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Sells for HK$7.8 million at the HKIS on Saturday
A son of Newgate Farm's record-breaking sire Deep Field (Northern Meteor) topped the 2022 Hong Kong International Sale on Saturday after selling for HK$7.8 million. During the sale, which was held in the Sha Tin parade ring, the 17 lots offered realised a total of HK$71 million.
By the same sire as Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint (1200m) winner Sky Field and a host of other Hong Kong winners including The Golden Scenery, Californiadeepshot and Winning Dreamer, the gelding was one of four lots to top HK$5 million.
Underscoring the popularity of Deep Field, who holds the Hong Kong single-season record for prize money earned by progeny, the Lot 11 is out of the winning More Than Ready (Southern Halo) mare Bousquet. He was bought for $550,000 at the 2021 Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale and on Saturday was bought by Yue Yun Hing.
The Yue family, who have raced a host of successful horses in Hong Kong including Panfield and Butterfield, also claimed the second highest-lot at the sale with the HK$7 million purchase of Lot 7, an Irish-bred son of Starspangledbanner (Choisir) who sold to Edmond Yue Kwok Yin.
Lot 15 – a chestnut gelding by Snitzel (Redoute's Choice) out of Encosta de Lago (Fairy King) mare Houston Benefactor – was purchased by Yip Wing Kui for HK$5.8 million, while Lot 4 – a bay gelding by Fastnet Rock (Danehill) out of Diana's Star (Northern Meteor) – was secured by Philip Liu Chun Hang for HK$5 million.
The sale average was HK$4.1 million, up from $HK2.95 million in 2021, while the median reached HK$3.6 million, up from $2.8 million in 2021.
Mr Danny Rolston, the Hong Kong Jockey Club's Executive Manager, International Sale/Owners Advisory Services, said: "With significant increases in average and gross turnover, the Club is overall really happy with the outcome of the sale – the strong results are a reflection of the Hong Kong Jockey Club members' confidence in the horses that have been selected for the sale, the results of the graduates that have come out of the sale but most importantly the confidence and strength of Hong Kong racing and this is a reflection of the significant increases in prize money for next season.
"I think the two top lots were fairly obviously going to be the highlight horses, they breezed particularly well and they're both by stallions that are very popular. Beyond that it's really hard to predict what the horses are going to sell for and just how much the turnover will be but we're very happy to see such a significant increase in gross turnover.
"While we sold 17 horses here today, that was just the select group of horses that was decided were completely well suited to the environment in Hong Kong to be offered at the sale. There's still 12 that didn't come to the sale and that is a reflection of the standard that we have before we even bring them through for the auction."
Click here to view the sale results.
