GARY Player knows all about leading the field and he’ll be ecstatic that his Colesberg stud achieved top price of R1-million at the TBA KwaZulu-Natal Yearling Sale at the Suncoast Casino in Durban, writes RINGSIDER in Racing Express.

One of Bloodstock SA’s best clients is Adriaan van Vuuren and it was no surprise that his trainer, Michael Azzie, had told him this was a yearling they must take home.

“I’m delighted to have got him – not least because this is a strong winning family,” said Azzie on the Friday after the sale.

Nothing would please Gary Player more than to breed a horse who could win one of SA’s top races, like the Vodacom Durban July, J&B Met or Sansui Summer Cup, and he’s using a variety of stallions to achieve this goal.

The stud had a draft of 12 yearlings at the National Sales in April, with progeny by Var, Captain Al, Jay Peg, Mambo In Seattle, Rebel King, Windrush and Noordhoek Flyer.

Last weekend’s sale saw the average for the 262-lot catalogue reach a record of R100,268. The average in 2013 was R88,798.

“The sale went off well and we are thrilled with the results,” enthused Bloodstock SA sales manager Caroline Simpson.

There was some spirited bidding for a number of lots and the big spenders included Adriaan van Vuuren’s Misty Meadows operation, which laid out R1.54-million on four yearlings; trainer St John Gray, who spent R930,000 on four lots; Brian Burnard, who bought three for R900,000; trainer Duncan Howells with seven for R740,000 and young Gauteng trainer Johan Janse van Vuuren with four for R620,000.

Some of the notable sales included a Silvano colt from Maine Chance, who made R750,000 to a bid from Burnard; a Tiger Ridge colt from Ambleway Thoroughbreds bought by Ian van Schalkwyk for R450,000; and a Noordhoek Flyer colt from Gelykfontein Stud bought by Dean Kannemeyer for R425,000.

Trainer Mike Bass bought a Fort Wood colt from Mauritzfontein for R420,000, St John Gray went to R350,000 for a Captain Al filly from Boland Stud, Paul Lafferty spent R320,000 on a Toreador colt from The Alchemy and Mark Tarry secured a Silvano filly from Maine Chance for R320,000.

Mauritzfontein Stud emerged as top vendor with 10 yearlings sold for a total of R2.1-million.

Maine Chance sold nine for R1.7-million, The Alchemy nine for R1.5-million, Boland Stud 14 for R1.3-million and Scott Bros 16 for R1.2-million.

In the sires department, the averages of the leading stallions (three or more lots sold) were Silvano with three lots at an average of R423,333, Var with four lots at an average of 372,500, Noordhoek Flyer with three at an average of R243,333 and Fort Wood with four at an average of R242,500.

Ideal World, Mauritzfontein’s new stallion, returned the healthy average of R187,500 for his eight yearlings sold.

Michael Leaf, whose horse Wylie Hall was controversially demoted to second in last Saturday’s Durban July, went to R340,000 to purchase an Ideal World colt from Mauritzfontein.