Emerging African markets are becoming more prevalent in the elite sport of horse racing. Comments Kevin Woolward, chief executive officer of TBA: "Results of the sale showed that five percent of buyers were of Kenyan and Zimbabwean origin. South African bred horses have recently won all Kenyan listed races making TBA a popular choice for purchases. There are also very few breeders left in Zimbabwe, so the majority of their racehorses are purchased in South Africa."
The top two buyers of horses were Misty Meadows equestrian estate and KwaZulu-Natal breeder Vanessa Harrison. Vendors who were most successful at the sale were Varsfontein Stud Farm in Paarl, who sold all 14 of their two year-old horses on offer, followed closely by Gary Player's Stud Farm in Colesberg in the Northern Cape, with 18 of their 20 horses sold.
Graduates of the National Two Year Old Sale have proved to be some of the most successful horses, both locally and worldwide. These include JJ The Jet Plane (purchase price R70,000, earnings of over R26 million locally and overseas) and The Apache (purchase price R80,000, earnings of over R18 million locally and overseas). More recent graduates are Arabian Beat (purchase price R70,000, earnings of over R837,000), Bezanova (purchase price R150,000, earnings of in excess of R1.6 million) and Trip Tease (purchase price R70,000, earnings of over R1.1 million).
