West Australian breeders and Magic Millions are reviewing results from the 2011 Perth Premier yearling sale.  

An 8% rise saw the average grow to $44,669 but, behind the scenes, vendors were alarmed by the number of yearlings that were passed-in.  The overall clearance rate dropped to an unacceptable 67%.

“We don’t have the depth at this stage to hold a 440 horse Premier Sale,” TBWA president Ian Riley said in an interview with West Australian newspaper columnist Ernie Manning.  “Despite the efforts of Magic Millions and Thoroughbred Breeders WA, we have been unable to develop a buying bench which warrants a sale with the size of this year’s catalogue.”

A proposal to reduce the Premier Sale from three sessions to two will be the first step in rationalising the auction.  Riley said there was a strong contingent of interstate and overseas buyers for the first two sessions (Wed Feb 9 & Thurs Feb 10) but the majority left on Friday morning due to weekend racing commitments.

Railey suggested that could be resolved by selling 200 Premier yearlings on the first two days of the sale.

The incoming TBWA president also urged Sunspeed breeders to lift the quality of yearlings on offer. “There’s no doubt we need to strengthen our local, overseas and interstate buying benches,” Riley said.  “We need to improve the depth of our sale to attract them.”