MICK Goss of Summerhill Stud writes in tribute to buyers and vendors at Sunday’s Emperors Palace Ready To Run Sale:

“Last night’s Emperors Palace Ready To Run Sale was a tribute to the far sightedness, the enterprise and guts of our countrymen who made up the bulk of the buying bench at an historic sale. It was historic for a number of reasons, the principal of which was the record turnover and the record average, posted in the most austere economic circumstances in our lifetime.

“In the end, it had to be a compliment to the quality of the horses on offer, but that should not detract from the commitment buyers made in this day and age, and it just shows how deep the lure of a racehorse can be. Quite obviously, racing fans have become disillusioned with the vagaries of the stock market, the bad news we see across the tabloids and on our TV sets everyday, and they’ve decided to hell with it all, let’s get ourselves a racehorse.

“They know that there’ll still be Julys, Mets, Summer Cups and Ready To Run Cups in the years ahead, and they obviously love the idea of the possibility of getting a run for the R2 million pot on offer on the first Saturday in November.

“It wasn’t all plain sailing though, with the disparity between the top lots and the bottom something of a chasm, and the sale divided into specific segments, soft for the first 50 lots or so, and again for the last 20, but surprisingly strong for most of the middle part.

“In the end, the sale turned R31,030,000 (last year R23,685,000, and R27,530,000 in 2009). The average this year was R189,207, against respective averages for 2010 and 2009 of R154,804 and R177,613. The increase in average was 22% on last years, and the aggregrate was 31% up. Summerhill’s average for the sale was R205 000, which we would have to consider satisfactory in the circumstances. There are always hard luck stories in a sale wherever and whenever it takes place, and this one was no different, but given the clearance rate and the other outcome, it was something of a miracle.

” To the number one country in the world, from the best consignors of Ready To Run thoroughbreds in the world, thank you.”

Photo courtesy of summerhill.co.za