New Zealand Bloodstock set to celebrate auction house’s centenary with ‘quality’ yearling catalogue
Full siblings to Pennyweka (Satono Aladdin), Kovalica (Ocean Park) and Prowess (Proisir), and half-siblings to Ceolwulf (Tavistock), Mr Brightside (Bullbars) and Gringotts (Per Incanto) are among the star lots in a quality-packed catalogue for next year’s New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Yearling Sale.
Marking 100 years of the National Yearling Sale in the country, a total of 1,009 yearlings have been assembled for the sale from January 25-29, including 567 in Book 1, deliberately reduced from last year, which had 661.
Highlights include Ardsley Park’s Lot 192, a sister to Pennyweka, dual elite winner of the New Zealand Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) and the Australian Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m).
Lot 222 is Curraghmore’s brother to Kovalica (Ocean Park), winner of the Queensland Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) plus three other Group races, while Lot 387 is Hallmark Stud’s sister to Prowess (Proisir), the dual top-tier heroine of the New Zealand Stakes (Gr 1, 2050m) and ATC Vinery Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m).
Meanwhile, Cambridge Stud presents Lot 513, a half-brother from the second crop of its young stallion Sword Of State to Ceolwulf (Tavistock), the star gelding bred by the farm who’s won four Group 1s so far.
Surging sire Satono Aladdin has three star lots who are half-siblings to stars of the New Zealand and Australian turf:
Wentwood Grange presents Lot 521, a half-brother to ten-time Group 1 winner Mr Brightside (Bullbars), Phoenix Park’s Lot 549 is a colt from the same dam as $5.5 million earner Gringotts (Per Incanto), and Lot 553 is HGT Bloodstock’s half-sister to Belclare (Per Incanto), dual winner of New Zealand’s Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m).
Karaka also presents a half-sister by debutant speed sire In The Congo (Snitzel) to exciting sprinter War Machine (Harry Angel), another from the Ardsley Park draft as Lot 336, while Haunui Farm offers Lot 459, a half-sister by Proisir to dual top-level victor Crocetti (Zacinto).
The sale also features progeny of many outstanding mares, including Cambridge’s Lot 265, a colt by Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) who’s the second foal of 2020-21 New Zealand Filly of the Year Amarelinha (Savabeel).
Livamol Classic (Gr 1, 1200m) queen Savy Yong Blonk’s (Savabeel) colt second foal by Super Seth (Dundeel) is presented as Lot 104 from Prima Park’s draft.
And the filly first foal by Russian Revolution (Snitzel) of another elite winner in Two Illicit (Jimmy Choux) is entered as Lot 203 from Trelawney Stud, who also offer a colt first foal by Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj) of triple Australian stakes winner Zayydani (Savabeel).
Nine first season sires will be represented, headlined by Darley’s nine-time Group 1 winner Anamoe (Street Boss), dual elite victors Jacquinot (Rubick) and Artorius, and dual Derby hero Hitotsu (Maurice).
Anamoe’s ten yearlings include Lot 269, Wentwood Grange’s colt out of dual elite heroine Anabandana (Anabaa) and Lot 449, Jamieson Park’s filly out of Gin Martini (Rip Van Winkle), a dual stakes-winner up to 3200 metres who ran third in the 2022 Australian Oaks.
Rich Hill Stud’s 2022-23 champion New Zealand sire Proisir (Choisir) is represented by 63 lots including Trelawney Stud’s Lot 94, a colt out of Ruqqaya (Van Nistelrooy), dam of Group 1 winner and current Yulong sire Grunt (O’Reilly), sire of recent VRC Oaks winner Strictly Business, and of Group 2 winner Zayydani (Savabeel).
Curraghmore also presents a Proisir half-sister to Group 1 winner Ruthless Dame (Tavistock) and Listed winner Torture (Sword Of State) (Lot 96).
Ten-time New Zealand champion sire Savabeel has 35 lots on offer, while his Waikato Stud barnmate Super Seth has 47.
Cambridge Stud sires are of course well represented, including 50 lots by Sword Of State (Snitzel), 42 by Hello Youmzain (Kodiac) and 33 by Almanzor (Wootton Bassett), while Little Avondale’s star stallion Per Incanto (Street Cry) has 30.
The Book 1 catalogue of 567 yearlings represents a drop of 94 from 661 last year and will be offered over two days – the Sunday and Monday – as opposed to three days in the past.
While 2025’s sale catalogued 426 lots in Book 2, next year’s 442 secondary selections will be split into two divisions. The Book 2 sale will take place on Tuesday, with 281 lots offered, before the reintroduced Karaka Summer Sale on Thursday, in which 161 lots will go under the hammer.
New Zealand Bloodstock managing director Andrew Seabrook said the company was delighted with the quality of Book 1 after its decision to scale back. With 820 boxes at the complex, reducing Book 1 to 567 lots will likely, after withdrawals, allow for all Book 1 and Book 2 yearlings to be housed on-site at the same time.
“We’re thrilled with the quality,” Seabrook told ANZ News. “Given it’s our 100th year anniversary, we wanted to present the best possible catalogue we could so we refined it by 100 lots, and they’ll be sold over two days, not three.
“We’d been thinking about it for a while, and we thought it made sense to try it in our 100th year sale. Now every horse in Book 1 and Book 2 will be on the scene from the start, and they’ll all have the opportunity to be seen by the international buying bench.
“With the desire these days from international people to be away from home for less time, we think a condensed sale is the way to go.
“I absolutely feel a smaller Book 1 has really hit the mark, quality-wise, and I’m sure people will see that when they go through the catalogue.”
Karaka 2025 was slightly flat compared to previous editions, with the market wary early in the year due mainly to wider economic concerns. Book 1 averaged $165,000, down from $168,000 in 2024, both off a 78 per cent clearance rate.
Seabrook said he was confident about achieving more robust results in 2026.
“I’d be disappointed if we didn’t increase the statistics from our last sale,” he said.
“We’re thrilled with the quality of the stallions we have, and again we’ve had another very good 12 months on the track. In 2024-25, New Zealand-breds won 21 per cent of the Group 1 races held in Australia, despite making up only 7.7 per cent of the horse population there.
“So it’s been a good 12 months, and there’s a really positive feel on the ground. Our Ready To Run Sale [on November 12 and 13] was very strong, and the general comments and the numbers of people booking in for January was really heartening.
“Last week’s Ready To Run success has given us great confidence going forward, and I’m sure the pinhookers will have taken confidence from it as well.
“We thought Book 2 was disappointing last year. We think the new format is really going to help Book 2.”
The average for Book 2 in 2025 was $36,000, down from $43,000 in 2024.
Last week’s Ready To Run Sale produced a record average of $156,000, up from $152,000 in 2024.
The week of Karaka 2026 kicks off at Ellerslie racecourse on Saturday January 24 with the Karaka Millions raceday, now worth more than $NZ5 million in prize-money and headlined by the $1m Karaka Millions 2YO (RL, 1200m) and $1.5m Karaka Millions 3YO (RL, 1600m) for graduates of the sale.
All yearlings bought at Karaka 2026 are eligible for the Karaka Millions Series including the new NZB Mega Maiden Series which offers $1m in bonuses across 40 maiden races each season in New Zealand.
The Summer Sale is further boosted by a new $200,000 Summer Sale bonus for yearlings purchased this year. For the first Karaka Summer Sale graduate home in both the 2027 Karaka Millions 2YO and 2028 Karaka Millions 3YO, $100,000 will be split evenly between the vendor and purchaser.
Click here to explore the catalogue.