There are two Group I events for three year-olds at Flemington on Saturday and both are worth $2million, but the profile of the horses engaged, many of them being colts, couldn’t be more different starting with their purchase price.
The VRC Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) is seen as a sire making race and as such the winner gains an instant passport to a big commercial stud and the opportunity for lasting stud success, so it takes a certain type of colt to make the field and they don’t come cheap.
The field of 14 this year features two fillies and one gelding with the remainder all colts including the favourites Growing Empire, Switzerland and Traffic Warden, who is a homebred for Godolphin.
10 runners were sold at public auction ranging in price from the most expensive Bodyguard ($1.6million) down to the filly Bellatrix Star ($80,000) and the average price for a runner was $677,500.
The VRC Victoria Derby (2500m) is a more accessible target race for the average owner with the race favourite El Castello bought from Magic Millions by his trainer Anthony Cummings for $220,000 and is raced by a syndicate involving ten parties.
In a field of 16, 13 of the runners were bought at public auction ranging in price from the highest priced West Indies ($525,000) down to the lowest priced Autumnheat ($40,000) and the average price for a runner was $266,538, which is substantially less than was paid for a Coolmore runner.
Coolmore runners on average are some two and a half times more expensive than Derby runners, but all of these horses are competing for the same prizemoney purse, however the speed horses have the added carrot of a lucrative stud career.
Given the differential in price between a yearling that is in theory bred to sprint and one that is bred to stay it’s no wonder breeders tend to focus their attention on producing the horses that sell for the most money.
