The June auction is the second that the Club has staged this year, following
the March session at which 26 lots sold. This evening's event was the first
time that the Jockey Club had restricted a sale to bidders holding a PPG
(Privately Purchased Griffin) permit.Lot 9, a roan Shamardal half-brother to the Group II winner Gossamer Seed, topped the sale at HK$2.8 million. The auction's average was HK$1.7 million.
Mr. Andrew Harding, the Hong Kong Jockey Club's Executive Director, Racing, said: "The Club has only one objective from its sales, which is to give Owners the opportunity to acquire good quality horses. We are pleased that we achieved that tonight.
"This is the first time that we have restricted a sale in this way," he continued. "We designed the sale specifically as a service to PPG holders and because of that difference we knew that it would have an impact on the prices compared to the March sale. It is important to us to provide those PPG permit holders with an opportunity and that is what we have done here this evening. As with all of our sales, we did not come here to make a profit."
The next two highest priced horses were both Kiwi bred. An O'Reilly (Lot 10) gelding from Glamouraad, the family of Hong Kong Derby winner Fay Fay, sold for HK$2.5 million ($426,767), while a Pins (Lot 14) half-brother to Listed winner Ray's Girl from Natural Rhythm fetched the same price.
The O'Reilly gelding was sourced by the Hong Kong Jockey Club from the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale, bought from the draft of Meredith Park for $170,000, while the Pins gelding was bought at Karaka from Waikato stud for $240,000.
Also popular a GB bred Holy Roman Emperor gelding from Whole Grain that made $HK2.4 million (A$409,696).
