Shamardal Gelding Leads Way in HK

[Wandering Eyes]

It lacked the same electricity that the first eight-figure horse in the history of the Hong Kong International Sale generated when a son of Holy Roman Emperor (Ire) was knocked down for HK$11 million in mid-March, but there was plenty of interest in the 14 ready-to-run gallopers on offer during a smaller June sale held Friday in the parade ring at Sha Tin Racecourse. A French-bred 3-year-old son of Shamardal–responsible over the last few years by Hong Kong Horse of the Year Able Friend (Aus) and more recently the wildly popular and enigmatic Pakistan Star (Ger)–led the proceedings on a bid of HK$2.8 million from the Evergreen Syndicate.

Purchased by the Hong Kong Jockey Club for €250,000 at the 2016 Arqana October Yearling Sale, lot 9 was a son of Light And Airy (GB) (Linamix {Fr}), the dam of G3 Athasi S. winner Gossamer Seed (Ire) (Choisir {Aus}). An O’Reilly gelding from the family of Hong Kong Derby winner Fay Fay (NZ) (Falkirk {NZ}) (lot 10) and a son of Aerovelocity (NZ) and Ambitious Dragon (NZ)’s sire Pins (Aus) (lot 14) each fetched final bids of HK$2.5 million.

“The Club has only one objective from its sales, which is to give Owners the opportunity to acquire good quality horses. We are pleased that we achieved that tonight,” commented Andrew Harding, Executive Director, Racing, for the HKJC, commented.

“This is the first time that we have restricted a sale in this way,” he continued. “We designed the sale specifically as a service to PPG (private purchase griffin) holders and because of that difference we knew that it would have an impact on the prices compared to the March sale. It is important to us to provide those PPG permit holders with an opportunity and that is what we have done here this evening. As with all of our sales, we did not come here to make a profit.”

Harding confirmed that the Club will again offer two sales in 2018/2019.

 

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