Jockey Club chief executive Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges maintains he was not surprised by the results of Friday night’s Hong Kong International Sale (HKIS) at Sha Tin, which saw only three lots sold for more than their presale cost and the average purchase price down more than 30 per cent year on year.

Held in June or July in recent times, the HKIS was this year shifted back to March for the first time since 2019 and the total spend on Friday night was HK$46.3 million, down HK$25 million on 2023.

Last year 10 of the 15 lots sailed past HK$4 million and the average price was HK$4.77 million, while on Friday only two horses sold from more than HK$3.8 million and the average slumped to HK$3.3 million.

Six of the 20 lots were withdrawn before the sale, including four in the 48 hours before the event.

“To be honest, I expected it,” Engelbrecht-Bresges said. “We took a gamble that we wanted to have the sale earlier, in March, so there were the new permits missing. The other thing is the performance of the sales horses the past two years was not up to standard. Then there’s the economic situation and we also lost some good horses who would have made money.”

The Jockey Club lost HK$15 million just on the horses who went through the ring, with the presale cost of the 14 lots exceeding HK$61 million, and it will look to recoup some of its additional losses by selling some of the withdrawn lots by private tender.

In existence to offer its members an alternate way to acquire bloodstock, the Jockey Club doesn’t set out to make money from the auction but obviously would much rather break even than incur heavy losses.

“We have a lot of confidence in the horses that we have offered,” said HKIS executive manager Danny Rolston.

Exciting Young Champion wows Sha Tin crowd and caps Teetan treble

“What we’re probably seeing is that when we bought these horses two years ago, we were operating in a very intense yearling market, so we’ve bought these horses at the very top of the market.

“We’re seeing a softening in horse sales around the world, which we’ve seen [on Friday night]. We’ve also seen a softening in our wagering turnover and also in the local stock market.

“I think the story of the night is that the sale has seen a bit of a drop in average, but with that comes an opportunity that we were able to give forward to our permit holders with some really nice horses.”

A Starspangledbanner gelding was the clear sale topper, with Cheung Kwok-wing shelling out HK$5.4 million for the galloper.

Lot 11, a Zoustar gelding bought by the Jockey Club for A$1 million (HK$5.1 million) at the 2022 Inglis Easter Yearling Sale, boasted a presale cost of HK$7.25 million but could only fetch HK$3.2 million in the ring.

Moore has sights on Success

Ryan Moore will reunite with Sight Success in the Group One Al Quoz Sprint (1,200m) on Dubai World Cup night at Meydan later this month.

The brilliant Briton’s only ride aboard the John Size-trained seven-year-old came in the same race 12 months ago, with the pair finishing a length off boilover winner Danyah.

While Sight Success entered last year’s Al Quoz Sprint off the back of a third behind Lucky Sweynesse in the Group One Centenary Sprint Cup (1,200m), he doesn’t boast that same form this time around after finishing 12th of the 13 in this year’s edition of the Sha Tin dash.

Sight Success is one of two Hong Kong gallopers aiming up at the Al Quoz Sprint, with Brenton Avdulla travelling to Dubai to ride California Spangle for Tony Cruz.

Voyage Bubble and Straight Arron will fly the Bauhinia flag in the Group One Dubai Turf (1,800m), with Frenchman Mickael Barzalona to partner the former and Caspar Fownes suggesting Avdulla will likely be aboard the latter.

Before joining forces in Dubai on March 30, Moore and Size will target further success in the BMW Hong Kong Derby (2,000m) next weekend.

Triumphant with Ping Hai Star in 2018, the pair will team up with Classic Cup third placegetter Ensued on March 24.

Ensued is one of three Size-trained runners currently in the Derby field and it was revealed on Friday the 12-time champion trainer’s top seed, Classic Mile and Classic Cup victor Helios Express, had missed two days work after suffering from an infection.

Back in normal training, Size confirmed “he’s OK now but we’ll know more as next week goes on”.