Buying and selling horses is at times cut-throat, but at other times emotion gets in the way.
Excitement surrounded the bidding on the first and only foal out of six-time Group One winner Typhoon Tracy at the Easter Yearling sale on Wednesday.
That excitement turned to confusion when it emerged the final bid of $2.1 million was nowhere near enough to buy the colt which had a reserve of $3 million.
And even though the owners set the reserve, they were apparently not that keen to sell.
John Hutchins raced Typhoon Tracy who died giving birth to the colt.
He incurred the wrath of international bidders when they found out the reserve but said it was simple.
“We put a price on the horse and key is we want him to stay in Australia,” Hutchins said.
“At $2.2 million I’m willing to keep half and maybe someone can do a deal.
“To go overseas the price is $3 million which is a cheap horse for over there.
“In the end it’s about the love of the horse and we want to keep him here.”
At the other end of the scale, Melbourne Cup winning trainer Brian Jenkins was excited to get a half brother to champion So You Think for a relatively cheap $385,000.
The Medaglia D’Oro colt is out of Triassic who Jenkins trained to three wins in the early 1990s before he gained fame with the 1998 Melbourne Cup triumph of Jezabeel.
“I expected to have to pay more,” Jenkins said.
“I bought him for a group of people and I’m excited to get him.”
The second day of the sale produced two million dollar lots, the first a $1.5 million Street Cry-Star On High colt bought in a partnership between Dubai’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al Maktoum and Golden Slipper winning-owner His Excellency Nasser Lootah.
An Exceed And Excel colt out of Allegra was knocked down to Hong Kong’s George Moore for $1 million.
William Inglis managing director Mark Webster said he had been surprised by the $3 million reserve on Typhoon Tracy’s son.
“We found out the reserve as it went into the ring,” he said.
“It surprised a lot of us.
“It’s up to the market to set the price and the market said $2.1 million.”
Webster said he was pleased with the overall sale which was averaging $254,000 after the first two sessions with an 80 per cent clearance rate.
“We are lacking the superstar lots of the past few years,” he said.
“We don’t have the four and five million dollar lots.”
Last year Bill Vlahos paid $5 million for a half brother to Black Caviar which later became the subject of controversy when it emerged BC3 Thoroughbreds had defaulted on payment and the colt died from laminitis.
The $4 million colt from the 2013 sale has yet to race but when he does, it will be in the colours of Nasser Lootah.
The third session of the first book closes on Wednesday with the half brother to Golden Slipper winner Mossfun one of the highlights of the second book in the afternoon.
