A colt by Silvano topped the Cape Premier Yearling Sale, when bought by Nicholas Jonsson for R3,000,000.
A colt by Silvano (Lomitas) out of Giant's Causeway (Storm Cat) mare Song Of Happiness topped the Cape Premier Yearling Sale in Cape Town on Thursday when by Nicholas Jonsson went to R3,000,000 / A$301,744 to secure the yearling.
Offered by Drakenstein Stud, the colt is Song Of Happiness' second foal with Dontworrybehappy (Duke Of Marmalade), now renamed Orange Bowl and in training with Justin Snaith, her first. His second dam is Grade 1 winner Captain's Lover (Captain Al), while further back this is family of recent Queen's Plate (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Vardy (Var).
Bjorn Nielsen, owner of a number of top-class horses in Europe including Stradivarius (Sea The Stars) partnered in the purchase with Jonsson with the pair owning the very promising Orange Bowl, a R3,200,000 / A$322,068 purchase at the 2019 sale.
Bloodstock agent Amanda Skiffington paid R2,200,000 / A$221,360 for the un-named Rafeef (Redoute's Choice) colt out of Australian-bred Encosta De Lago (Fairy King) mare Aneefa. The colt is the second foal out of the mare who is herself a daughter of Manikato Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Piavonic (Scenic), making her a sister to Group 2 winner and sire Von Costa De Hero, who finished second behind Sebring (More Than Ready) in the 2008 Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m).
He was one of four purchases by Skiffington while nine yearlings by Australian-bred Rafeef sold at the sale; including a colt out of another Australian-bred mare in Tycoon Chief (More Than Ready), who was purchased by Mark Sham for R250,000/ A$25,159. The colt is the first foal out of the mare who is herself a daughter of Tycoon Joy (Last Tycoon), dam of multiple Group 1 winner Bentley Biscuit (Peintre Celebre).
Rafeef was purchased by Angus Gold's Shadwell Stud for $800,000 at the 2014 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale and went on to emulate his dam National Colour (National Assembly) by winning the Computaform Sprint (Gr 1, 1000m) and on Thursday he had seven yearlings from his first crop sell for an aggregate of R3,725,000 / A$374,897 at an average of R532,142 / A$53,550.
Two fillies bought at the one-day sale on Thursday are destined for Australia having been purchased by New Zealand-based agent Ric Wylie. The most expensive of these was the Trippi (End Sweep) filly out of Val De Ra (Var), named All That Jazz, who was secured for R1,650,000 / A$166,027. The filly is the third foal of the three-time Grade 1 winning Var (Forest Wildcat) mare who is already the dam of Listed winner Miss Frankel (Frankel).
Earlier in the day, Wylie went to R600,000 / A$60,374 for Red Boulevard, a daughter of Visionaire (Grand Slam) out of the winner Strawberry Lane (Jallad). She has produced eight winners from as many foals to race headed by the Grade 1 winners Solo Traveller (Western Winter) and Redberry Lane (Western Winter).
Overall five lots sold for seven figures with 173 of the 216 lots offered sold for a total of R56,490,000 / A$5,683,780 (-32%). The average was R326,531 / A$32,854 (-25%) whilst the median was R250,000 / A$25,150 (-16%). At the 2019 renewal 192 of the 216 lots offered were sold for R83,560,000 / $A8,406,362 at an average of R435,000 / A$43,754 and median of R300,000 /A$30,175.
