International Bloodstock Agent Hubie De Burgh kicked off the annual National Yearling Sale with a bang and he has ended his four-day visit to New Zealand on a similar note.
De Burgh outlaid $500,000 for an I Am Invincible filly early on day one at Karaka and he matched thatfigure when he purchased Lot 657, a Savabeel colt out of O'Reilly mare Cupid from the Waikato Stud draft.
The colt is a three-quarter brother to Waikato Stud's $1.4 million sale-topping Savabeel/Make A Wish colt, a fact that wasn't lost on De Burgh.
"He is closely related to the $1.4 million colt, who is a beautiful horse that we wanted to buy, but I didn't have that sort of chequebook," he said. "If we were looking for a Cox Plate horse then I guess this guy (Lot 657) is what he is.
"He's a really athletic horse who is beautifully balanced and really walks — he just floats on air.
"He is by this great stallion, out of the great Savabeel/O'Reilly cross, and also has Pins in his next dam.
"When you package that up and he has also come from a great stud who breeds so many group winners, you are reducing the level of risk."
As with the I Am Invincible filly, the colt is headed to Lindsay Park in Melbourne for Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum and his Shadwell Racing operation.
"We're done now, we've blown the chequebook," De Burgh said. "We bought four for Sheikh Hamdan and tried to balance things up.
"I still go back and talk about the prizemoney you can win. It (the sale price) is a lot of money, so let's not be flippant about it, but if you have been lucky enough to buy a horse that can gallop then you can win that back.
