The CTS Ready To Run Sale took place recently in Cape Town and saw amongst its graduates a half-sibling to KZN-bred Gr1 winner Brave Mary knocked down for R240 000, consigned by Soetendal Estate and purchased by Champion Trainer Sean Tarry. The chestnut filly is by leading first season sire Await The Dawn.

Their dam Mary Lou has relocated after being purchased by Cheveley Stud earlier this year.

KZN pretrainer Jane Thomas took down a quality draft, amongst them a half-sister to the brilliant multiple Equus Horse Of The Year, Legal Eagle. The filly by Pomodoro sold for R220 000 to Rainbow Beach Trading.

Another horse of interest to KZN was Drakenstein-consigned Big Blue Marble as Lot 102.

The Var colt is out of Backworth-bred 8-time winner Raise The Bar, a daughter of exceptional broodmare sire Goldkeeper who flew the flag brightly for Backworth Stud in her heyday. Her first foal is already Bold Black Type, the Gimmethegreenlight filly Rose In Bloom winning the Irridescence Stakes and Stakes Placed. The colt sold for R850 000 to Mark Erasmus.

Another Backworth family that caught attention is the Var colt Vartanium, out of Refined Gold by Rich Man’s Gold. Refined Gold is the dam of multiple winner Karatage, Mauritian horse Alloy and the well-bred Rathmor broodmare, Spangle. He sold for R320 000 to Rainbow Beach Trading.

From 149 Lots catalogued, 129 sold for an average of R236,279 each. Congratulations to Jane Thomas who averaged R203,750 for 12 Lots sold. Well done to all concerned.

View the price list at the following link.

It was a typical winter day in Mooi River with visibility interrupted after the neighbouring farm chose to burn their fire breaks for the season, but a big thank you to Bruce and Delia Le Roux for hosting the BSA KZN Mare Sale, with plenty of steak rolls, coffee and wine to keep everyone warm!

Backworth consigned three mares to the KZN Mare Sale held at Spring Valley Stud on Monday and all three topped the price list on Monday. The leading purchase was the eyecatching chestnut mare  – Lot 6 November Sky, who sold for R150 000 to Clifton Stud. Her oldest foal is a yearling by Var.

Peter Blyth of Clifton Stud commented that she was a lovely big mare with a leading pedigree, and a bonus of being in foal to Var who is a difficult stallion to access.

A half-sister to August Rush and Miss October, she is in foal to Var and descends from the female line of She’s On Fire, She’s A Pippa and Cream Of The Crop.

Jane Thomas purchased Hargraves Bell as Lot 20 on behalf of a client for R110 000 – the Royal Academy mare out of Bellhouse by Danehill is in foal to Querari.

Her Australian pedigree includes the current top family in South Africa, none other than the great Mystic Spring (herself by Royal Academy), the dam of Bela-Bela and the family of Rabiya and All Is Secret amongst others.

Syd and Shirley Rosseau of St Helier Stud purchased Lot 14 Ballad For Annie, for R90 000. The Rakeen mare is in foal to Oratorio, and is a half-sister to Ice Cube, Jagged Ice and descends from the damline of Grand Emporium.

The Rosseau’s had two runners on Vodacom Durban July day, with Varimax (a three parts brother to Rivarine by Var from the damline of Pocket Power) in the Gr2 Golden Horseshoe and Ryker in the KZN Yearling Sale Million.

The top priced weanling was Lot 32 which sold to Michael Roberts for R50 000.

The Visionaire colt out of Vanity by Jallad is a half-brother to two winners, from the family of Australian Gr1 winner, Dracula.

32 of the 40 Lots consigned were sold, at an average of R18 000 each, R4000 more than last year.

Well done to all concerned.

View the Gallery of the KZN Mare Sale pictures on Facebook at the following link.

View the price list. 

Rathmor Stud’s Noble Tune did KZN proud again and topped the leading sires of the KZN Yearling Sale, selling twenty Lots from various vendors for an aggregate of R1 335 000. The only son of Unbridled’s Song at stud in South Africa has impressed since his arrival and will be on show tomorrow (Sunday) at Rathmor Stud from 12:00.

His top seller came from Clifton Stud with an eyecatching colt named Frozen Tune, out of Western Winter mare Winter Feast. A first foal for the mare, the colt’s third dam is the brilliant Festive Forever, a daughter of Arcsa champion Festive Season. He was knocked down to Mario Ferreira for R240 000.

