KEY POINTS:
The queen of the standardbred sales ring came up against the one buyer she couldn't blow away at Karaka yesterday - her own husband.
Rona McKay repeated her performance from last year when she bought the top lot, paying $220,000 for a strapping Christian Cullen colt out of Star Of The Ball.
And for good measure she also bought the second top lot, paying $200,000 for another Christian Cullen colt from Hot Shoe Shuffle.
But the pair should have shared top billing at $200,000 each as the rival who bid Mrs McKay up the extra $20,000 on the top yearling was Clive McKay - her own husband.
The Christchurch couple usually sit together when buying horses but for some reason Clive found himself on the other side of the sales ring when Lot 180 arrogantly strode into the ring.
Unaware his wife had gone to $200,000 for the colt but knowing she had set her sights on it, Clive put in the $210,000 bid to make sure they secured the horse.
Rona, not knowing who had bid the $210,000 went to $220,000, only to be stunned to discover her rival was her husband.
"I joked with the auctioneers afterwards that I might dispute the price but they told me there wasn't much they could do about it," said Mrs McKay after the sale.
"Still, we are silly for doing that but if he turns out to be a good horse it won't matter."
That attitude sums up Mrs McKay's attitude to buying horses.
"I am in my 70s and Clive is 80 now but the horses keep us young," she said. "We have some lovely horses at the moment and we just love the way the harness racing people are so friendly.
"I would say that Clive had to do the dishes for the next month to make up for that but I don't think he would know where to start."
In a nice aside to the drama of the top lot, Rona McKay was informed by fellow big spender Graeme Rogerson that he wouldn't challenge her for the colt seconds before it came in the ring.
"Graeme told me I was a nice lady and he liked me so he would let me have the colt because he knew how much I wanted him," she said.
Then in true Rogerson style, he also offered the McKays a share in a thoroughbred he purchased at Karaka two weeks ago.
Which just proves nobody knows how to work a sales ring like "Rogey".
Rogerson and training partner Peter Simpson were huge buyers yesterday, spending around $850,000 on 10 lots, heavily favouring the stock of Christian Cullen.
The super stallion was the main driving force behind some stunning results yesterday, with the sales average yet another record, just shy of $36,000.
With a bigger catalogue than last season and plenty of yearlings by first season sire Elsu, the auctioneers PGG Wrightson had believed they would suffer a likely drop in yesterday's average price.
"But we have been blown away by the strength of the sales," said PGG Wrightson spokesman Bruce Barlass.
"The average is amazing and while Christian Cullen was awesome, we did have good support for a lot of other sires in the mid-range."
The sales head to Christchurch today for three more days of selling, although with huge numbers down there yesterday's average is unlikely to be approached.
