NZB Ready To Run Sale sets new benchmark with $41 million turnover
The second and final session of NZB’s Ready To Run Sale propelled the auction to another record-breaking conclusion, with the aggregate soaring past $41 million and both the average ($156,255) and median ($100,000) reaching all-time highs.
The results underscored the sale’s continued growth as one of the world’s most successful two-year-old auctions.
“It’s quite remarkable, another record-breaking sale,” NZB’s bloodstock sales manager Kane Jones said. “The whole team have put in a massive shift, not just over the last few days, but months out, and even years building relationships for this sale. I’m very proud of the entire team.
“It’s just a magical number hitting that $41 million in turnover, but the average is up, median is up as well which indicates that the middle market was particularly strong.
“This sale has gone from strength-to-strength in the last five years. The horses breezed phenomenally, and the type of horses that are brought to this sale improves year on year.
“It’s just a credit to the vendors who continue to support this sale and make it what it is.”
Hong Kong buyer Yeung Kin–Man emerged to once again finish leading buyer, the second half of the catalogue inspiring 82.8 per cent of his $3.57 million total spend across 16 lots, the lion’s share going on the sales-topping $825,000 son of Australia’s champion sire Zoustar (Northern Meteor).
Sam Beaton’s Riversley Park finished as leading vendor for the eighth consecutive year, selling 33 of its 39 lots for $6,525,000, the highlight being the Satono Aladdin (Deep Impact) colt who sold for $675,000 to Sanxiong Gao.
Of the 353 lots offered, 265 were sold to produce a strong clearance rate of 75 per cent, in line with recent years.
Consigned by Kit Brooks’ KB Bloodstock as Lot 374, the sale-topping Zoustar is the fourth foal out of stakes-winning Hussonet (Mr Prospector) mare Hijack Hussy, from the family of Hong Kong Sprint (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Inspiration (Flying Spur), Australian Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Wandjina (Snitzel) and fellow Group 1 scorers Masked Party (Marscay) and Festal (Vain).
“Mr Yeung was looking for another Zoustar. This one looks big and strong and is an early type, so it’s likely we will bring him to Hong Kong earlier,” bloodstock agent Willie Leung said.
“Last year we bought more and we are already about to bring ten new horses to Hong Kong. He wanted to stock up a little bit more and then pick the quality ones to go to Hong Kong.”
Brooks said he couldn’t have been happier with how the $200,000 Inglis Easter Yearling Sale purchase presented throughout the preparation, and was pleasantly surprised by the figure he returned.
“He’s a beautiful-natured colt who was the stable favourite,” he told ANZ News. “Gee I wish we could find a few more like him. He was a pleasure to have around. He made our job real easy.
“He’s big and strong, perfect for Hong Kong, and he handled the preparation in his stride. I thought he’d make around $500,000, but I was a little surprised at the $825,000.”
Hong Kong-bound trainer James Cummings had said he might well spend more at the auction after forking out a combined $655,000 for two lots on Day 1 – including the fastest breezer of the sale (Lot 110) by Bivouac (Exceed And Excel) – and that proved the case when he went to $775,000 for the second top lot, a son of Written Tycoon (Iglesia).
Prepared by Prima Park on behalf of Yulong, Lot 371 is out of winning Poet’s Voice (Dubawi) mare Hersigh, the dam of SA Australasian Oaks (Gr 1, 2000m) placegetter and triple Group 3 winner My Whisper (Frankel), and was another one quick on the clock (10.36s) at the breeze–ups.
“The colt is physically strong and looks like he has the constitution to stand up to the pressure of Hong Kong racing,” Cummings told ANZ.
“He went about his work well and is the right type of candidate for what we have in mind. We are very happy to land him for our client and also very pleased to get one from a professional preparer such as Prima Park.
“He’s also from a great farm in Yulong and he is by a top sire, whose stock have won nearly 100 races in Hong Kong.”
Having added a new dimension to her operation through a partnership with one of Australia’s leading breeders, Prima Park manager Kelly Van Dyk was delighted to see the collaboration quickly bear fruit in the ring.
