Hokkaido Training Sale Maintains Positive Results

[Wandering Eyes]

The latest renewal of the Hokkaido Training Sale saw an increase in the clearance rate from the previous year, with 69.2% of the 234 lots offered selling on May 22 at Sapporo Racecourse. While the gross and average saw an overall decline from the previous year, the sale continued to post higher numbers than before the so-called Maurice (Jpn) bump, which took place between 2016 and 2017, and it has now settled back into a more maintainable level of gradual market growth.

Groups from Singapore, Malaysia, Korea, and Hong Kong all turned out for the sale, continuing the boom of international attention that the Hokkaido sales have been enjoying over the past couple of years.

Epiphaneia (Jpn) and Fenomeno (Jpn), two freshman sires set to start debuting in June, were represented by the most lots at the sale and were eagerly snapped up by customers. Seven of the eight by Fenomeno (Jpn) were sold with the highest lot being 98, a filly out of Carlea (USA), that was purchased by Northern Farm for ¥12,960,000 (USD$118,583). All six of the Epiphaneia (Jpn) lots sold with the top lot being 66, a colt out of a Dance in the Dark (Jpn) mare that was bought by Tetsuhide Kunimoto for ¥21,600,000 (USD$197,639). The top five stallions with the best averages for the day were Reach the Crown (Jpn), Transcend (Jpn), Screen Hero (Jpn), French Deputy and South Vigorous (Jpn). Promising young sire Just a Way (Jpn) had only two in the sale but managed an average of ¥13,500,000 (USD$123,524) for the day.

The highest-priced colt and overall sale topper was lot 245 by Reach the Crown (Jpn), which went to Northern Farm for ¥36,720,000 (USD$335,986). The second-highest priced colt was lot 127, a Screen Hero (Jpn) colt that Normandy Farm went up to ¥24,300,000 (USD$222,344) to obtain. The highest-priced filly of the day was lot 151, a Sinister Minister who was sold to Koichi Takeshita for ¥14,580,000 (USD$133,406).

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