Rising stars Forsman and Howley to the fore on day one of NZB Ready to Run Sale
Colts by Savabeel and No Nay Never make $575,000 and $520,000 as Hong Kong also strong
Young Group 1-winning horsemen Andrew Forsman and Liam Howley used the opening session of the New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale to make a statement, purchasing two highly credentialed colts by Savabeel (Zabeel) and No Nay Never (Scat Daddy) respectively for more than $500,000 each, to add to their burgeoning training careers.
Forsman waited until the dying minutes of day one at Karaka to make his mark when parting with NZ$575,000 for the Savabeel two-year-old while Howley paid NZ$520,000 for his stable’s acquisition.
While the two most expensive horses sold on day one will remain in Australasia to be trained, a number of the other big-priced lots to change hands are destined for Asia and particularly Hong Kong.
A colt by Darley’s proven Hong Kong sire Exceed And Excel (Danehill) and another by Turn Me Loose (Iffraaj), a Windsor Park Stud stallion who trainers and agents are predicting will make a big impression in Asia, were also star attractions yesterday during a session in which 17 lots sold for NZ$200,000 or more.
Meanwhile, Cambridge-based Forsman, whose solo trainer career sans the retired Murray Baker is in its infancy, came to Karaka specifically for one horse and he is convinced the top-priced colt by New Zealand’s champion Savabeel has the traits shown by the Waikato Stud sire’s best horses.
The colt breezed up in 10.80 seconds when on public display at the two-day breeze-up session a month ago.
“I loved him. I thought he was the standout horse of the sale. He came here in really good order, and I thought he breezed-up really well,” Forsman said.
“He was a quality colt. I like the way he moved and everything about him, plus he has got a great pedigree with the Savabeel-O’Reilly cross and a good family.
“He has been well raised and handled by Jamie and Chanel [Beatson], so he has had every opportunity until now and he is basically ready to go.”
During his time working for and alongside Baker, and since branching out on his own last May, Forsman had laid his hands on numerous talented Savabeels, notably Group 1 winner The Chosen One and Mr Maestro, the latter winning the Super Impose Stakes (Listed, 1800m) and Caulfield Classic (Gr 3, 2000m) in Melbourne this spring in the Cambridge-based trainer’s maiden foray to Australia in his own right.
“He is clearly a good sire and I think this guy has all the good qualities I have seen in the good Savabeels we have trained,” Forsman said.
“He was a very good mover and he seemed to have a very good temperament too. Everything I saw of him, he handled everything really well.
“He had a real quality about him and they [Savabeels] are good, quality racehorses.”
Forsman’s lofty opinion of the Ohukia Lodge-consigned colt was shared by under bidder Trent Busuttin and his wife and co-trainer Natalie Young who have also experienced the ultimate racecourse success with the progeny of Savabeel.
Possessing the potent Savabeel-O’Reilly cross, which has produced 23 individual stakes winners at a 12 per cent strike rate, the colt is the fifth foal out of Maxmara, herself a sister to the stakes winner Salsa and a half-sister to Group 3 winner Somepin Anypin (Pins).
Catalogued as Lot 166, four lots prior to the close of day one, he represented a strong pinhooking result for Ohukia Lodge, who purchased the colt for $160,000 as a yearling at Karaka in March from the draft of Waikato Stud.
“This is just such a wonderful result for a really nice colt,” Ohukia Lodge’s Chanel Beatson said.
“We bought him at the March [Karaka] yearling sale. We backed our judgement, so this is fabulous.”
Howley hoping he’s had last laugh with No Nay Never juvenile
Victoria’s Howley, who is also making a rise up the state’s training ranks from his Kyneton base, may have missed out on the NZ$500,000 son of Exceed And Excel but he walked away from Karaka content with the $520,000 colt by No Nay Never.
“We came to buy some nice colts, looking for that sharper, two-year-old style of colt,” Howley said.
“The earlier one [Lot 81] was probably our equal top with this bloke, but we were willing to go a bit further.
“Missing out on the first one probably made us a little bit hungrier, and we picked up a nice colt.
“The disappointing thing was that we really liked him as a yearling, and we let him go. He was well bought.
“He came back here and his breeze was really good and he presented in outstanding order over the last couple of days. He has a bombproof attitude and is very athletic with that lovely, rich colour – he is gorgeous to look at.
“[He is for] a new client to the stable, so hopefully we are going to have a bit of fun.”
