Karaka Summer Sale caps historic NZB National Yearling Sale week
The final session of NZB’s 100th National Yearling Sale was held at Karaka on Thursday, highlighted by a strong first edition of the Karaka Summer Sale.
A total of 112 yearlings sold for more than $3.4 million, averaging $30,612, with six lots reaching $100,000 or more and a clearance rate of 82 per cent.
NZB managing director Andrew Seabrook said the week delivered outstanding results under the new format.
“To sum it up, this week we’ve turned over $9.6 million more than last year, with 79 less horses catalogued,” he said. “We’re just over the moon, seeing these results from the new format.
“The Karaka Summer Sale today was one of the strongest sessions, almost matching Book 2 results from last year. It’s just been a phenomenal week all around, celebrating such a big milestone in New Zealand thoroughbred history, and returning almost $96 million back to breeders.
“Our vendors have done an incredible job presenting their yearlings, our buyers supporting the sale so well and our whole NZB team who have all contributed to its success.
“We’re looking forward to the demand for our yearlings continuing to our Online Yearling Sale, where of course the outstanding filly Well Written was purchased from.”
The top lot of the day was Lot 958, an Armory (Galileo) colt out of Hanako (Satono Aladdin) offered by first-time vendor Stew McGregor and purchased by John Foote Bloodstock for $130,000.
“We’re so, so thrilled,” said an emotional McGregor. “To have that amount of people and trainers come through and inspect him, it’s really neat. We hope he’s got an exciting future for us to follow.”
McGregor also acknowledged the support of nearby stud farms: “Dean Hawkins, Windsor Park Stud and others around me have been instrumental in helping me along the way. It’s a team sport, alright.”
Queensland-based agent Foote was active across all three Books at Karaka, purchasing 14 lots in total and he said he was taken by Thursday’s session topper.
“He’s a lovely big three-year-old type,” he said. “He’s a lovely moving horse with plenty of him. His pedigree’s quite good when you go back into it, being from the family of Zirna and the three-time Hong Kong winner Super Football.
“I just took to him, so we bought him.”
Foote has been impressed with the progeny of Armory, who also had a pair of colts sell for $65,000 each on Thursday and had progeny sell for up to $625,000 at the Ready To Run Sale in November. The Mapperley Stud stallion’s oldest progeny are two-year-olds, and he has already been represented by early winner Silhouette.
Foote added: “There was one sold earlier for about $65,000 that was with Little Avondale, which was a nice horse and I saw a few last year that I liked as well, so I have liked a good few of them.
Foote’s other Summer Sale purchase on Thursday was Lot 951, a Redwood (High Chaparaal) colt from the draft of Westbury Stud. Foote paid $100,000 for the son of the Sebring mare Florid Affair, who won two races and is the dam of winners Part Time Lover, Mossfair, Ornate and Bid In A Hurry.
“Russell Warwick told me about six weeks ago, ‘I’ve got one horse for you to buy, and you’ve got to buy it,’” Foote said. “He said it’s the best horse he’s bred for a long time. So we’ll see.”
Both Summer Sale colts, along with the majority of Foote’s dozen other purchases for the week, are destined for Hong Kong.
Westbury Stud led the Karaka Summer Sale vendors by aggregate and average, selling seven lots for a total of $432,000, while Redwood (High Chaparral) was the leading sire.
Victorian trainer Patrick Payne finished as the leading buyer of the final session, purchasing three lots for $236,000, including a $100,000 Redwood colt (Lot 938).
Sale statistics – Summer Sale
2026
Catalogued 161
Offered 138
Sold 112 (81%)
Aggregate $3,428,500
Average $30,612
Median $20,000
Top Lot $130,000
Sale statistics – Karaka National Yearling Sale
2026 2025
Catalogued 1009 1088
Offered 906 941
Sold 741 (82%) 742 (79%)
Aggregate $95,685,000 (+11%) $86,061,500
Average $129,130 (+11%) $115,986
Median $90,000 (+12.5%) $80,000
Top Lot $1,100,000 $2,400,000
Finnegan goes down tried and tested route
Samantha and Francis Finnegan followed a successful pattern when going to $125,000 to purchase a sharp filly by Written By (Written Tycoon) at the Summer Sale at Karaka on Thursday.
The result also delivered Hallmark Stud a brilliant pinhook result, with the filly having been picked up for only $600 via an Inglis Digital sale last June.
Awapuni conditioner Samantha Finnegan picked up her first winner as a trainer when her $150,000 Karaka yearling purchase Bona Sforza, another daughter of Written By, swept home on her debut to take out the Welcome Stakes (Listed, 1000m) at Riccarton and she also finished fourth in the 1000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) behind star filly Well Written.
The filly is out of the More Than Ready (Southern Halo) mare Glowing Trait who has now had three foals to race, all winners, including Written Glow, a debut winner for Cody Cole and subsequently sold to the Hayes family’s Lindsay Park.
“She was just a smashing filly,” Francis Finnegan said.
“On type, she was as good as you could get in any of the books. And when a dam’s three from three and they’re all closely related, it’s a bit easier.
“I suppose when a full sibling’s winning, it’s always a help. And it’s gone to Lindsay Park in Australia, so there’s a chance of an Australian black type update for this filly too.
“She vetted well and we have a good one by the stallion, so you tend to go where you’ve found success before.
“We had Tuesday gallops, so we weren’t really able to get away. So it suited us that this filly was later in the catalogue, as we could only get up for the summer sale.”