The Sunshine Stars Yearling Sales were held on Sunday afternoon where 128 catalogued lots were up for sale, before the afternoon wound up with the auction for barrier slots in The Hayden.
Overall, the clearance rate saw 50 of the 128 sold through the ring, with that increasing to 54 with terms met for another four reached later in the day for an average of $26,342.
That equates to a clearance rate of 42.19% with the breakdown being 47 of 103 pacing lots sold and seven of 25 trotters reaching sale.
The top price of the day was split, with two colts reaching $80,000, the top price filly went to $75,000 while the top trotter was $25,000.
Ladbrokes Racing Club outlaid $80,000 to secure the Brittany Graham consigned and prepared colt by Captain Crunch out of Lets Go One Bettor, a Bettors Delight mare that placed one in three starts.
Michael Boots also had to go to $80,000 to secure the Sweet Lou colt out of the eight time winning mare Rock On.
The colt is the first foal of his dam and was prepared by Burwood Stud on behalf of the Stu Valentine Advanced Standardbreds.
Rickie Alchin consigned and prepared the top filly, out of the seven win race mare Ourark, which hails from a family littered with top Queensland performers, the filly being by the first season sire Stay Hungry.
Jack Butler was the successful bidder, going to $75,000 to get the filly, with Butler outlining he came to get the filly and was happy to be going home with the one he wanted.
Daniel Cordina secured the top-priced trotter from the sale, outlaying $25,000 for a filly by the French stallion Up And Quick out of Black Mamba Cheval.
The two-year-old Sebastian K half-brother to the filly is also owned by Cordina and qualified last week at Albion Park and will race under the name Agent Black.
At the completion of the yearlings, the auction for slots in The Hayden was conducted, with interest high for the inaugural event.
Barrier one was the first lot to go under the hammer with some stalled bidding early before it started to get going, eventually knocked down to Harvey Kaplan and Harshell Investments for $19,000.
Barrier five also went for $19,000 and was taken by Sam Barletta on behalf of Panasonic Studio Productions, while Jamie Durnberger-Smith and Summit Bloodstock went to $17,000 in securing barrier nine.
In total, the auction raised $131,000 which will go into the stake money of The Hayden, meaning the 2023 inaugural edition will be run for $231,000 following the $100,000 seeding provided by Racing Queensland.
THE WILDCARD
Heston Zoolander was a big winner at Redcliffe last Thursday when ripping around The Triangle and claiming a nine metre winning margin.
Sent to the front soon after the start by Brendan Barnes for trainer Graham Dwyer, the tempo was sizzling early with an 11.1 second lead time followed by a slick 27.8 second quarter.
Not taking the foot off the pedal at any stage, a 29.3 second split was followed by a 27.5 second third quarter to open the field right up.
Despite getting a little weary in the latter stages, Heston Zoolander had created a big enough gap on his rivals to claim the victory and stop the clock in a sizzling 1.53.5 mile rate.
That is the fourth fastest winning time ever recorded at Redcliffe, just 0.4 seconds off the track record held by Sam Is Perfection, a pacer which Barnes also drove to victory in claiming that record.
The two other fastest times around The Triangle are former track record holder At West Point in 1.53.3 and Tommy Lincoln with his 1.53.4 performance recorded in March 2022.
Heston Zoolander has now had 34 career starts, recording eight wins and six minors, with his best winning time a 1.52.5 mile claimed at Albion Park in December last year, with four of his eight wins since joining the stables of Dwyer.
Another Dwyer-trained runner claimed victory on Friday night just outside a personal best, with Hipstar winning the AQWA Constructions Qualifying Pace in a slick 1.54.9 for the 2138 metre journey.
Settled four back along the inside behind a hot tempo, Barnes was able to squeeze off the inside at the 800 metres, which proved to be a master stroke as the leader, Geldof, started to yield ground at the 600 metre mark.
With The High Commander looking to establish a winning break, the only danger appeared to be Hipstar and the seven-year-old chased hard, finishing best to record the 13th win of his career.
It was a good week for Dwyer’s Kingslodge team, with a Marburg win to Little Change and another strong performance by Despondent to win at Albion Park on Tuesday.
The Kingslodge team rounded out the week as the most active of any of the local stables at Sunday’s Sunshine Stars Yearling Sales.
Directly or for stable clients, they came away with a filly by Bettors Delight, a filly by Always B Miki and a Sweet Lou colt, which is closely related to Heston Zoolander.