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Private x-raying of yearlings sold at the Australian Easter Yearling Sale will be a common practice following agreements between a number of leading studs and their clients.

The studs have agreed to cancel any sale ring transaction should subsequent x-rays reveal flawed bone structure or other conformation problems in the yearling.

Among the big spenders seeking an x-ray guarantee from vendors is Darley Australia, the leading buyer on the first day of the sale with agent John Ferguson purchasing five yearling for more than $3 million including the session topping Sunday Silence colt for $1.2 million.

Darley, the global breeding entity of Dubai’s Sheikh Mohammed, is managed in Australia by Oliver Tait, who is pleased with attitude taken by the studs over the x-ray issue.

"Nobody wants to sell a horse with a problem and obviously no one wants to buy a horse with a problem so if X-rays will overcome this, then I think it's the way we should be going," Tait said.

The x-ray issue ahs been the big talking point in the run up to the Easter sale due to the decision by the Hong Kong Jockey Club not to purchase yearlings because pre-sale X-rays were not permitted by sale company William Inglis and Son.

The HKJC, which has spent more than $10 million on Easter yearlings in recent years, is understood to have instead purchased a number of yearlings who were entered for the Easter sale direct from the studs.

By Chris Scholtz

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