International recognition sees Riversley pay $150,000 for Per Incanto colt
Proisir filly makes $140,000 to be second top lot as Karaka’s NZB National Weanling and Broodmare Sale grosses more than $3.2 million
Little Brose’s Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) win in February had a big impact on the commercial appeal of his Little Avondale-based sire Per Incanto (Street Cry), so much so that Riversley Park’s Sam Beatson sensed he had to strike early.
And so he did at yesterday’s New Zealand Bloodstock National Weanling and Broodmare Sale, going to a session-topping $150,000 for a Henrietta, the Dowager Duchess Of Bedford-bred Per Incanto colt.
Renowned breeze-up vendor Beatson, currently preparing his draft for the 2023 NZB Ready to Run Sale in November, bought the colt with the possibility of reoffering him at the 2024 two-year-old sale, although his appeal could also see the Riversley Park proprietor cash him in as a yearling next January.
By the same sire as dual Australian Group 1-winning mare Roch ‘N’ Horse, the Brighthill Farm-offered colt was the most expensive of five foals to reach six figures at the one-day auction, which averaged NZ$23,089 at a median of NZ$12,000 for the weanling session. The clearance rate was 70 per cent.
“Per Incanto flies up in Hong Kong and plus the Australian market, he’s leaving Group 1 winners over there – two-year-old Group 1 winners – so he’s a very saleable horse anywhere around the world,” Beatson said.
“I haven’t decided [where to present him next] but he’s a big, strong boy so he would make a yearling.
“Obviously, I do a lot of two-year-olds for the breeze-up sale, so that’s another option. I will take him home and just see how things unfold.”
Beatson added: “He is a lovely physical colt, a good moving colt. He just had a lot of quality about him and he had a good attitude every time I looked at him. He came out, paraded and did his job and I loved him.”
Fiercely loyal to her ‘Mrs Moss’ family, Henrietta, the Dowager Duchess of Bedford, was delighted with the sale of her Per Incanto colt out of She’s Apples (Redoute’s Choice) who was consigned as Lot 144.
“When Redoute’s Choice shuttled to the northern hemisphere I decided to send one of my family to him, the result was She’s Apples,” the Duchess of Bedford said.
“Her half-brother [Showy] by Golden Horn raced [on Thursday] night in England. Their dam Steal The Show is a High Chaparral half-sister to my Tavistock.
“I really liked the Street Cry cross and the colt has a great personality. I sent her back to Per Incanto last spring.
“He was bought by a very good judge and it will be fun following his race career.”
Brighthill Farm sold ten weanlings for a total of NZ$512,000.
“It’s great for the farm and staff that do all the hard work and for the owners who keep giving us these weanlings,” Brighthill Farm’s Nick King said.
“It’s a sale we always aim for, we like to bring some quality horses and we were rewarded well today.”
Earlier, a filly by New Zealand’s soon-to-be crowned champion sire Proisir (Choisir), who will end the long reign of Waikato Stud’s Savabeel (Zabeel), was also popular at the one-day Karaka sale.
The Rich Hill Stud-based stallion, the sire of five Group 1 winners this season including Prowess and Legarto, had a filly sell for NZ$140,000 filly to Kaha Nui Farm’s Nick and Nicky White, who are relatively new investors that have been making their presence felt on both sides of the Tasman this sales season.
“She’s just a really good filly with a massive backend on her,” Nicky White said.
“I think she’ll get up and run fairly early. She was my pick of the fillies and we’re fortunate enough to be able to take her home.
“I thought she’d make that sort of money all day long and she has been really well prepped.
“I went back and back again to have another look at her and she impressed me every time.”
Offered by Highline Thoroughbreds’ Cam and Eva Heron, the filly is the first foal out of two-time winner Jazamour (Azamour), who in turn is a half-sister to the Listed winner Humbucker (Iffraaj).
Cam Heron was “absolutely rapt” with the price achieved for the filly, who had a reserve of NZ$100,000.
“The bidding took off once she reached that (reserve),” Heron said.
“We have been long-time supporters of Proisir and our half-share allows us to send a mare every other year. However, we had a stroke of luck in April 2020 when Eva’s number was drawn out of the hat at the NZ Thoroughbred Breeders’ meeting, the prize being a nomination to Proisir donated by Rich Hill Stud. So, in 2021, we sent two mares.”
Agent Bevan Smith was the underbidder on the filly, whose sire Proisir will stand for NZ$70,000 this year.
The Whites also paid NZ$60,000 for a colt by Proisir as well as taking home fillies by Satono Aladdin (Deep Impact) (NZ$65,000) and Darci Brahma (NZ$35,000).
The Karaka quartet are all likely to be reoffered under the Kaha Nui Farm banner at next year’s yearling sale, an auction at which the Whites played vendor for the first time in 2023.
“We’ll just go home and clear the head and have a think about it, see how they grow out and then in a few months’ time we’ll hopefully have a clearer picture,” White said.
“We bought four in Sydney, missed a few in the other two sales but we’re learning all the time.
“Everyone you meet, you pick up a few tips here and there, and it all helps put things in the mix.