“The Written Tycoon colt is one of four that we prepared on behalf of Yulong,” Van Dyk told ANZ. “I have had an association with their racing manager Troy Stephens for a few years, and he approached me with the prospect of doing some business. It’s a wonderful opportunity.
“The colt himself has a flawless temperament and did a super breeze up. The fact that James Cummings and his father Anthony identified him is testament to us being on the right track.”
Prima Park sold nine of its ten lots on Wednesday for a combined $1.34 million, while Thursday saw the operation sell all nine of its remaining draft for a total $2.33 million, other highlights including an I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) filly who sold to Bjorn Baker and Jim Clarke for $360,000, while their Home Affairs (I Am Invincible) gelding went to Ryan Fownes for $330,000. Both horses were bought at Inglis Easter for $200,000.
“Today has been stronger than Day 1 but it’s just the way the catalogue fell,” Van Dyk said. “The I Am Invincible filly and the Home Affairs gelding have been very good pinhooking results for us too.”
Little Avondale Stud’s Per Incanto (Street Cry) sired Wednesday’s $750,000 top lot and went close to replicating that figure when his Trelawney Stud-consigned colt (Lot 398) was knocked down to China’s Shijiazhuang Hongtao Horse Breeding for $700,000.
The colt is from the family of Group 1 winners Tivaci (High Chaparral) and Allez Wonder (Redoute’s Choice) and Trelawney Stud’s Cherry Taylor told ANZ that he should be ideally suited to Hong Kong racing.
“He has the best nature and the right sort of temperament for Hong Kong,” she said. “We hope he can win the Hong Kong Derby.
“He was in and out of the box a lot but never played up once. We would have been happy with $250,000, which was his reserve, but we like to let the market decide.”
Barry Donoghue enjoyed an excellent Day 1 and the money kept coming for his draft on Thursday, with Lot 283 by Hello Youmzain (Kodiac) proving his top lot when selling to China’s Mr Hongwei Chen for $700,000.
While his dam is a three-quarter sister to Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) and Victoria Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) winner Efficient (Zabeel), the $90,000 NZB National Yearling Sale buy clearly has some speed, breezing up in 10.57s, and Donoghue was full of praise for the youngster’s temperament and professionalism.
“Just an outstanding colt in every way,” he told ANZ. “Outstanding temperament, outstanding brain and bombproof. One of the nicest colts I have put my leg across.
“We had him on the market at $150,000 but were confident he would make north of $300,000. The $700,000 was a blowout.”
That big result earlier in the day was swiftly followed by another when Ohukia Lodge’s Lot 285 – a colt by first-season sire Armory (Galileo) – sold for $625,000 to agent Cameron Cooke and Cranbourne trainer Trent Busuttin.
The Mapperley Stud-based Armory – a son of Galileo (Sadler’s Wells) – sired his first winner from his first runner late last month, and his colt’s slick 10.52-second breeze backed up the attributes his buyers said made him one of the standouts of the sale.
“As an individual he was one of the picks of the sale,” Busuttin, who trains in partnership with Natalie Young, told ANZ.
“He was always going to be expensive but you’ve got to buy the ones you like. Cameron Cooke selected him, he’s a great judge, and lucky enough we’re going to get to train him.
“We loved him – Armory has obviously already had a winner and it’s good to buy off New Zealand farms and support New Zealand stallions. We’re very excited.”
Busuttin said the price was unexpected given Armory’s fledgling stud career, but he was nonetheless happy to go over budget for the colt.
“We didn’t expect that price but at the same time, for those horses that stand out and everyone sees them, he was a cracking horse so we knew we were going to pay plenty. We went over our budget a bit but hopefully he will repay us,” he said.
“We’ve put a lot into breeze–up sales. Hoping to get one or two more but it’s tough out there so we’ll see.”
Ohukia’s Jamie Beatson was thrilled with the result, confessing he would have been happy with half the selling price.
