Record $6m paid for yearling at HK International Sale

Sha Tin´s state of the art parade ring today hosted the 2004 Hong Kong International Sale and it erupted with excitement when a record $6 million was paid for Lot 13 which smashed the previous high of $4.8 million set last year.

Given that record price and the overall strength of the sale it was no surprise it was declared a ´great success´ by Hong Kong Jockey Club executive director Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges.

´We are very pleased. The results far exceeded our expectations and I´m sure the new arena created an atmosphere conducive to buying horses,´ Engelbrecht-Bresges said.

The record priced yearling (lot 13) was a bay gelding by King´s Best who was knocked down, after some spirited bidding, to first time owner Mr Shun So who is managing director of Ki Mee Kitchenware.

The second top priced yearling was lot 15, a bay gelding by Danehill, who went to Mr Hiu Fung Choi for $4.2 million. He too is a first time owner. Neither of the successful bidders for the top two lots had previously attended a Hong Kong yearling sale.

It is also believed that Mr Choi and his partner Mr Eric Li were underbidders at $5.5 million for the top lot.

First season trainer Paul O´Sullivan strongly recommended the King´s Best yearling to the new owner. ´I have spoken to him several times and certainly recommended this horse. I would love to train him but that decision is, of course, is up to the owner,´ O´Sullivan said.

The record priced yearling was originally purchased in New Zealand and his pre-sale cost was listed at HK $2,372,000 - significantly less than his auction price which equates to $ US 771,506.

In all 19 lots went under the hammer today and they sold for HK $43 million at an average of HK $2,263,158 and a median of HK $2 million.

The gross jumped from HK $ 41,500,000 last year despite six fewer lots being sold. Consequently the average was up dramatically from the 2003 figure of HK $ 1,660,000.

´I think we can say that an average of over $2.2 million is outstanding and an indicator that the economy is on the up. We were hoping for an average of about $1.7 million,

'But it´s not just about the numbers. Profit here is not the priority. We need to bring the right horses to Hong Kong and we´re selling them to our members so we certainly want satisfied customers,´ Engelbrecht-Bresges said.

Auctioneer Nick Nugent described the sales and the venue in glowing terms. ´It´s a fantastic venue, the lighting was great and there was plenty of bidding. Maybe next time a few more speakers would be a plus but overall it was great,´ said Nugent.