Breeding industry will never be the same after this sale

Next week 350 horses will arrive in the Cape Town city centre. That's probably more horses gathered together than the dorp has seen since the Boer War.

The Cape Premier Yearling Sale takes place in the International Conference Centre on the Foreshore on Thursday and Friday, and all the merchandise will be stabled within the venue's shiny halls.

I keep imagining how much dung will be scraped up and carefully carried away from those marbled portals.

But the important thing about this sale is that it might change the way the thoroughbred breeding industry operates. For it could conceivably end up supplanting the traditional National Yearling Sale at Germiston as the country's premier auction.

With South African horses excelling on racetracks around the world, local breeders are keen to cash in on growing international interest in their bloodstock.

The theory is that potential foreign buyers will more readily visit Cape Town than Johannesburg - and even more so if the sale takes place alongside the J&B Met, the Cape's top race.

The glitzy venue, near the Waterfront, adjacent to posh hotels and beneath Table Mountain's splendour, is part of the strategy, as are the rash of soirées and parties associated with the Met. Excitement, scenery, holiday ambience and liquor will loosen purse strings, it's hoped.

Dozens of top international buyers and racing journalists are coming to the shindig. And the sale has attracted a good chunk of the best yearlings, thereby depleting the prime stock that will be available for the Germiston sale in April and robbing that venerable event of some lustre.

If really big money is spent next week, the Cape Premier Yearling Sale will be stronger next year, and the NYS further eroded.

Robin Bruss, CEO of Cape Thoroughbred Sales, denies his operation is competing with the Thoroughbred Breeders Association, which stages the Germiston event.

But Bruss does say a reorganisation and rationalisation of the country's sales programme might be on the cards.

The Cape do has things going for it - apart from holiday high spirits.

First, it is staged by a trust formed by the eight biggest breeders in the country, so support is built-in, particularly as most of the farms are located in the Western Cape.

Secondly, it has a new payment system, with vendors being guaranteed payment within 30 days of the hammer falling.

Bruss says this will quicken cash flow in the industry and enhance it considerably, with breeders having ready cash to invest in brood mares earlier in the year.

Of course, there's no guarantee that Johannesburg owners - the country's horse-buying backbone - will be easily lured by the Cape Town party.

And then there's the question of the world and national economies. But, if you're flush, Bruss's picks of the sale are: lots 20, 55, 169, 211 and 328.

If you're a bit skint, don't bother. There'll be no cheapies floating around - the minimum bid is R50000.

• KENILWORTH TOMORROW: Cape Flying Championship - 1 JJ The Jet Plane, 6 Val De Ra, 2 What A Winter.