New Zealand Bloodstock’s optimism high ahead of Ready to Run Sale
Domestic, Australian and Asian-based buyers descend on Karaka ahead of high-performing juvenile sale
The biggest turn out of Hong Kong buyers in recent memory for a two-year-old sale in Australasia has New Zealand Bloodstock optimistic about its Ready to Run Sale while at the
same time acknowledging the economic pressure being applied to discretionary spending.
Almost every trainer from Sha Tin – New Zealander Jamie Richards, newcomer Mark Newnham, David Hayes and their peers – has ventured to Karaka for the 2023 edition and NZB bloodstock sales manager Kane Jones is looking forward to seeing how the buyers from the east respond to the catalogue they have assembled.
“We’re thrilled with the large contingent that has come down from Hong Kong, almost every trainer, and a really good number of permit holders and owners as well, so I am thrilled with the turnout from Hong Kong,” Jones told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“It’s a really important jurisdiction that we like to sell to.”
Graduates of the sale have excelled in Hong Kong for many years, with household names such as multiple Group 1-winning champion Golden Sixty (Medaglia D’Oro) and three-time Group 1 scorer Lucky Sweynesse (Sweynesse), who added to his stakes-winning haul in last weekend’s Jockey Club Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m), both sourced at the auction.
Kane said the team at NZB had made a huge effort to source horses who would appeal to not just an Asian buying bench, but also horses which will suit domestic and Australian buyers.
“It’s been a huge effort. We’ve made a really concerted effort to target Hong Kong to make sure we’ve got a good buying bench coming down, but at the end of the day the results of this sale speak for themselves with horses like Lucky Sweynesse and Golden Sixty really flying the flag,” continued Jones. “There’s no better endorsement for a sale than successful graduates.
“It’s a good diverse buying bench. Obviously Hong Kong but then we’ve also got a good contingent coming from Australia and we’ve big group from Malaysia, particularly from Selangor but also Ipoh, and also from South Korea as well.
“I think there’s a lot of positivity in the market and certainly this is the strongest ready to run sale in this part of the world, so that will take it a long way, but there are tough economic conditions at the moment, so we are cautiously optimistic that it will be a good sale.”
Purchased by Francis Lui out of Riversley Park’s 2017 draft for NZ$300,000, Golden Sixty has gone on to win 25 races in Hong Kong, including nine at Group 1 level, on his way to being crowned Hong Kong Horse of the Year for the last three seasons.
The farm’s graduates have continued to leave their mark in Hong Kong and the importance of the Hong Kong buying bench was a point made by Riversley’s Sam Beatson earlier this week and he believes one that cannot be undersold in the wake of the demise of racing in Singapore and the almost certain absence of Macau owners and trainers, something that was evident
“It sounds like the Hong Kong market is going to be quite strong,” Beatson told the NZ Racing Desk earlier in the week.
“We get winners most weeks. We had a couple of Per Incantos win a few in a row up there [in Hong Kong] over the last few weeks.
“But we are going into a bit of the unknown with how much the [absence of the] Singapore market is going to affect us because they are normally quite strong at this sale.
“The top end is going to be fine, just like in any other year, but just how much we miss Singapore is going to be interesting with those middle market horses.”
While the Australian buyers’ level of interest in their own Inglis and Magic Millions two-year-old sales was down year-on-year, yesterday there were a number of trainers and agents from across the Tasman who have made the trip to Auckland for the NZB sale.
Trainers Mick Price, Blake Ryan, Patrick Pay expatriate Kiwis Bjorn Baker and soon-to-be Gold Coast-based Paul Shailer were on the grounds yesterday while agents Mathew Becker, Bill and James Mitchell, Jim Clarke and Craig Rounsefell, who buys extensively for the Hong Kong Jockey Club, cast their eyes over the stock at Karaka.
Cheltenham Stables’ John Malcolm, who sold an I Am Invincible colt for $370,000 and a son of All Too Hard (Casino Prince) for $200,000 at the Inglis Ready2Race Sale in Sydney last month, has a draft of 11 at the NZB sale.
Cognisant of the Hong Kong buying bench, Malcolm’s offering represents a strong Asia focus with juveniles by stallions such as Per Incanto (Street Cry), Sweynesse (Lonhro), El Roca (Fastnet Rock) and Exceed And Excel (Danehill) all set to go under the hammer for Cheltenham Stables in a draft the horse educator rates highly.
