A son of highflying US freshman sire Super Saver topped the first session of the three-day Fasig-Tipton October Yearling Sale at $370,000 in Kentucky on Tuesday.
The colt was bought by Oussama Aboughazale's International Equities Holdings, which has around 15 horses in training including this season's Grade 3 Smarty Jones Stakes winner Protonico.
Aboughazale, a polo player based in Chile, owns fruit production farms as well as the fresh produce division of Del Monte with his family.
Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver's first crop of two-year-olds this season has yielded the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes one-two Competitive Edge and I Spent It, and the Grade 3-placed Hashtag Bourbon.
Freddy Seitz was representing International Equities and said of the session-topper, who is out of the stakes-placed Petionville mare Crocodile Tuff: "Super Saver is as hot as they get and the new owner is a huge fan of the sire, so he had to have it.
"I think he's a beautiful horse, and I hope he pans out."
Pike Racing as agent bought the second most expensive lot in the session, a Malibu Moon colt out of an unraced Tale Of The Cat half-sister to champion sprinter Housebuster, for $265,000.
A Distorted Humor colt from the family of this season's high-class French two-year-old filly High Celebrity was next best after being knocked down to Ciaran Dunne for $230,000.
Turnover for the first session reached $8,956,600 for 263 yearlings, an increase of 22 per cent from last year.
The average was up by 19 per cent to $34,056 and the median rose by three per cent to $17,000.
However, the number of lots bought back by their vendors shot up from 20 per cent to 29 per cent.