“So, there’s a bit of a method to our madness and hopefully it all pays off in six months.”
Meanwhile, Hong Kong buyer Nancy Wong made her presence felt at Karaka, signing for seven weanlings under her Dungowan Racing banner alongside agent Bryce Tankard.
Waikato Bloodstock’s Tankard and Wong bought four fillies and three colts with the most expensive being a NZ$115,000 daughter of young Waikato Stud stallion Ardrossan (Redoute’s Choice) from the draft of Wentwood Grange.
Catalogued as Lot 172, the Ardrossan filly is out of the Group 3 winner Ticket To Ride (Shocking), who also happened to be the final offering from the estate of the late Peter Setchell, founder and former proprietor of Millfield Stud.
“She was beautiful and she ticked every box and for somebody like me from Hong Kong it’s very hard to find the right filly,” Wong said.
“I really like her and paid a bit more than I wanted to, but she was such a cracker I had to have her.”
Wong, who bought Hong Kong Derby (Listed, 2000m) winner Fay Fay (Falkirk) for NZ$13,000 at the 2009 NZB Festival Yearling Sale, will take a long-term view with her weanling acquisitions.
Kiwi trainers Tony Pike and Carl Henderson will be charged with educating the horses next year.
“I think I have a good system going and Carl has done a great job for me over the years with all the pre-training and breaking in and Tony is a great trainer to work with, I can’t get a better team than that,” she said.
“The weanlings we picked out here today we really liked on type and I like to do more racing around this side of the world and fillies are a good way to get into it.”
Cunningham swell with latest Ocean Park
Tofane and recent Queensland Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Kovalica were front of mind when Gordon Cunningham bid successfully to NZ$120,000 of a colt by Ocean Park (Thorn Park) yesterday.
The Curraghmore principal sold the aforementioned Group 1 winners by Waikato Stud’s Ocean Park and saw upside as a pinhook proposition in yesterday’s acquisition.
Consigned by Windsor Park Stud as Lot 132, the colt is the sixth foal out of Rolling In Thedeep (High Chaparral), who is a half-sister to Group 2 winner Centennial Park (Thorn Park) and Group 3 winner Ballack (Montjeu).
“He was a very good colt. He is very typical of the best horses by Ocean Park. We have had a lot of luck on the farm with the sire,” Cunningham said yesterday.
“I thought he resembled Kovalica in his physique as a young horse in a lot of ways. He is a different physical to Tofane. He has come from a good farm in Windsor Park Stud and it is a farm that produces a lot of top horses and is only 15 minutes away from us.
“I look forward to getting him home among our own horses and I know he will thrive and I look forward to presenting him next January at Karaka.”
NZB bloodstock sales manager Kane Jones was satisfied with how the weanling session played out, having generated $2.609 million in turnover from 113 foals sold.
“The weanling session was strong and we saw the nice horses be well sought after and achieve really good results for their vendors,” Jones said.
“It was really nice to see the proven and emerging Kiwi stallions feature prominently on the top lots list with [weanlings by] Per Incanto, Proisir, Ardrossan and Almanzor [all selling well] with good competition for those [select sale] horses.
“There was good interest in them in the lead up to the sale and when they walked into the ring. There were multiple people bidding on those quality horses.”
Windermere set for date with Per Incanto
The top-priced lot in the broodmare session was the multiple stakes performer Windermere (All Too Hard) who made $120,000 to the bid of Little Avondale Stud’s Sam Williams.
The six-year-old daughter of Vinery Stud’s All Too Hard (Casino Prince) was a four-time winner in Australia and placed in the Christmas Cup (Listed, 2400m) and Tatt’s Gold Crown (Listed, 2137m).
Offered by Kilmore Farm as part of the dispersal of prominent Australian breeder Rob Ferguson’s New Zealand-based mares, Windermere is in foal to Cambridge Stud’s exciting young sire Sword Of State (Snitzel).
She is out of the unraced mare Rosetta Stone (Sadler’s Wells), a sister to multiple Group 1 winner Brian Boru and Group 1-producing broodmare Kitty O’Shea, with this also the family of Group 1-winning brothers Best Solution (Kodiac)and El Bodegon, as well as Epsom Derby (Gr 1, 1m 4f) winner Workforce (King’s Best).
“I missed out on a number of mares on the Gold Coast as the competition was very strong and this mare was the standout of the mares here,” Williams said.
“She was the only mare I wanted. She maps very well with Per Incanto and being a Group-placed mare, the page for her foal will read attractively.
“She represents a strong international female family and I was delighted to get her.”
Sale statistics – weanlings
2023 2022 2021
Catalogued 183 132 120
Offered 161 120 100
Sold 113 (70%) 105 (88%) 82 (82%)
Aggregate $2,609,100 (-25%) $3.486 million $1.82 million
Average $23,089 (-30%) $33,200 $22,195
Median $12,000 (-25%) $16,000 $11,000
Top Lot $150,000 $360,000 $145,000
Sale statistics – broodmares
2023
Catalogued 70
Offered 65
Sold 34 (52%)
Aggregate $689,500
Average $20,279
Median $13,000
Top Lot $120,000
*broodmare session has not been held since 2019