Catalogues for the 2017 Ladbrokes APG Yearling Sales are now available, and every indicator points towards this crop of harness racing yearlings being another outstanding crop.
“Put simply, the 2017 Ladbrokes APG Sales Catalogue features siblings to more $100,000+ winners and the progeny of more $100,000+ earning dams than any previous Sales Catalogue,” explained David Boydell, APG’s General Manager.
And in a boost for the sales, APG has increased the prizemoney for its two-year-old finals from $322,000 to $350,000 and tinkered with the qualifying conditions to enable horses to qualify for the $350,000 without having to leave their home state.
Under the new format, heats will be conducted in NSW, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia, with heat winners progressing straight through to the $350,000 Final. Other heat runners will still have the opportunity to qualify for the final via a repechage, while horses that fail to progress to the $350,000 finals will have the opportunity to nominate for $30,000 consolation finals in their home state (NSW & Victoria to host both colts & fillies consolations, while Queensland & WA will host mixed sex consolations).
As if that wasn’t enough, there will also be stand-alone sales races attached to the Brisbane, Perth and Melbourne Autumn Sales, collectively adding over $400,000 to the prize pool available for graduates of the Ladbrokes APG Yearling Sales.
Art Major, who has been in the headlines this week as the sire of sensational 3yo winner, Vincent, who broke the NZ record for the 2700m standing start, is blessed with perhaps his strongest ever crop of yearlings. In total, he has 80 progeny catalogued for the upcoming sales, 20 of which hail from $100,000+ winning dams, and 20 of which are half-brothers or sisters to $100,000+ earners such as Our Waikiki Beach ($793,319), Lettucerockthem ($698,258), Ima Spicey Lombo ($483,686) and Beauty Secret ($425,921).
Other sires with 20 or more progeny in the sales include Sportswriter (52), Rock N Roll Heaven (47), A Rocknroll Dance (44), Bettors Delight (44), Mach Three (38), Pet Rock (32), Mr Feelgood (27), Auckland Reactor (21) and Roll With Joe (21).
Catalogues are due to be dispatched by priority post on January 5 to the majority of trainers, as well as anyone that has registered to bid at the APG sales in recent years, however, anyone else that is interested in ordering a 2017 sales catalogue can do so by clicking here.
Alternatively, people can download a PDF version of the catalogue by clicking here – iPad users can save the PDF to iBooks for easy future reference.
More information on the upcoming Ladbrokes APG Yearling Sales is available by visiting the APG website, or calling APG on (03) 5275 1999.
APG is particularly interested in hearing from first time buyers, as well as buyers that are interested in taking a share in in one or more horses to be purchased by some of APG’s leading trainers.
2017 Ladbrokes APG Sales Dates
Melbourne – Sunday, 5 February
Sydney – Sunday, 26 February
Perth – Sunday, 5 March
Brisbane – Sunday, 12 March
Melbourne Autumn – Sunday, 2 April