Willow Park Sell $370,000 Book 2 Top Lot

 

The colt, catalogued as Lot 1037, was knocked down to Orbis Bloodstock for $370,000 - an all time record price for Book Two and contributed to a record average price of $78,667.

Consigned by Willow Park Stud the colt, a brother to Iffindoubt, a winner and Group Two fourth placegetter, is from a city winning half sister to Stripper.

His family also includes the Golden Slipper winner Belle Du Jour and Adelaide's The Goodwood winner Perfectly Ready.

Paul King, representing Orbis Bloodstock, confirmed the quality youngster would join top Newcastle trainer Kris Lees.

"Obviously we had a good look at all the horses in the sale and come to Book 2 we thought he was the pick of them," King said.

"He's an athletic enough type of horse. We are probably going to take a bit more time with him. I'm not going to rush him as a two-year-old, give him time to develop more as three-year-old."

"The breed seem to get better with a bit of age. He's a nice horse who could be a nice Hong Kong prospect down the line."

"I was a little bit surprised we had to go that high," King added. "I had him budgeted at around $200,000, but he was one I said we had to take home, so we were happy to go that bit higher to get him."

"I'll probably leave him here in Queensland, in the better weather at the moment. Obviously there's a drought in Sydney at the moment, and I'll just leave him on the better ground, we’ll take our time."

The Iffraaj colt was one of six yearlings to sell for over $200,000 on the day with colts by Exosphere ($280,000) and Shalaa ($275,000) and fillies by Divine Prophet ($230,000), American Pharoah ($210,000) and Nicconi ($210,000) all proving popular with buyers.

Across the day over $9.9 million was traded for 126 lots sold at an average price of $78,667 and clearance rate of 72% - all up on last year's corresponding sale which catalogued almost 60 more lots.

"There was a huge craving for quality horses today," Magic Millions Managing Director Barry Bowditch reported. "I thought the vendors supported the sale with particularly good types this year."

"The team have obviously selected the catalogue on type and to have an increase of over $15,000 on average is an outstanding result in this market."

"To have the amount of horses making above $100,000 and $200,000 with a top price of $370,000 says if you present the right horses in these markets, there is a huge craving from buyers to bid on them."

"I want to take this opportunity to congratulate and thank my team on an outstandingly successful sale and carnival to date," Bowditch added. "They've gone above and beyond yet again to ensure clients and visitors have had a memorable week."

To view the sale results and to make an offer on a passed in lot click here.

Book Three of the Gold Coast Yearling Sale will be held from 11am on Tuesday prior to the 20 plus lot catalogue for the Summer Racehorse Sale.

Online bidding, as has been the case for the entire Gold Coast Yearling Sale, is available for Tuesday. Those intending to bid online are required to register first by clicking here.

SALE STATISTICS
(2019 in brackets)

Lots Catalogued: 177 (234)
Lots Sold: 126 (155)
Lots Passed In: 40 (61)
Lots Withdrawn: 11 (18)
Sale Gross: $9,912,000 ($9,893,888)
Top Price: $370,000 ($230,000)
Average Price: $78,667 ($63,832)
Median Price: $57,500 ($52,500)
Sold %: 76 (72)