“He’s a cracking colt who hasn’t put a foot wrong all preparation,” Beatson said. “We knew we had a lot of people interested but Rod [Schick] and I were undecided whether to set the reserve at $120,000 or $150,000, but we thought he could make $300,000. We were both very surprised but rapt.”
One of the biggest smiles on the complex was on the face of Simms Davison, the Mapperly Stud owner who stands Armory in conjunction with Windsor Park Stud.
“It is just fantastic exposure and publicity for the sire,” he told ANZ. “We had some bad news losing Contributer recently but this offsets some of that. Armory has made a very promising start, but this sale lets people know that there is both a commercial and racing component with the stallion.”
Darley’s leading second-season sire Ghaiyyath (Dubawi) was represented by two lots across the two sessions and both made handsome returns when selling on Thursday.
The first to go through the ring was Lot 335, a gelding who breezed a strong 10.49s out of winning Nicconi (Bianconi) mare Final Choice, herself a half-sister to 2016 Debutant Stakes (Listed, 1000m) winner Wait For No One (Lonhro).
It was a first foray into the Ready To Run Sale for his consignors Landsdowne Park Stud, owned by Dave Duley and Jude Latimer, and they finished leading vendor by average, selling four lots for an average of $277,500.
A $70,000 Inglis Melbourne Premier yearling, their Ghaiyyath gelding realised $480,000 to the bid of Hong Kong buyer Ms B Yim. It was a second three-figure sum for the Cambridge operation after they sold a son of Blue Point (Shamardal) to Hong Kong on Day 1 for $375,000.
“A good result,” Duley told ANZ. “The Darley stallions have been good for us this week. The gelding is a lovely individual who’s been popular all week, so we thought he might make some good money but that’s really good money so we’re happy with that.”
Reflecting on the broader market trends as the session unfolded, Duley said trade appeared selective in places but highly competitive for the right horses.
“If the market’s on it, everyone’s on the same horse,” he said. “It seems to be going quite well.”
Soon to follow was the Ghaiyyath colt out of Ohukia Lodge (Lot 365) who sold to Hong Kong trainer Mark Newnham for $420,000. The juvenile had Hong Kong appeal, being out of Exceed And Excel (Danehill) mare Hampton Classic, a sister to Al Quoz Sprint (Gr 1, 1000m) winner Amber Sky, a six-time winner in the jurisdiction.
Newnham, who put his hand up to secure three six-figure lots on Day 1, had earlier signed the docket for Lot 263, a gelding by Castelvecchio (Dundeel) out of unraced Exceed And Excel mare Cash First, herself a sister to the dam of three-time stakes winner She’s So High (I Am Invincible).
He was Gosford Park’s sole lot to go through the ring across both days and brought a smile to manager Richard Otto’s face when turning his initial $95,000 Inglis May Yearling Sale price tag into $325,000.
“I thought about buying him at the Inglis Sale and had a friend look at him but didn’t pull the trigger,” Newnham told ANZ.
“I was keen to see him again. He’s furnished in the meantime and after a short prep has come on nicely. I expect he will furnish further. I think he will suit Hong Kong and I see him as a miler when he is three and four.”
Otto told ANZ: “I work closely with agent Paul Willetts and we’ve had some good successes in the past. Paul found him at the yearling sale earlier in the year. He has that classic look and we both like the High Chaparral influence in his pedigree. We had a couple of hiccups, but he emerged from them and handled the prep really well.”
Next on the New Zealand sales calendar is the much anticipated 100th National Yearling Sale, kicking off with the TAB Karaka Millions Raceday at Ellerslie on January 24, Book 1 at Karaka on January 25-26, Book 2 on January 27 and the Karaka Summer Sale on January 29.
Overall statistics
2025 2024
Catalogued 450 404
Offered 353 324
Sold 265 (75%) 254 (78%)
Aggregate NZ$41,407,500 (7%) NZ$38,593,500
Average NZ$156,255 (3%) NZ$151,943
Median NZ$100,000 (11%) NZ$90,000
Top Lot NZ$825,000 NZ$1,650,000