A new European record for an untried two-year-old in training was set at the Tattersalls Breeze-up Sale in Newmarket last week.
The colt, a son of Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus out of the 1992 Nunthorpe Stakes winner Lyric Fantasy, was bought for 500,000gns by Yukari Sekiguchi on behalf of her father, Fusao, who owned and raced Fusaichi Pegasus.
Consigned by Con Marnane of Bansha House Stables – who set the previous European breeze-up record of 260,000gns for a Danehill colt a year ago – the horse will be trained in Japan.
Results in the sale ring, and on the racecourse, have demonstrated that the breeze-up auction has reached a level far removed from its original concept of providing an outlet for precocious, cheap juveniles.
The Fusaichi Pegasus-Lyric Fantasy colt boasted first-crop sire status, which is a leading attraction at both yearling and breeze-up sales, and he passed all the tests – pedigree, conformation, performance and soundness – to bring in as much money as a top sales yearling. Marnane emphasised that the colt had “always been sheer class”.
The power of the yen dominated at the top in a market that reached record levels across the board, but was patchy below the top.
Breeze-up sales worldwide have produced record prices this year – Fusao Sekiguchi paid $4.5 million for another Pegasus colt at the Fasig-TiptonCalder Select sale in February, and Aisling Cross Duignan, representing Coolmore stud, paid $3.3m for a Pulpit-In My Cap colt in Keeneland last week.
