Always back the horse named self-interest, son. It'll be the only one trying
Steve Stockman (pictured) and his Stonewall Stud operation have burst onto the scene as major yearling buyers in the past three years, but it doesn’t mean that they are any good at it. In fact on the evidence of their 6 figure or more buys since 2020, they are bloody useless. Thank god it’s a […]
With a few rare exceptions yesterday’s APG Melbourne yearling sale was a massive fail, with a vast swathe of the draft going unwanted and unsold. The clearance rate – the percentage of lots sold – was just 65.49 percent, meaning that over 3 in 1o yearlings that entered the ring left it under new ownership, […]
Based on the evidence of last night’s Hunter Cup meeting there are only three sires whose offspring any smart, results driven buyer at today’s APG Melbourne sale would be loo0king at. They are: Captain Treacherous, the world champion sire who threw the first 4 placegetters in the Group 1 4yo Bonanza Bettors Delight, who sired […]
With all the hoopla and hype about Moody Racing’s $1.6 million purchase of the top lot this week from the Karaka yearling sales, we thought it an opportune time to look back at the top priced lots from the previous 5 years and see where they are now and where they’ve been. Sadly the news […]
We tipped that Arbit Each Way and Chantal McMullen’s single lots would attract interest. Both did. McMullen’s didn’t sell, but that’s because she had a massive $80 000 reserve on it, which suggests that they are interested in keeping it at home. Arbit Each Way’s one went for $34 000, which was well above the […]
Media personality and harness racing licensee Brittany Graham presented three yearlings to the sales yesterday, and each of them looked an absolute picture of glowing health and success. Her Bettor’s Delight filly didn’t reach its reserve, which was understandably high, but both her her Captain Midnight filly and her Sweet Lou colt went for the […]
A reader has written in to ask: You don’t think the future track uncertainty had anything to do with the results? The last announced position from government was Albion Park shut March 2025, and Norwell is not scheduled to open until Oct 2026 (if it does at all). This has probably had a pronounced effect […]
Today’s APG sale was a disaster on every front. The clearance rate – the number of lots sold – was down from almost 70% last year to just over 50%, meaning that almost half of the yearlings that went under the hammer didn’t sell. The average sale price of the ones that did sell was […]
The standardbred yearling sale kicks off on Sunday with the APG auction at the Gold Coast, and continues for the next 2 months solid after that. We thought it might be useful for prospective buyers to know which sires fire at the top level, and which ones don’t. Here it is. There were 50 Group […]
Surprisingly Burwood Stud haven’t brought a whole lot of quality to the sale, with its 6 lots being predominantly by bargain basement sires. I can’t get enthused about any of them, just as none of Cobbitty Equine Farm’s draft excites me very much. The Vagg family’s drafts often feature foals by bargain basement sires and […]
