The 2022 Cape Yearling Sale, which took place at a sweltering Kenilworth racecourse on Sunday, proved a tremendous success.
A strong buying bench, backed up by a stronger than usual catalogue, saw enthuasiasm soar for the Cape Sale, as the ensuing results clearly indicate.
All of the aggregate, average price and median rose significantly from 2021, with Sunday’s aggregate grossing a handsome R22.57 million. Remarkably, the aggregate was almost double achieved at the Cape Sale last year, while the average price of R155,655 likewise showed a handsome increase on last year’s returns (the Cape Sale’s average reached R83 582 in 2021).
Just eight lots failed to find homes on Sunday, with the impressive clearance rate another tribute to the powerful results achieved at the 2022 Cape Yearling Sale.
Colts by Gimmethegreenlight and Vercingetorix made R1 000 000 apiece, to jointly top Sunday’s sale. Both colts were knocked down to prominent owner Greg Bortz, a part-owner in, among others, the Vercingetorix sired G1 Jonsson Workwear Cape Derby winner Pomp And Power.
Bortz went to R1 000 000 to acquire the unnamed Vercingetorix son (Lot 61), who was consigned to the Cape Sale by Millstream Farm. The colt, a half-brother to three winners, is out of the three time winning Al Mufti mare So Impressed, a half-sister to high-class sprinter Battlestar Express, whose seven victories included scores in both the Listed Umngeni Handicap and Listed Golden Loom Handicap. The well related So Impressed also numbers the Al Mufti sired Cape Guineas winner and multiple champion sire Captain Al as a close relative.
Later in the sale, Gimmethegreenlight colt Alphenaandenrijn (Lot 101), who was consigned by Varsfontein Stud, was sold for R1 000 000 to jointly top Sunday’s auction. The colt, a son of South Africa’s reigning champion sire, is a half-brother to four winners including Listed Swallow Stakes queen All At Once and the stakes placed Expedite. The joint sales-topper’s dam Alexia is, in turn, a full-sister to the G2 Golden Slipper winning dam of US G1 winner Oleksandra -who recently foaled a colt by champion sire Into Mischief.
Varsfontein also consigned Sunday’s top-priced filly in the form of the beautifully bred Golden Sickle (Lot 89). The latter, sold to Suzette Viljoen for R700 000, was also sired by Maine Chance Farms’ sire sensation Vercingetorix, with Golden Sickle’s dam, the Listed Laisserfaire Stakes/Listed Lady’s Pendant winner, Victorian Secret a full-sister to dual G1 winner Snowdance.
Greg Bortz purchased four lots, for R2.95 million, to head Sunday’s Leading Buyers by Aggregate List, while Varsfontein Stud headed the Leading Breeders List, with 14 of their 15 lots on sale grossing R4.235 million.
Vercingetorix was Leading Sire by Aggregate, with all five lots by the former Equus Champion fetching R3 000 000 -and averarging an impressive R600 000.
The great results of Sunday’s sale also suggests that there is plenty to look forward to at this year’s National Yearling Sale. The latter, South Africa’s premier source of classic thoroughbreds, is set to take place in Johannesburg from April 28th to 29th. Watch this space for more details!
