TASMANIAN Thoroughbred operation Grenville Stud has topped off a successful sale season finishing as the leading vendor at the Inglis Melbourne Premier auction.
The McCulloch family’s stud was the leading vendor by average after selling three yearlings which made a total of $700,000 and averaged $233,333.
Theirtop-pricedyearlingwas Lot 199, by So You Think and out of Time Commands, which sold for $280,000 to Joe Pride Racing.
Joe Pride Racing also purchased their second-top priced yearling, a colt by Street Boss and out of Encostar which made $270,000.
The stud also sold Lot 579 by So You Think and out of Miss Chierro for $150,000 to Mick Price Racing.
Bart McCulloch said the yearlings had attracted better than expected prices.
Mr McCulloch said they normally sent a small draft of yearlings to the premier sale and were very happy with this year’s sale results.
“We were very happy with the sale, the sale overall and most of the sales this year have been back a little bit, there’s been a bit of a correction with how the economy is in general,” he said.
“We thought we had nice horses to sell and we were fairlyconfident,buttheywere exceptionally well received when they got there and well and truly exceeded our expectations. Certainly, the two colts, they definitely made more than we thought they would.”
The stud generally sells about 25 to 30 yearlings a year and has now sold all of this year’s draft.
Mr McCulloch said this year’s Tasmanian Magic Millions yearling sale was also a success for them, with plenty of demand from local buyers.
He said this demonstrated the underlying confidence in the Tasmanian racing industry.
“Racing in Tassie is as good as it has ever been and prize money is quite strong,” Mr McCulloch said.
“All in all, the state of the industry is in a good place from a prize money perspective,” he said.