The top selling filly of the day from KZN, and the sale on the second day, came from Backworth Stud’s Var filly, the beautifully named Extravargant as Lot 205. Out of Cupid’s Daughter by Ad Valorem, she is a full brother to winner and twice placed from three starts Cuvara – Mary Liley, who owns Cuvara, purchased the filly for R375 000.

The overall top priced filly of the sale remained under the banner of Rathmor Stud – a daughter of Cartier Champion and five time G1 winner Duke Of Marmalade proved the star turn on the first day of the 2017 KZN Yearling Sale on Thursday.

The filly was catalogued as Lot 25 and knocked down to Gavin Van Zyl’s Team G Racing for R425 000. Going by the name of C’est Serra, the filly is out of the three time winning Western Winter mare Misty River, whose winning offspring include One Cool Dude, who defeated subsequent Horse Of The Year Futura (who now stands alongside Duke Of Marmalade at Drakenstein) when victorious in the G3 Cup Trial a few seasons ago.

C’est Serra shares her sire with game recent G1 Gold Cup winner Big Orange, currently one of the most popular racehorses in Britain.

Of the top 10 prices of the sale, six of the yearlings were KZN-bred by sires Noble Tune, Crusade, Jackson, Var and Visionaire. Piemonte Stud consigned the most expensive Jackson of the sale, a colt to Nathan Kotzen for R240 000 named Reymundo.

Bush Hill Stud consigned the top priced KZN-bred colt of the second day, with an outstanding Oratorio for R240 000 selling to Mr G Van Lear as Lot 224. Letaba is out of Count Dubois mare Fair Rosalind, from the damline of Canadian champion 2YO Talking Man.

The overall top price of the sale went to a handsome Twice Over colt out of a Tapit mare for R800 000.

In what proved very much a buyers’ market, the sales’ overall aggregate (albeit off a small catalogue) dropped back 24%, falling from R21.055 million in 2016 to R16.065 million, while the average dropped from R89 979 to R73 693 in 2017.

One of the most positive aspects about the KZN Yearling Sale, however, was the tremendous clearance rate, with approximately 83% of the yearlings on offer finding buyers.

Nic Jonsson was the sales’ top buyer, with his three lots purchased (including the sales’ topping Twice Over colt) grossing R1.34 million).

Rathmor Stud enjoyed a notable stint at this year’s sale – not only did they consign the sales’ top filly, but their exciting young resident sire Noble Tune was the sales’ top sire by aggregate, with the son of Unbridled’s Song’s 20 yearlings to sell grossing R1 335 000.

Bloodstock South Africa’s CEO Michael Holmes, commented after the sale, “We are really pleased with the clearance rate at this sale and it was definitely noticeable that day two was a stronger session than Thursday.

“While the average was down considerably, given the tough economic climate, this sale held up reasonably well and the top end of the market, once again, proved very competitive.”

A full list of prices and results for the Sibaya Casino held sale can be viewed online at www.tba.co.za

Once again KZN broodmares were in demand at the Backworth Stud Dispersal Sale with most of them sold beyond the borders of KZN, which included stock from Summerhill and Janet Baker Properties.

The sale attracted incredible support on a beautiful April autumn day, with leading breeders and trainers from across the country attending the dispersal. Backworth have always been a boutique stud with approximately 30 choicely bred mares, and their exceptional results from small numbers reflected in the attendance at the sale which saw the buyers attending overflowing out of the tent!

Having produced the likes of Gr1 winner Chocolicious (broodmare in Australia with her first Frankel filly in training with Mike De Kock), Gr2 winners First Again and Colour Of Courage amongst their many Stakes Winners, Backworth-breds have always represented themselves well on the tracks and Keith Russon and Ian Todd were awarded the KZN Breeders Achievement in 2012 for an average winners to runners percentage of 53%.

Typical of the exceptional hospitality that Backworth is renowned for, the Graham Beck champagne flowed and guests were treated to a wonderful luncheon.

The Bloodstock South Africa hosted auction began at 1pm with Graeme Hawkins behind the gavel.

The sale got off to a bang with Lot 1, Ballad For Annie (by Rakeen and from the family of Ice Cube and Jagged Ice), sold for R100 000 in foal to Oratorio. Lot 4, the beautiful Irish-bred chestnut Carpark Queen by Zamindar, sold for R100 000 in foal to Oratorio – purchased by Form Bloodstock.

The next was a chestnut daughter of Choisir, Choir Maiden (AUS). She was knocked down to Nicky Atkinson for R100 000, in foal to Noble Tune.

The impressive sales topper, a beautiful eyecatching daughter of Ad Valorem (by Danzig) sold for an incredible R650 000 to the Equine Group, representing a buyer that wished to remain anonymous.

