Exciting purchases at the South African National Yearling Sales

At a vibrant sale of 571 catalogued yearlings in Johannesburg, the average rose nearly 20% year on year and an apparent clearance rate of 90% showed the strength of demand. Whilst the aggregates spent by Charles Laird, John Freeman, Form Bloodstock and Team Valor headed the lists by some way, the European representation of Peter Doyle Bloodstock and David Allan’s Allan Bloodlines sat strongly in the Top 20.

Allan bought 8 yearlings at prices ranging from R 525,000 to R 100,000. Included were particularly impressive colts purchased for a client of

Vaughan Marshall by Al Mufti, National Emblem and first season sire Tamburlaine. The Allan team of horses in training rose to 12, supplemented by yearling fillies by National Emblem and Tara’s Halls to be trained by Marshall near Cape Town and a filly from the last crop of Rich Man’s Gold to join Alistair Gordon’s string near Durban.