With a day of trade still remaining at New Zealand Bloodstock's Select yearling sale at Karaka, the aggregate surpassed the 2015 sale's total figure upon conclusion of the second session Thursday. A total of 317 yearlings have been sold thus far at the Select sale for NZ$19,245,200, compared to 266 sold at this point last year for NZ$13,306,500 and 592 sold in total last year for NZ$18,304,000. Forty-two more horses have been through the ring compared to this point last year.
The figures overall continued to reflect robust trade, with the buyback rate down (21% from 26%); the average up 21% to NZ$60,710, and the median up 36% to NZ$50,000. There have been nine horses sell for NZ$200,000 or more through the first two days of the sale, compared with just five across the full three days of last year's sale.
“It has been another fantastic day at the Select sale with figures still comparing very favourably to last year,” said NZB's Bloodstock Sales Manager, Danny Rolston. “To surpass last year's aggregate after just two days is an extraordinary result. We are on track to have the best sale since 2010 with plenty of positivity around for tomorrow.”
“Domestic buyers have always come to the fore at the Select sale, and have done so again this week, but we are still seeing huge international interest, in particular from Australia, with Japan even staying on at Karaka to buy a nice horse today,” Rolston added.
While international competition has remained fierce, Thursday's top-priced lot will remain in New Zealand after being bought by trainers Graeme and Debbie Rogerson for NZ$300,000. That was lot 827, a colt by leading sire O'Reilly (NZ) who is closely related to the four-time Group 1 winner Silent Achiever (NZ), who is by the same sire and out of a half-sister to this one's dam. Graeme Rogerson, who trained leading sire Savabeel (Aus) to win the G1 Spring Champion S. and G1 Cox Plate, said he hopes his new acquisition from Valachi Downs is the second coming of that former stable star.
“He's a natural and a magnificent individual,” said Rogerson. “I've seen him a number of times and I think this farm breed a wonderful horse. I'm trying to find the next Savabeel and hopefully he'll be it. I rate him as good a horse that I have seen at this Select sale and I've got some wonderful clients that I'll probably split him between.”
The second most expensive lot of the day, a colt by New Zealand's leading first-season sire Jimmy Choux (NZ) (lot 837), was secured by Japan's Big Red Farm for NZ$210,000. The chestnut, from Lime Country Thoroughbreds, hails from the family of Australia's peerless sprinter Black Caviar (Aus) (Bel Esprit {Aus}). The colt's third dam is Scandinavia (Aus) (Snippets {Aus}), who is the second dam of Black Caviar as well as four-time Group 1 winner and first-season yearling sire All Too Hard (Aus) (Casino Prince {Aus}).
The only other lot to surpass the NZ$200,000 mark on the day was lot 770, a Nadeem (Aus) colt secured by Paul Moroney for that amount. Damion Flower's Jadeskye Racing, which bought the sale-topping A$1.6 million Snitzel (Aus) colt at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale earlier this month, made its first buy of this sale when going to NZ$180,000 for a colt by Power (GB) (lot 724). The colt was bred by leading jockey James McDonald in partnership with his uncle, New Zealand dairy farmer Alan Powell. The pair lease the mare, who has a foal by Cape Blanco (Ire) and is in foal to Tavistock (NZ).
Power, whose first Southern Hemisphere progeny are yearlings and first Northern Hemisphere progeny are 2-year-olds, shuttles to Cambridge Stud and stood last season for NZ$8,000.
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