Cracking group of yearlings to go under the hammer at Karaka
New Zealand Bloodstock releases catalogue for country’s 97th National Yearling Sale
After a return to a semblance of normality at last week’s Ready to Run Sale, which served as an entree to the 2023 New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale, a bumper catalogue has been released for next year’s Karaka auction back in its traditional late January timeslot.
NZB last night released its offering for the 97th National Yearling Sale, a 644-lot three-day Book 1 sale followed by another 435 lots to be auctioned across three days in Book 2.
The Karaka sale, which was held in March this year in the hope the international border would be reopened to everyone, will run from Sunday, January 29 to Tuesday, January 31 with Book 2 held from February 1 to February 3.
The 2023 catalogue features siblings to, among others, Golden Eagle (1500m) winner I Wish I Win (Savabeel), Makybe Diva Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) winner and Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m) runner-up I’m Thunderstruck (Shocking) and fellow Group 1 winners Mo’unga (Savabeel) and Mr Brightside (Bullbars).
Champion Waikato Stud stallion Savabeel (Zabeel), who turned 21 this season, has 39 yearlings catalogued in the first book while Cambridge Stud’s Almanzor (Wootton Bassett), whose southern hemisphere-bred three-year-old Manzoice won the Victoria Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) this spring, has 56 Book 1 lots from his third crop on offer at Karaka.
“On the back of a wildly successful Ready to Run Sale last week, we are really excited to turn our attention to Karaka 2023 and welcome all our international guests for the first [traditional] Karaka Yearling Sale in three years, so we are really excited and looking forward to that,” NZB bloodstock executive Kane Jones told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“Savabeel has been our champion sire for a number of years now, it’s so great to have a number of proven sires such as Per Incanto, Ocean Park and Proisir as well as young and emerging sires putting their hands up, the likes of Almanzor, Turn Me Loose and Tivaci as well, so it’s great to have such diversity in the stallion ranks.
“I am thrilled with the quality and I just can’t wait to see how they progress, to see them on the farm again and then see them at Karaka in January. I think it’s a high-quality catalogue both on paper and on type as well.”
Rich Hill Stud’s Proisir (Choisir) – the sire of arguably New Zealand’s two best horses in Group 1 winners, the Ken and Bev Kelso-trained Levante and recent 1,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) winning stablemate Legarto – has 19 yearlings on offer in Book 1 and another 30 in Book 2.
The Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained Riodini, a six-year-old gelding by Proisir who was bred and is raced by Rich Hill Stud partner Alan Galbraith, also won the $1 million The Gong (1600m) at Kembla Grange on Saturday in a reminder to Australian owners and trainers of the stallion’s ability.
Rich Hill studmaster John Thompson said “it’s been a pretty exciting time” watching the racecourse deeds of Proisir over the spring.
“You’re trying to think two years ahead and he’d made a promising start. Of course, we had other stallions to support as well,” Thompson said.
“In hindsight we would have sent all our Book 1 mares to Proisir. We’ve got some nice horses by him and some of them, Legarto, she’s a Book 2 filly, so he upgrades those types of pedigrees, so you’d be confident those in Book 2 will sell very well, too.”
Proisir’s roster mate Shocking (Street Cry) – the sire of Mick Price and Mick Kent Jnr’s star Group 1 winner I’m Thunderstruck, has just three yearlings catalogued in Book 1 and another eight in Book 2
“Shocking isn’t quite appreciated for what he is. He’s always got a good horse,” Thompson said.
“We couldn’t be happier with the way the stallions are performing and you can throw Vadamos in there as well.”
Progeny of first season sires Super Seth (Dundeel) (Waikato Stud) and Ten Sovereigns (No Nay Never), who stood at Valachi Downs, and Graeme Rogerson’s Ferrando (Fast ‘N’ Famous) have yearlings catalogued while stock of Australia-based freshman including Blue Point (Shamardal), Alabama Express (Redoute’s Choice), Castelvecchio (Dundeel), Yes Yes Yes (Rubick) and D’Argento (So You Think) will also be offered at Karaka.