Malcolm put raps on the Savabeel (Zabeel) half-brother to Group 2 winner Spanish Whisper (Lope De Vega) (Lot 383), the Exceed And Excel half-brother to Group 2 winner Lilikoi (Charm Spirit) (Lot 341) and a Justify (Scat Daddy) daughter of the stakes-placed sister to Australian Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Unforgotten (Fastnet Rock) (Lot 251), declaring the trio “pretty special”.
“I am pretty happy, I am not sure whether we will be able to repeat this again, but we’ve got something there that the Asian buyers are going to be quite interested in and we’ve got a bit for the Aussies there as well, so we’ve got all bases covered hopefully,” Malcolm told ANZ Bloodstock News.
Malcolm said the Justify filly, who breezed up at Te Rapa in 11.12 seconds, was a unique dual-purpose two-year-old whose credentials are rarely seen at a ready to run sale.
“Justify’s flying and there’s been a bit of chat around that he might not come back to the southern hemisphere once he heads north this time, so there might not be too many more chances to buy a filly like her, so it’ll be interesting to see what she makes.
“The Savabeel, he’s a half-brother to Spanish Whisper, so he has a big pedigree on him as well, he’s still a colt and he’s been a lovely horse to work with, and the Exceed And Excel is a gelding and he’s been the ultimate professional all preparation.”
Kilgravin Lodge’s Eion Kemp has compiled an impressive draft of 20 two-year-olds for Karaka, purposely targeting the breeze-up auction in the knowledge that the yearling market could fall away a touch in 2023.
“We identified this market at the start of the year that it probably would handle the economy a little bit better than the yearling market, so we focused all our attention onto the breeze-up horses and, look, the way the last couple of days have been, the [inspection] numbers are on par with last year, so hopefully it transpires into a good sale,” Kemp said.
“I know NZB put in a big effort to get a lot of Hong Kong guys down this year and a lot of the Hong Kong guys who I was speaking to throughout the year were holding their firepower through to this sale.”
In a similar vein to Malcolm, Kemp is confident in the draft of horses he’s offering to the market, highlighting a Written Tycoon (Iglesia) colt out of the stakes-placed Fromparis Withlove (Smart Missile) (Lot 45), a Harry Angel (Dark Angel) colt first foal out of the stakes-placed Monrecour (Zacinto) (Lot 143), a Hellbent (I Am Invincible) gelding out of My Dear Friend (General Nediym) (Lot 146), a Deep Field (Northern Meteor) half-brother to multiple Listed-winning and Group 1-placed filly Fundamentalist (Not A Single Doubt) (Lot 367) and the Super Seth (Dundeel) half-sister to Queensland Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Kovalica (Ocean Park) (Lot 298).
That said, vetting will have a significant say on the results of vendors’ drafts, something Kemp is well aware of.
“Vetting has a massive role and sometimes it’s a role that you pull your hair out with,” the Kilgravin Lodge principal said.
“You know things are good, but you can get totally varying opinions on vets, both on x-rays and scopes.
“I am finding these days scopes are the ones that are influencing sales more than x-rays. The pendulum has swung on x-rays now and people are a lot more forgiving of things.
“I have got a lot of firepower this year with stallions – Written Tycoon and Harry Angel are appealing a lot to the Hong Kong market and Hellbent and the Deep Field – all kind of horses who suit Hong Kong and in Australia.
“I have got a lot of firepower this year with horses who suit Hong Kong and, for Australia, you can’t go past the half-sister to Kovalica by Super Seth.
“He’s started off his stallion career very well and she’s been going on well very nicely [in her education].”
Like Malcolm, Kemp identified the NZB sale as a that asian buyers targeted to buy stock to suit the racing in those jurisdictions and is hopeful the lack of activity from Singapore-based buyers will not have too much of a derogatory effect on the market.
“I know NZB put in a big effort to get a lot of Hong Kong guys down this year and a lot of the Hong Kong guys who I was speaking to throughout the year were holding their firepower through to this sale,” explained Kemp.
“So, obviously with Singapore gone there is a big hole in the market. They still bought 20 to 30 horses last year, so we are hoping that maybe Malaysia may buy a few more, Korea’s on board and hopefully the domestic market can pick up some of those horses.”
The sale gets underway at Karaka today at 11am (NZT).