$132,000 for Top Of The Class half brother

ANOTHER sign that horse racing in Trinidad and Tobago was on the rise was seen yesterday at  the Carib Brewery Limited-sponsored Stud Farm Association Yearling Sale at Santa Rosa Park, Arima, when owners shelled out a record $2.564 million on future equine stars. From the 82 lots on the catalogue to pass through the ring, eight were withdrawn, while a few failed to meet upset prices set by breeders.

The sale was a vast difference from years gone by when protective bidding was rampant. Instead, owners realising racing has turned the corner, were prepared to dig deeper into their pockets to acquire animals, which saw the total figure for purchases surpassing the $2.4 million which stood as the best ever. Cedric Coussement, secretary of the SFA was in a happy mood and said it was the best sale ever, and after making deductions for animals that passed through the ring and were not sold, estimated the average price to be around $35,000. “This year’s sale was far superior to last year’s when 94 horses catalogued fetched $1.97 million,” he said.

The sale got off precisely at noon and when regular invited guest and auctioneer Michael White got things started he kept the action going at a steady pace, beaking off for only 10 minutes at the half-way stage. On resumption he kept bidders on their toes taking them to the end at the same clip. The first transfer of property came as early as the first lot, a grey daughter of Private Banker/ Without Promises, for which Harold Chadee closed the deal for $40,000. Chadee spent a further $160,000 on three other lots, among them a bay filly by Gilgamesh/Rhapsody for which he paid $90,000. Lot 19, a filly foaled in May to Freshly Squeezed/Romantic Princess was the first to attract serious attention from all quarters. The chestnut eventually ended up in the hands of Dr Roger D’Abadie, who closed the deal at $75,000. But that was only the start of things to come. Fierce bidding came from all angles for lot 34, a bay colt bred to Gilgamesh/Crescendo.

The half brother to this year’s triple crown winner Top Of The Class, who banked $1 million in bonuses from Colonial Life Insurance Company Limited on Saturday, when he added the Caribbean Champion Stakes to the classics, ended up being the sales topper. Dr Ravi Ramjanack ended up outbidding trainer Shaffique Khan, paying a record $132,000 for the bay colt.The previous best was $105,000, paid for by Junior Sammy last year, for a full brother to Infallibility. Trainer Glenn Mendez bought some of the more expensive animals at yesterday’s sale. He had to ward off Barbadian trainer Peter Arthur with a final bid of $100,000 to acquire lot 57, the full sister to 2001 Triple Crown winner Carnival Messiah. But Arthur did not leave the sales empty handed. He was successful six lots later, winning out with a final bid of $68,000 for a bay filly sired by Kimafoutiesa and foaled by Northern Venture.

Although there were a marked increase in prices at yesterday’s sales, some turfites attending,  were lucky enough to win out with bids slightly above the $5,000 minimum figure. The lowest to acquire a yearling yesterday was $7,000, with the hammer falling on two others for $10,000 and $11,000. The Bay son of Houston All Star/Pride Rock which went at the rock bottom price went to trainer Rohit Dube.