Buoyant market at Easter yearling sale

A brother to dual Group One winner Shoals has become the star of the show at the Easter Yearling Sale in Sydney, fetching $2.3 million.

The sale topper by Fastnet Rock out of The Broken Shore, was sold at the third session of the main book of the annual sale conducted by William Inglis & Son.

The colt was knocked down to Anthony Freedman, the trainer of Myer Classic and Surround Stakes winner Shoals.

“You have to pay for a colt like this. I thought he was the colt of the year,” Freedman said.

“He’s very like his sister, but stronger.

“It’s a lot of money but he’s from the best family in the country and probably the southern hemisphere.”

The colt was one of 22 yearlings sold for $1 million more over the three days, five more than last year.

Of the 22, seven were by champion sire Snitzel. The others sires were I Am Invincible (5), Fastnet Rock (4), Deep Impact (2), Redoute’s Choice, Frankel, Pierro and Not A Single Doubt (1).

Arrowfield Stud which stands Snitzel, Redoute’s Choice and Not A Single Doubt was the leading vendor ahead of Coolmore.

The gross for Book One was $116,057,500, behind only the 2008 Easter Yearling Sale.

“We bought some really nice horses here to inaugurate the establishment of the new Riverside Stables,” Arrowfield boss John Messara said.

“The Broken Shore colt is a horse that had a lot less unknowns about him than almost any other colt in the sale because he was by a proven sire out of a multiple Group One-producing mare.

“It’s a risk-mitigation exercise if you want to go into the stallion business and this horse had a lot of the features you would seek.”

AUSTRALIAN EASTER YEARLING SALE: (2017 in brackets)

Lots Sold: 334 (308)

Clearance Rate: 84 per cent (87 per cent)

Average Price: $347,478 ($354,935)

Median Price: $250,000 ($260,000)

Top Price: $2,300,000 ($2,500,000)

Gross: $116,057,500 ($109,320,000)