Lonhro leads the way at Easter for the Darley stallions

With the second day of the Inglis Easter yearling sale recording better results than day one, Champion sire Lonhro had three yearlings sell for more than $500,000, becoming three of the top five yearlings ever sold by the stallion.

A half-brother to the recent G2 winner Steps In Time, the Kitchwin Hills (as agent)-consigned lot 351 was knocked down to Randwick trainer John O’Shea for $580,000, the equal second highest priced yearling ever to sell by Lonhro.

Lot 319, a brown Lonhro filly out of the Royal Academy mare Patpong was knocked down to James Bester Bloodstock for $510,000. Consigned by Holbrook Thoroughbreds as agent, this yearling is the highest priced Lonhro filly ever sold.

Rounding out the trio of half-million dollar yearlings for Lonhro was lot 214. Purchased by George Moore Bloodstock of Hong Kong for $500,000, the colt was consigned by Bowness Stud as agent and is out of the Commands mare Indalama.

The leading first-season sire race at the yearling sales is always a hotly contested affair, and 2012 is no different. Leading the way at Easter is Darley’s Champion two and three-year-old New Approach (pictured).

Having had four lots sell from four offered so far at Easter, Duncan Grimley’s Glastonbury Farms as agent came out on top. Consigned as lot 256, this powerful chestnut colt is out of the Stravinsky mare Lute, a half-sister to G1 winner Foxwood, the dam of the G3-winning, G1-placed Rockwood. Knocked down to Mr Y. Kubota of Japan for $475,000, the four yearlings by New Approach have achieved a significant average of $256,250, placing him fifth overall on averages.

Another of Darley’s first-season sires to perform extremely well was the unbeaten juvenile Teofilo. Having had only one lot sell so far, the filly out of the Stakes placed Mermaid Island sold for $150,000, the highest priced achieved so far for a yearling by Teofilo in the southern hemisphere.

The sale continues on Thursday, April 12.