Racing: Buyers spend large on Christian Cullen stock

Brent Mangos had a truly scary experience yesterday - he won.

While that is usually a good feeling, when the victory is in a bidding war at the sales it tends to come with plenty of pressure.

Which is why the Pukekohe trainer left the salesgrounds not long after paying $160,000 to top the last day of the annual standardbred yearling sales in Christchurch to head to the nearest pub for a quiet stiff drink.

The huge price was for a Christian Cullen filly from Alicia Maree, a member of the Courage Under Fire family.

He bought the filly on behalf of a syndicate which will include some of the owners of his champion filly Molly Darling.

As the hammer went down Mangos wasn't sure whether to celebrate or faint.

"It is a lot of money, more than I thought I'd ever pay for a horse before this week," said Mangos.

"But she is a great investment. While we would love her to be a good racehorse she is worth a lot as a broodmare regardless."

Mangos actually tried to pay more for a filly on the first day of the sale on Tuesday, only to miss out to good mate Tim Butt.

Mangos went to $205,000 for the top-priced yearling of the week only for Butt to buy it for $210,000.

"I was just shaking my head last night [Tuesday] when I thought about going to $205,000 for a filly and missing it.

"But that is what made me come back here today and as soon as I saw this filly I loved her.

"It is a lot money for any yearling and I'll admit I was feeling the pressure a bit toward the end but when you take emotion out of it I think we did the right thing."

The purchase continued the very strong market for well-bred fillies this week, especially those out of the modern families with speedsters Elsu, Courage Under Fire or Stars And Stripes close up in the pedigrees.

That can only be a healthy sign for the industry as it shows many of the big spenders this week are looking for long-term involvement in the industry and are hoping to be back at the sales as sellers in the future.

Mangos wasn't the only northern trainer to break the $100,000 mark yesterday, with Barry Purdon paying $130,000 for a Christian Cullen colt from Chokhann, a sister to Purdon's greatest ever horse Chokin.

That capped a strong week for Purdon who, although he is at the top of the trainers' premiership, has lacked large number of classic-quality stock in recent seasons.

He should have solved that now.

All the major northern stables were heavily involved this week, with Geoff Small, Tony Herlihy, John Green and the Lincoln Farms operation all spending up large.

Tim Butt led the southern charge, fuelled by West Australian owner Neven Botica, but big spenders were hard to find among the Canterbury owners, with the obvious exception of Dennis Thompson.

He expected to end the sales with around 14 horses, the same number he purchased last season.

The strength of the two-day Christchurch sale had even the most optimistic industry insiders shaking their heads in disbelief.

After the $28,150 average at Karaka on Monday most, including auctioneers PGG Wrightson, expected there to be a huge difference in the Christchurch average.

That didn't turn out to be the case with yesterday's very strong selling bringing the two-day average to just over $27,000.

"That is a result we couldn't have dreamed of with this many numbers," said PGG Wrightson spokesman Bruce Barlass.

The huge boost in averages this week was obviously thanks to the crazed demand for stock of champion sire Christian Cullen.

And the good news for the future is he is still a relatively young stallion who could be a player in the sales market for the next decade.

The question is now whether harness racing clubs, particularly in the south, can raise their games and bring stakes up to a level which reflects the prices being paid by owners.