First AOS Auction 2010 - Boneo Park

Last year in a time of recession and just two weeks after the dreadful fires in Victoria we ran perhaps the most successful auction ever at the beautiful Boneo Park in Victoria which is home for the McNaught family. The indoor school and stables are architecturally designed and are simply magnificent and you have to see it to believe it.

Well here we go again!

Saturday night is the traditional free Masterclass where everybody is welcome whether they be dressage connoisseurs or casual onlookers or just horse mad kids. There will be a free sausage sizzle and free drinks with the Masterclass and this is typically just a gathering of horse enthusiasts.

There are only 17 youngsters this year and they do represent a spectacular collection. Photographed on this newsletter is Ridotto R, who is by Regardez Moi out of the Salute mare Shakira R. Shakira R has produced some fabulous foals in the past but Ridotto R takes the cake and has to be her best ever. Shakira R is by Salute and just this week Victory Salute (also by Salute) has just flown out of Australia with Brett Parbery to represent Australia at the World Cup Final in Holland. For those of you who have been around for a while you will notice that the dam of Shakira R is Lucilla. Lucilla is a full sister to Stirling Liberty who as a stallion campaigned with Olympian Gavin Chester in the Show-Jumping discipline at World Cup level. Probably more importantly, Stirling Liberty went on to sire Snowy River Blackwood who a few years ago with Di Jenkyns in the saddle was considered one of Australia's top Grand Prix Dressage combinations. Ridotto R is magnificently bred.

The auction always starts with the unreserved auctioning of three service fees to each of the six auction of the stars stallions; Regardez Moi, Byalee Briar, AEA Metallic, Jive Magic, Byalee Romance and AEA Tuschinski. Certainly this is a great way to buy a service fee and the odd superslick entrepreneur in the crowd will not only buy some very cheap service fees on the day but then sell them on at a substantial profit later on that same afternoon as the crowd gradually realizes how cheap some of these service fees end up being.

The catalogue in its entirety can be viewed at www.auctionofthestars.com  and there is also some video footage there.

Just remember that more and more people are using the phone bid option at these auctions.

It's lots of fun and definitely an adrenaline run.

Cheers,

Heath