong, so hopefully that will continue."