A colt by recently pensioned South African champion sire Silvano (Ger) took top billing during the first of two sessions of the Bloodstock South Africa National 2-Year-Old Sale on Thursday. Offered by Wilgerbosdrift Stud as lot 100, the fourth foal out of the dual Group 1 winner Europa Point (Ire) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}) was bought by Form Bloodstock for R1.1 million ($70,494/£53,710/€59,723) and was the only seven-figure transaction of the day. The colt's third dam, Sheroog (Shareef Dancer), is a full-sister to Colorado Dancer (Ire), the dam of Dubai Millennium, and thus it is also the family of leading South African sire Fort Wood.
Silvano also supplied the session's top-priced filly, lot 54, who was bought by John Freeman for R360,000 ($23,070/£17,581/€19,545). The Ridgemont Highlands-consigned filly is the fourth foal out of the Group 1-placed Careful Hiker (SAf) (Spectrum {Ire}), herself a daughter of the South African champion broodmare Our Table Mountain (Fusaichi Pegasus), a half-sister to American turf champion Artie Schiller.
On the first day of trade, 162 of the 184 2-year-olds offered were sold for an aggregate of R18,680,000 ($1,196,113/£911,770/€1,014,215). The average and median both ticked up 11.7% at R115,309 ($7,383/£5,628/€6,255) and R67,500 ($4,322/£3,294/€3,661), respectively.
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