Australian trainer Peter Moody has secured the most expensive colt on day two of the Karaka Yearling Sale from the farm which gave him his first Group One winner.
Moody, the underbidder on the $1.975 million ($1.6 million) colt sold on day one, paid $NZ775,000 ($A625,580) for a half-brother to Cox Plate winner Ocean Park offered at the Premier Yearling Sale by Trelawney Stud.
“It’s been a wonderful nursery for a number of years,” Moody said after beating John O’Shea to the Pins-Sayyida colt.
“They bred my first Group One winner in Amalfi and I’ve trained a lot of winners of that farm since.”
Moody said the colt was an impressive individual that should make at least a sprinter-miler.
“Had he been by Pins out of an unraced mare’s first foal you would have been taken with him. Adding Ocean Park in his pedigree put $400,000 on his cost,” he said.
“Ocean Park went through the entire spring basically undefeated. There was no doubt the Mackinnon was an afterthought … and if this bloke’s half as good he’s going to be cheap.”
Trelawney Stud managing director Brent Taylor said it was the highest seller the stud had offered in several years.
“Our reserve was half that so we were prepared to meet the market,” he said.
“Anything over $500,000 we would have been delighted with – to get to that level is fantastic.”
Selling remained tough at Karaka, with those who did have money to buy getting the horses cheaper than they expected.
“They’ve had as good a bunch of horses here as they’ve had for the past couple of years, but we’ve been able to get on the right side of the market this time,” said Mark Richards of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, the leading buyer after day one of the sale.