The colt, named Bombardino, was sent up by Varsfontein and is a half-brother to the Vaughan Marshall-trained MLjet who was unlucky when dead-heating for third in last month’s Premiers Champion Stakes.

Malherbe said: “He is a lovely colt, a half-brother to a very good horse and by a terrific sire. He was bought for a long-standing client and will be trained by Dean Kannemeyer.”

The previous record for this sale – R1 050 000 – had stood for nine years. The R33.5 million aggregate was also a record but the R84 810 average was 15% down, partly because of the much larger catalogue.

The next TBA sale is the Ready To Run at the end of October with the associated Emperors Palace Ready To Run Cup set to break all previous South African stakes records. According to Summerhill, which has dominated this sale since its inception in 1988, the race will be worth R3.85 million, making it the richest race ever run on the African continent.

An understandably enthusiastic Mick Goss said: “It will take a tad over 80 seconds for a field of this class to complete the 1 400m journey, which means they will be running for the best part of R50 000 a second, every stride of the journey.”