Lib and Katrina Petagna’s new Matamata operation Elsdon Park, the property formerly owned by Kevin Hickman and known as Valachi Downs, will also consign yearlings for the first time under the new banner at Karaka in 2023 with 16 Book 1 lots.
The yearlings are already two weeks into their preparation.
“I went through them all last week and, to be fair, I think they’re ahead of where they need to be, but it has been a pretty mild spring over here,” Elsdon Park general manager Kerrie Cox said yesterday.
“We’ve had a huge amount of pasture and ample sunshine and rain, so they’ve been going from strength to strength. They’re ahead of where they really need to be right now, so now it’s just about maintaining that and having them on a nice rising plane to the yearling sales.”
A Super Seth half-brother to stakes winners Frosted Gold (All Too Hard) and Sunshine Mighty (Murtajill), who is catalogued as Lot 337, is a yearling Cox believes is a quality example of the stock the stallion has produced in his first crop.
“He’s probably the standout colt of the draft on type and he’s got a nice pedigree to back him up there as well. He’s going to sell really well,” she said.
“He’s strong, very forward and he looks like he’d go early enough. He’s got a good attitude and he knows he’s pretty good.”
Also in the Elsdon Park draft is Lot 97, a Savabeel filly out of Chiaretta (Makfi), a half-sister to stakes winner Members Joy (Hussonet), herself the daughter of Sir Owen Glenn’s Group 2 winner Pure Elation (I Am Invincible), and Lot 548, another filly by Savabeel out of Star Ellipse (Deep Field).
They provide yearling buyers with a rare opportunity to access families being developed by Petagna.
“They probably really shouldn’t be in the sale. They should be [being retained] to be added to the broodmare band, but they [Petagnas] have outlaid a lot of money in this industry over the last 12 months in purchasing two new properties and it’s important to get a return on investment in these first couple years,” Cox said.
“For studs, it’s one of those things when you’re selling horses, you’ve got to weigh up what fillies you keep and what fillies you sell and it’s really important for our first draft as well to have a quality bunch of horses that showcases Lib’s incredibly successful broodmare band.
“While it’s a new name, we really want people to know that these horses have been years in the making and these horses have been selected and bred by Lib and Bruce [Perry, agent].
“It is really important that we showcase quality horses hence these Savabeel fillies are still in there. It’s a good quality, even line-up that we can be proud of.”
Jones expects a strong buying bench – somewhat a return to the glory days where the leading domestic buyers such as Te Akau’s David Ellis and trainers Andrew Forsman and Roger James clashed with a legion of Australian buyers as well as Asian entities – to be assembled at Karaka in 2023.
“We know all the Australian agents and buyers will be back in force, but the feedback we’re hearing right through South East Asia, they will be as well,” Jones said.
“We saw strong buying from Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, even South Korea, last week and I think a lot of those same people and a new set of buyers will be there as well.”
Studmaster Thompson agreed.
“Hong Kong used to buy a lot of promising horses, but with the increase in prize-money in Australia, they’re having to pay for a lot more for them, so by all accounts they’re going to be back in the yearling market [in a bigger way],” he said.
“You can’t deny the New Zealand horses have had a tremendous year everywhere. There’s been results in Australia for our stallions and the New Zealand-bred horses, so we’d have to be very optimistic.
“The other factor is, I think a lot of people are looking forward to coming over and coming back to New Zealand, especially the Australian buyers, enjoying the hospitality and catching up.”
The Karaka catalogue includes siblings to 100 stakes winners and sons and daughters of 89 stakes-winning mares plus a healthy representation of yearlings by Australia’s premier sires such as So You Think (High Chaparral), Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt), Capitalist (Written Tycoon), Deep Field (Northern Meteor), Fastnet Rock (Danehill), Pierro (Lonhro), Russian Revolution (Snitzel), Written Tycoon (Iglesia) and Zoustar (Northern Meteor).