CLASSY PROSPECT, racing for the first time with Shane Ellis aboard, powers home by 21/4 lengths as the 1-4 favourite in the sixth race for the Royal Lancaster Trophy over the round-five course at Caymanas Park last Saturday. - Colin Hamilton/Freelance Photographer
As many as 213 lots will be offered at the annual Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders' Association (TOBA) Yearling Sale to be held in the official car park at Caymanas Park tomorrow, starting at 9 a.m.
This will bring to a climax the Super Weekend of racing which commenced yesterday and continues today with the 31st running of the ADL Superstakes over 2000 metres with a purse of $6 million.
Howard Hamilton, president of TOBA, predicts that this sale will erase the record numbers of last year.
good sales
"With Jamaican-bred horses having done remarkably well in Trinidad over the past two years, we are expecting a large contingent of buyers from the Eastern Caribbean once again", said Hamilton.
"Last year, they purchased 35 yearlings for a grand total of $33 million, and these figures could be history on Sunday," he added.
A bay colt by Image Maker out of De Barrel Come, bred by Argyll Farms, fetched the record price of $2.7 million last year. The yearling was purchased by Barbadian owner Elias Haloute and is being conditioned by trainer Anthony 'Baba' Nunes to make his long-awaited debut.
Haloute, owner of last year's Superstakes winner AD INFINITUM, flew into the island on Tuesday for this weekend's activities.
A total of 177 yearlings were sold for a record turnover of $104.8 million.
private breeders
Hamilton said that despite an issue with one prominent breeder, all the top stud farms and private breeders will be represented, including HAM Stables Limited, Argyll Farms, Henry W. Jaghai (Bombay), Y.S. (1955) Limited, Orange Valley Estates Limited, Lakeland Farms, Spring Park Stud Farm, Paradise Farm along with private breeders such as Carl Anderson, Edition Chi, Lawrence Hefts, Percival Tomlinson, Mark and Susan Watts, Owen and Solomon Sharpe and Ken Gooden.
Lots are available for inspection from 8 a.m. tomorrow.