Cupid’s Daughter, a grand-daughter of dominant Australian sire Redoute’s Choice, is in foal to Oratorio and her first foal recently won his second start – a son of Var named Cuvara, trained by Tony Rivalland and owned by Mary Liley.

Festive Style, consigned by Janet Baker Properties sold for R110 000 to Riethuiskraal Stud. The full sister to Cover Look out of Fanciful is in foal to Linngari.

Lewinsky’s Lover, the dam of track record holders Scandal and Humidor sold for R22 000 to The Alchemy, not in foal.

November Sky sold to Equine Group for R225 000, in foal to Var. The half-sister to August Rush is a grand daughter of the great Devon Air.

Another mare that created a lot of excitement was the daughter of Street Cry, Streetwise(AUS). She sold for R500 000 to Form Bloodstock; her Var yearling sold at the 2016 CTS March Select Yearling Sale for R3-million.

The well-bred weanlings attracted a lot of attention by leading sires. Lot 54 by Flower Alley out of Refined Gold sold for R120 000 to RN Bouwer.

An Oratorio colt out of Streetwise sold for R200 000 to Mary Liley, who also purchased Ballad For Annie’s weanling for the sales topping weanling at R240 000.

Alesh Naidoo’s The Fire Racing Trust signed for Lot 72, a What A Winter colt out of Hargraves Bell by Royal Academy (the family of Bela-Bela and Rabiya) for R120 000. Alesh also purchased the second highest priced yearling, a handsome colt by What A Winter as Lot 75 (named Chiron) for R110 000.

The sales topping yearling was a handsome athletic colt by Noble Tune, with active bidding he quickly was knocked down for R170 000 to The Cape Leopard Trust.

Named Travellers’s Joy and sold as Lot 82, the colt is out of Silvano mare Clematis, fromm the immediate family of Badger’s Gift.

20 Year old Dream Starling, consigned by Summerhill Staff, dam of Gr2 winner Heaps Of Fun – Stakes winner The Elmo Effect and Stakes Placed Cookie Monster, sold for R50 000 to Rob Pickering in foal to Capetown Noir. Her Capetown Noir weanling, a flashy filly with a white blaze sold for R80 000 to Monarch Bloodstock.

The sale averaged R56,804.88 with 11 Lots of the 97-strong catalogue not sold.

Congratulations to the buyers concerned.

View a gallery of the sale at the following link.

View the full pricelist

KZN was well represented at the recent CTS Ready To Run Sale, with the top priced colt by Visionaire coming from Summerhill Stud and the top priced KZN-bred Var filly originally bred by Backworth Stud.

The Visionaire named Helios sold as Lot 105 for R550 000 to Rainbow Beach Trading. Sold as Lot 105, he is out of Heliantha by Count Dubois, and a half-brother to 5-time winner Chilli Chocolate (by Muhtafal).

The dam is a half-sister to Wild Aster and includes the likes of Gr1 J&B Met winner, Alastor, in the pedigree.

The top-priced filly was Vargraves, a Backworth-bred daughter of Var out of a winning mare with an immaculate pedigree, Hargraves Bell. She is a daughter of Royal Academy, in turn out of a Danehill mare.

The dams half-sister is an Australian Stakes winner, and this dam line goes back to Cheveley Stud’s elite broodmare, Mystic Spring – including the likes of Bela-Bela and Rabiya on the catalogue page.

She was sold to Mayfair Speculators as Lot 101 for R475 000, from the account of Balmoral Stud.

The deceased son of Giant’s Causeway, Await The Dawn, had his top priced colt from the immediate dam line of Abashiri sell for R360 000 to Rainbow Beach Trading.

Named Before Noon, his five time winning dam is Gr2 placed and has produced two winners to date.

Linngari had a colt sell for R320 000 t0 Brian Warmback, as Lot 32. A horse with a brilliant dam line – out of a Singspiel / Machiavellian mare, this is her first foal for the five-time winner in Germany. She is a half-sister to Dubai Gr1 winner, Special Fighter.

The top-priced Kahal colt came from Scott Bros-bred D’Arrivee, out of the Jet Master / Foveros mare We Have Lift Off.

This is her second foal, with her second dam being a half-sister to Dancing Flower – the family of Kelly, Victory Moon, Imbongi, Spring Garland and recent Gr1 winner, Real Princess. The colt sold as Lot 8 to Lindsay Ralphs for R300 000.

From 235 Lots catalogued, 187 sold for an average of R186 417, the top price for R1,2 million.

Congratulations to all concerned!