THE 201 CTS Ready To Run Sale presented by Lanzerac Hotel and Spa, with 159 lots offered, proceeded smoothly in a packed marquee at Durbanville on Saturday evening, reports MARK VAN DEVENTER.

Doing the accounting after 145 horses were sold, an aggregate of R28,120,000 was attained at an average of R193, 931 with a solid median figure of R140,000.

Under the buyer –friendly, breeze-up concept, pedigree buffs and conformation specialists were also able to watch the youngsters gallop on Friday to add another dimension to their decision making. When all the positive factors were in alignment, competitive bidding ensued.

Lot 58, Warrior’s Rest attracted loads of interest, eventually going to Chris van Niekerk’s Rainbow Beach Trading for R900,000. The colt is by champion speedball, What A Winter out of Bardot, so a half brother to Grade 1 Woolavington winner Viva Maria. Joint sales topper was a flashy, unnamed son of Excelebration, who duelled with the legendary Frankel during his high class racing career. Lot 104 was eventually signed for by Solar Capital.

Trainer Glen Kotzen had his keen eye on a finely bred Philanthropist colt, securing Lot 95, Pack Leader for R700,000. A few lots earlier, Wheels Are Up, by new sire Crusade, made a big impact on the ring after breezing up so fluently, with Mayfair Speculators signing for the colt out of an Al Mufti mare at R700 000.

Other significant sales were Lot 111, Dyno Man consigned by The Rock stud which fetched R650,000 and a Var colt, Henry Tudor that reached R625,000. Form Bloodstock have been active in recent weeks at British sales and here they secured a Lope de Vega filly from Soetendal Stud for R525,000.

Lot 135, Barrack Street, by Dynasty and sporting a potent pedigree went for R500,000 whilst Lot 113, Good Genes, an aptly named  Silvano filly realised the same amount. Similarly, Lot 39, an unnamed colt by stellar sprinter Choisir was sold to the Sport City Trust.

CTS are constantly innovating to make owning thoroughbred an attractive proposition. In that spirit they’ve partnered with Kuda Insurance to create an exciting new juvenile race on Sun Met day. Graduates from this sale and next month’s CTS Johannesburg RTR will be eligible for a substantial million rand stake. This is a tremendous initiative providing owners with the prospect of making a quick return just a few months after purchase. It will also generate more interest in qualifying juvenile races in the build up to this lucrative end of January 1200m contest at Kenilworth.

Assessing this weekend’s sale, bloodstock doyen, John Kramer said, “As usual, the market is stallion driven, but there are bargains to be found amongst the less popular sires.” Progeny by the elite class of Silvano, Dynasty, Captain Al, Var, Oratorio, Judpot, Gimmethgreenlight, What a Winter, and Querari were especially sought after and predictably featured at the top of the rankings.

Klawervlei Stud run a formidable operation and they sent 22 horses to market, getting back R6,795,00 at a sterling  average of just over 300K to top the vendors list. Lammerskraal Stud is another quality producer and their nine sales were achieved at the well above- average figure of R258,333.

Spencer Cook of The Rock declared himself “thrilled and delighted” with the return that the stud collected. Cook was associated with last year’s R2,5 million Ready To Run winner, Budapest and his Paarl farm slotted in second on the log by aggregate as their draft raked in just under R3 million.

These are all healthy numbers prompting CTS Managing Director, Adrian Todd to say, “We’re very happy, and expected as much given the very good catalogue.” Buyers will be hoping for history to repeat itself given that this sale has previously yielded such equine luminaries as multi- million earning hero Captain America, Equus Champ French Navy, the power sprinters Red Ray and Brutal Force as well as Equus Juvenile star, Always in Charge.

Results here: http://capethoroughbredsales.com/results/2016-rtr