After starting the day with the final offerings for Session 1, Bloodstock South Africa's National Yearling Sale stepped down a notch for Session 2 which will make up the remainder of the sale, which runs through Friday.
After an exciting opening session on Wednesday that was highlighted by an R9-million (£484,355/€560,940) record-priced Silvano (Ger) colt two lots from the end of trade, Thursday's action didn't cause quite as many sparks but nonetheless there were some notable transactions.
The joint top lots of the day came through the ring back-to-back and were both offered by Wilgerbosdrift Stud, which had also sold the record-priced colt 24 hours earlier. The first was a son of South African champion and globetrotting group winner Soft Falling Rain (SAf) (lot 233) who was knocked down to Jehan Malherbe's Form Bloodstock for R2-million (£107,634/€124,652). The bay is a half-brother to the G1 SA Fillies' Classic winner Athina (SAf) (Fort Wood).
Next through the ring was another son of Silvano (lot 234), and he was scooped up by Stradivarius (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire})'s owner/breeder Bjorn Nielsen for R2-million. The colt is out of a half-sister to globetrotting sprinter Kavanagh (SAf) (Tiger Ridge {SAf}), and it is also the family of sires Mutakddim and Frost Giant, while further down the page the fourth dam is the GI Beldame S. winner Dance Number, dam of the excellent producer Get Lucky.
A trio shared the day's second-highest price of R1.3-million (£69,962/€81,023): lot 202, a son of Querari (Ger) knocked down to Malherbe; lot 212, a Dynasty (SAf) colt picked up by Nick Jonsson; and lot 218, a son of Captain Al (SAf) secured by David Ferraris.
Session 1 of the National Yearling Sale saw 185 of 215 through the ring sold for an aggregate of R96,070,000 (£5,170,233/€5,987,650), which was down 3% on last year's figure despite 14 more yearlings sold. The average, at R519,297 (£27,945/€32,365), was down 11%, while the median dipped 21% to R250,000 (£13,453/€15,581). Statistics for Session 2 of the sale will be published in Saturday's TDN upon conclusion of the sale.
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