Two of the top three lots from Day 1 at Inglis Classic are bound for Hong Kong.
A colt by Anamoe's sire, Street Boss, was the standout performer on Day 1 of the Inglis Classic Sale, which took place in Sydney on Sunday.
The Bhima Thoroughbreds-prepared youngster sold for $375,000 and will head to Hong Kong.
The colt out of Dance Card, a daughter of Exceed And Excel who is a half-sister to Kaepernick and from the family of Spright, was bought by Ricky You, who secured Hong Kong Derby winner Voyage Bubble from Classic.
"I always make a point to come back to this sale, I've had lots of luck out of Inglis Classic, it's a very good sale for Hong Kong success as we saw last year with all the winners of the (Hong Kong) 4YO Series coming out of this sale,'' Yiu said.
"This colt, I saw his video back home and thought 'gee, he's a lovely athletic colt' and when I saw him in the flesh, I liked him even more.
"He's very correct, walks well and I believe in time he will do very well in Hong Kong as a sprinter/miler.
"The price was a lot higher than I wanted to go but I had no choice. Somebody else wanted him too.''
Yiu's buy was one of three youngsters to sell for at least $300,000, with another – Lime Country's Toronado colt from Beneteau mare Eclat, who is closely-related to Pinstriped – also off to Hong Kong after selling to Magnus Equine.
The $320,000 Extreme Choice colt out of Nayef mare Brisk will remain in Australia, however, after being bought by Victorian trainer Mick Price in partnership with Upper Bloodstock.
"He's one colt I just wanted to buy and train, he's a late November foal and I think he's really going to furnish into a lovely horse," Price said.
"When you see him move, that's what really got me; he's a beautiful mover, he's got a long extended stride in front and behind, very athletic, not too heavy, he seems to have a good brain and as you know we love our colts and we love keeping them as colts so hopefully he's the next one."
All up, $18,701,000 was spent on Day 1 with yearlings selling at an 83 percent clearance rate at $94,929 with an $80,000 median.
That is the same as the median for last year's sale, which was conducted under the Showcase and Highway format that has been abandoned, where the average price was $102,640.
"The tweak in the format of the sale means that year-on-year comparisons are meaningless but the turnover, average and median figures are healthy relative to the whole sale 12 months ago," Inglis Bloodstock chief executive Sebastian Hutch said.
"We have plenty of nice horses to sell through the next two days and on the evidence today, there is good value to be found by buyers who do their work and bid accordingly."
