A colt bred by McCulloch and his son Bart at Grenville Stud, Whitemore, has sold for $550,000 at the Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale.

The price far exceeded McCulloch's previous highest - the $200,000 he got for a Capitalist colt at the same auction last year.

This year's offering, by Deep Field from the More Than Ready mare Bousquet, was bought by the Hong Kong Jockey Club.

McCulloch admitted the colt's dam was nothing special - a winner of three races with no proven progeny - so why the high price?

"Well, he's a lovely horse - some reckoned he was the best in the sale," the breeder said.

"He passed all his x-rays and he scoped grade 1 which is as good as you can get, so he ticked all the boxes.

"And, that's what you have to do to sell to Hong Kong.

"They say that if you can sell to Hong Kong, you've almost bred the perfect horse."

It helped that the colt's sire Deep Field has made a big impression in Hong Kong.

"They just love him up there," McCulloch said.

The money brought by any yearling at auction is, of course, not all profit.

There are considerable costs associated with all sales.

In the case of McCulloch's colt, they amounted to at least $100,000.

He bought the colt's dam Bousquet for $40,000 when she was already in foal to Deep Field. (That equated to the stallion's service fee at the time.)

The sales company gets 10 per cent commission on all sales so that took care of another $55,000.

Then there was the $2500 sale entry fee, about $1000 for x-rays, plus travels costs and so on.

In this instance, the net profit was exceptional but a professional operation like Grenville can't rest on its laurels.

The team is back home preparing five yearlings for the Adelaide Magic Millions Sale starting on Tuesday.

Greyhound superstar Wynburn Sheean was upstaged by his kennel-mate in the heats of the Reg & Aileen Ivory Memorial Classic at Devonport on Tuesday.

While Wynburn Sheean did as expected, winning his heat by 4-1/4 lengths in a career-best time of 25.24, Wynburn Dancer won the other heat by 6-3/4 lengths in a blistering 25.11.

Wynburn Dancer's time bettered the 25.13 run by Lilli Pilli Lad in 2000 that remained the track record for 14 years.

Some considered it would never be broken before Sing The Song went 25.01 in 2014 then Penny's Roman set the current record of 24.95 in March 2016.

Wynburn Sheean ($1.35f) began reasonably well from box 2 to land fourth and quickly pushed through to find the lead.

He wasn't troubled from then on, comfortably holding out his main rival Sprint Gordon ($5.50) with $81 outsider Vonn six lengths away third.

Wynburn Dancer began well from box 1 to find the early lead and it was no-contest from that point as she cruised to her third consecutive win.

Wynburn Sheean and Wynburn Dancer are both trained by Ben Englund at Wynyard for the Wynburn Racing Syndicate.

The Ivory Classic final will be run next Tuesday with almost $10,000 in prizemoney.

BOX DRAW: 1 Vonn, 2 Quick Joey Small, 3 Sprint Gordon, 4 Vintage Fame, 5 Definite Signs, 6 Wynburn Sheean, 7 Highland Wonder, 8 Wynburn Dancer, 9 Fabulous Baroque (res), 10 Devil's Corner (res).

Handy galloper Up Wind should appreciate a drop in class when he tackles the Benchmark 74 Handicap (2150m) at Mowbray on Wednesday night.

The Leanne Gaffney-trained four-year-old took on open company at his last start when fifth in the Sydeston Night Cup.

The four horses that beat him home - Supalopo, Queen La Diva, White Hawk and Generalmaintenance - all ran in the Launceston Cup.

Up Wind had finished second to Supalopo at his previous run when stepping up in distance for the first time this campaign.

He should be close to his peak now and the $3.30 on offer in early markets looks reasonable value.

Dark Wanderer looks well placed to return to the winner's list in the other benchmark 74 race over 1420m.

He has tackled open class at his past three runs when third in the Sheffield Cup, 10^th in the Devonport Cup and sixth in the weight-for-age Thomas Lyons.

Up until then, the Sarah Cotton-trained gelding had been unbeaten, winning his first five starts.

He carried 61kg to one of those wins and now drops to 57kg with the claim for apprentice Codi Jordan.

His opening quote of $3.20 with bet365 looked well over the odds on his best form.