Racing: Developer springs surprise

A new force has arrived on the harness racing scene and you can bet you will be seeing his impact at some stage next season.

Christchurch property developer Denis Thompson has been the surprise package of yearling sales week, spending $470,000 to secure seven lots over the three days.

That culminated in the $112,000 he paid for the sales-topping In The Pocket-Village Gem filly in Christchurch yesterday.

His three-day outlay made Thompson the biggest individual buyer of the week, all this from a man most harness racing insiders had never heard of before.

Thompson is no stranger to harness racing, though, having previously raced the open class mare Falconair.

He has stepped up his involvement with the help of Canterbury trainers Wayne Ross and Kevin Townley.

The pair will train Thompson's horses, with Ross getting the pacers and Townley the trotters.

"He is a great guy to have coming in at this level," said Ross.

"He loves his horses and decided he wanted to have a go at the top end of the market.

"I think he has made the right choice because there has been some great buying here."

Those comments were spot on as the Christchurch sale failed to provide the fireworks seen at Karaka on Monday.

While there was still good money for the best-bred colts and the $112,000 for Thompson's filly, there were some bargains that saw the average just sneak past $18,000, a long way from the $24,600 at Karaka.

Auctioneers Pyne Gould Guinness were not disappointed with the decrease in the average, which was expected because of the large number of lots.

"Overall the week has been very good and when you increase the lots in a sale you are going to get a reduction in average," said PGG's Bruce Barlass.

Most of the country's leading trainers were again busy, with Tim Butt and Geoff Small among the leaders on the final day.