The Saratoga sale represents the first foray into the American yearling market for the Everest slot holder, Australian Aquis Farm.
Together with Let's Go Stable, and Crawford Farm Racing the group knocked down a Curlin colt out of Wapi, a daughter of Scat Daddy who was a champion in Chile for a final bid of US$1.5 million.
By the end of the evening at the Fasig-Tipton yearling auction, the veteran consignment operation had sold two seven-figure yearlings by the Hill 'n' Dale Farms stallion for total receipts of US$$2.5 million.
"We've been coming to Saratoga for a long time," said Denali's Conrad Bandoroff. "We love selling here, we've got a really good track record here, and we really felt like, coming into it, we were bringing a nice group of horses here. As the showing played out in the early days, this might have been our best group of horses we've brought up here, certainly in my recollection."
Bloodstock agent Demi O'Byrne signed the ticket on behalf of the partnership and said the colt was the first the group had purchased at the select sale. The plan is to send the youngster to conditioner Todd Pletcher for training.
"We've had Demi on board for a while. We came up here, we looked at 25 colts, and he said this is the one," said Shane McGrath, CEO of Aquis Farm in Australia. "I came up and looked at him, and I agreed with him. Fortunately, Todd Pletcher loved him as well, and at the end of the day when you have the colt of the sale, you are going to have to step up. We're a big operation in Australia, and we want to get global. Hopefully, this looks like a one-turn horse. We look forward to being here with him next year. (Demi) has found some pretty good ones in the past, and hopefully this is another one."
Since its founding in 2015, the farm has spent over AU$50 million acquiring bloodstock at public auctions and privately in Australia and boasts an ever-increasing broodmare band of 186 mares and 165 horses in training.
"The prize money is so good in Australia now," McGrath said. "If he's good, you would have to consider (running him in Australia). We'll give him to Todd Pletcher. He'll work it out, and if he says he's good enough to come down, maybe he can be an Everest horse. We have an Everest slot this year, but if he's good enough, I'd love to bring him down in due course. But at the end of the day, he's only a yearling, so at the moment we're allowed to dream.