By Mike Dillon
Michael Bastion didn't look at Kylie Bax when his $350,000 bid was hanging in the air moments before he purchased Bax's Thunder Gulch-Maurine filly at Karaka last night.
With frightening intensity he was staring down Eric Watson and his trainer Graeme Rogerson, who had thrown in the previous bid at $325,000.
"I was determined to get this filly," said Bastion, a New Zealander who bases himself in Hong Kong as a financial speculator.
Bastion explained that his wife's great uncle was the late Buster O'Malley, who bred and raced Maurine to win two Avondale Cups.
"And my wife's name is Maureen.
"I actually tried to buy Maurine when she was put her on the market, but Kylie beat me to her.
"I guess I've now paid her back what she outlayed for the mare."
Bax was fascinated when told of the Bastion story.
"That's fabulous, I'm delighted he ended up with the filly. The only problem with things like this though is that it's like losing one of your family members."
Bastion also came up with last night's top lot - $500,000 for the Thunder Gulch-Latour Belle colt, who will enter Peter Hayes' Australian stable.
The colt, offered by Peter and Philip Vela's Pencarrow Stud, was highly recommended by world authority Demi O'Byrne, who sat with Bastion during the bidding.
"He's a lovely colt and a cheap buy at that," said O'Byrne.
Bastion, who says he races "too many" horses, was a part owner of one of one of Hong Kong's better gallopers Smashing Pumpkin.
If Hong Kong property dynamo William Choy sends Tycoon Lil's half-sister to Bart Cummings in Australia, someone jokingly suggested he shouldn't pay his first few training bills.
Cummings, obscured from the auditorium down the yearling release chute, engaged in a bidding duel with Choy without each knowing the other was bidding on the Dolphin Street-Imposing Bloom, which was eventually knocked down to Choy for $400,000.
Choy admitted later he would have paid more than $400,000 to secure the filly.
He has extensive bloodstock interests, including a share in Zabeel.
His interests here are managed by Cambridge Stud and he decided to buy the filly only yesterday morning after inspecting Tycoon Lil aqt her Takanini stable.
The third highest price of the night was the $360,000 paid by Melbourne trainer Colin Alderson for the Zabeel-Mary Murphy colt.
Last night's opening session of the premier sale was highly successful. The average price for the 60 lots sold was $103,800, up 29 per cent on the overall average of last year's sale.
The fillies averaged $107,800 and the colts $100,515.
The gross take was $6.22 million, compared to the $6.9 million for the first session last year, which included the New Zealand record $1.6 million colt.
Last night's session was only the first of many in the next fortnight.
But the biggest money will be spent in the remaining two sessions of the premier sale in the next two days, with a couple of today's lots realistic contenders for the title of sales topper.
Horse Racing: Bastion the star of opening night
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