Irish-bred son of Kodiac tops Hong Kong International Sale at HK$6.5 million

An Irish-bred son of Kodiac claimed top lot honours at the Hong Kong International Sale at Sha Tin on Saturday, as 11 lots changed hands for HK$31.7 million (£3.359m/€3.747m).

Bred by Lodge Park Stud, the striking grey was knocked down to Kerm Din for HK$6.5m (£688,790/€768,440), having been selected by the Hong Kong Jockey Club for 525,000gns from Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale in 2018.

Din will be hoping to repeat the success he enjoyed with a previous purchase from the Sha Tin sale ring, having picked up the enigmatic dual Group 1 winner Pakistan Star in 2016.

The sale-topper is out of the Group 3-placed Dark Angel mare Coolnagree, meaning he is a half-brother to two winners, while Hong Kong champion sprinter Lucky Nine also appears beneath his third dam.

The second-top lot was also bred in Ireland, as owner Derek Tam Lap-tak went to HK$4m for the Exceed And Excel gelding out of the winning Galileo mare Callistan.

Bred by Michael Enright, the son of Exceed And Excel, a brother to the two-time winner Snow Ocean, hails from the famed Alruccaba family, meaning Group 1-winning talents such as Aussie Rules, Allegretto, Albanova and Alborada appear further back in his pedigree, as well as Yesterday, Quarter Moon and Diamondsandrubies.

The gelding was bought by the Hong Kong Jockey Club for 130,000gns at Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.

The Exceed And Excel gelding out of Callistan sells for HK$4 millionCredit: Hong Kong Jockey Club

A significantly smaller offering meant the aggregate price was down markedly on last year's sale, when 27 lots fetched HK$116.2m, while the 11 lots that sold brought an average of HK$2.88m (£305,380/€340,695) down 33 per cent, and median of HK$2.5, down 36 per cent.

William Nader, director of racing business and operations at the Hong Kong Jockey Club, said of trade: "We expected prices would be a little bit down today because of the economy and the global pandemic. There were no great surprises and we're happy with the results.

"The most important point is that our interests are aligned to the owners. Our job is to select horses and prepare horses who can come in and produce a positive outcome for Hong Kong racing, so the true success of the sale will be known in the future.

"We've made a few changes to help fine-tune the process and we are always aiming to get better year on year.

"It's an ongoing process and we think the horses, having come in much earlier this year – in December – have acclimated better for the sale; we think the breeze-up last week was much better as a result and we hope this approach will manifest positively in the performances of the horses next season."

The sale had been scheduled to take place on March 20 but was postponed because of the Covid-19 situation. A second sale will be held at Sha Tin on July 3.

Saturday's sale offered horses purchased as yearlings in Europe and South America, while the upcoming auction will offer mostly those bought in Australia and New Zealand, whose arrival in Hong Kong was delayed as a result of Covid-19 travel restrictions.

The upcoming July Sale is also likely to include three lots – sourced in South Africa and Ireland – which were withdrawn from the May sale in order to give them more time to mature.

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