Australian Easter Yearling Sale
Published April 18th, 2006
Thoroughbred prices surged on the first day of Australia’s Easter Yearling Sale as gains in the stock market helped to spur demand for million-dollar racehorses.
The opening 79 lots sold in the sale’s first session averaged A$261,000 ($192,000) today compared with last year’s record of A$207,633, when 436 horses were sold over the event’s three days. Prices at the Sydney sale, the world’s third-biggest auction of year-old foals, may beat last year’s, said Jonathan D’Arcy, a director at auctioneer William Inglis & Son. Ltd.
Vendors including Dubai’s Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum are counting on a 15th year of expansion in Asia- Pacific’s fifth-largest economy to spur Thoroughbred prices. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index has jumped more than 9 percent to a record this year, unemployment is at a 29-year low of 5 percent, and wages grew 4.2 percent in the fourth quarter.
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