The 2010 Sydney Classic Yearling Sale came to a close at Newmarket on Monday and was highlighted by an average of $32,913 which was up from $26,598 in 2009.

Turnover of $12.67 million represented a 20% increase on figures from 12 months ago, a remarkable result for a catalogue offering 85 fewer lots.  The clearance rate for the two sessions was also a very healthy 83%.

Inglis Managing Director Mark Webster said there were a number of factors that contributed to the positive result, which is in contrast to most other sales around the world over the past 18 months.  “We worked hard to get buyers here and it was great to see the sale buck the trend with the average up 24% and the median up 25%” Webster said.

“In saying that, we made a conscious decision to be more selective when recruiting yearlings and we were prepared to offer slightly fewer horses, over two days instead of three.  As a result we had good feedback from buyers about the quality and the format.”

Red hot sire Fastnet Rock claimed the sale topper early in Monday, with Kieran Moore bidding $250,000 for a bay colt from the Octagonal mare Sea Folly, a half-sister to the G1 C F Orr Stakes winner Special Dane.  The sale topper was prepared by Widden Stud, who had previously sold current Group 1 star Whobegotyou at Classic.

“Classic has always been a type sale and it was good to have more yearlings with pedigree to back up their looks this year,” Webster said.  “The top price of $250,000 shows you can bring yearlings to this sale by the best stallions and get them sold for the right money.

The Classic Sale provided a platform to launch the Racing Rewards Club, an initiative of Racing NSW for racehorse industry participants.

“We had a great response to the program with many buyers taking up the option to double or triple their points by nominating to the Inglis Race Series and taking up Inglis Insurance.”

Sunday’s opening session was topped by Golden Grove’s bay colt by Danehill’s multiple European Group 1 winner Oratorio from the Desert Prince mare Pacific Dreams, which was knocked down to Bert Vieira for $200,000.  The colt is from the family of Mamzelle Pedrille, O’Lonhro and the recently retired Group 3 winning Classic graduate I Am Invincible.