The Riverrock Farm-consigned colt, who breezed up in 10.24 seconds, was bought by vendor Chad Ormsby from Morning Rise Stud at this year’s Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale for $160,000.
Catalogued as Lot 142, he is the third living foal out of the two-time winner and Melbourne-placed mare La Cicciolina, a daughter of renowned broodmare sire Bernardini (A.P. Indy).
“This colt was a standout for me when we purchased him as a yearling,” Ormsby said.
“What really impressed me about the horse was his demeanour and the way he held himself on the grounds here. He thought it was all about him and put on a good show so we’re really rapt with the result.”
No Nay Never shuttled from Ireland to Coolmore Australia’s stud in the Hunter Valley from 2016 to 2019, with this his last southern hemisphere crop producing 36 live foals.
His three-year-old daughter Madame Pommery, who is trained by Chris Waller, won the MRC Thousand Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) in October.
“I have a couple [No Nay Nevers] in the stable and they have got good, natural speed,” Howley said.
“We won’t push him as a two-year-old, but that three-year-old style is something where we are looking.
“Whether he has the scope to get out to a mile we will wait and see, but he has certainly got a lot of natural speed about him.”
Howley’s view of the market reflected what transpired yesterday and at last month’s Australian two-year-old sales conducted by Inglis and Magic Millions.
“It is a tough sale,” he said. “With the good horses, the good judges are on them, so it is going to be hard. It is not for the faint-hearted to come here shopping for the good colts.”
The opening session, which started slowly, closed out with 91 horses sold at an average of NZ$124,500 and a median price of NZ$80,000.
The clearance rate was last night sitting at 65 per cent, a mark NZB director of business development Mike Kneebone expected to improve before the second session began today.
While the average and median figures were down on the corresponding day last year, the aggregate was up almost NZ$1 million at NZ$11,329,500.
“The last two years have been a bit weird for the sales so far as not having any [international] people here, but if you look back over the past three or four sales where we have had people here [pre-2020], it’s always been a slow sale to get going,” Kneebone told ANZ Bloodstock News last night.
“I guess from the outside that looks a bit patchy, but it got going in the last two or three hours of the day, which is the most important part really, because vendors have had time to adjust where their reserves are at and the buyers have settled where they fit in the market with their budgets.
“I thought it was pretty good all the way through the day, even though it was a bit patchy, and the clearance rate is creeping up all the time.”
Hong Kong buyers find favour with old and new
Hong Kong buyers dominated the top-end of the market on day one, taking home the two Riversley Park-consigned colts for NZ$500,000 each and the cohort also accounted for 13 of the 91 horses traded on day one at Karaka.
Hong Kong-based trainer Caspar Fownes bought the NZ$500,000 Turn Me Loose colt, who was sold early in the day, before Sha Tin and Happy Valley rival Francis Lui, on the advice of agent Willie Leung, bought the Exceed And Excel colt for the same figure.
Lui and Leung struck gold at the Karaka Ready to Run Sale in 2017 when they purchased the subsequent multiple Hong Kong champion Golden Sixty (Medaglia D’Oro) for NZ$300,000.
Golden Sixty was consigned by Riversley Park, which also sold the Exceed And Excel colt, himself by the same sire as another Hong Kong champion in Mr Stunning.
“A couple of years ago we were lucky to secure Golden Sixty here, so I hope we get another one for Francis,” Leung said.
“Years ago I [also] bought Mr Stunning here as a yearling and he was a lovely Exceed And Excel. It was great to see two on the ground [this year], and he was my top pick.
“He looks very athletic and precocious, so hopefully he does as well as Mr Stunning.”
Howley and agent Andrew Williams were the under bidders on Lot 81 who breezed in 10.30 seconds at Te Rapa.
The colt was purchased by well-known New Zealand racing journalist Mick Guerin and Riversley Park for $150,000 from the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale from the Cressfield draft after initially being passed in.
“We always knew he would make good money but we had him on the market at $250,000,” Riversley Park’s Sam Beatson said.
“We are very pleased that he made his money, although we [thought he] might have made a touch more.”
He is the second foal out of the two-time winner Epitomise (More Than Ready), a sister to the stakes-placed Trope and a half-sister to VRC Oaks (Gr 1, 2500m) winner Personal (Fastnet Rock) and the stakes-placed pair Selectify (Redoute’s Choice) and Laser Flash (Redoute’s Choice).
‘I have one who I think is pretty smart’
Champion trainer Fownes and Leung went head-to-head earlier in the session, but it was the former who came out on top for the impressive son of Turn Me Loose with the winning NZ$500,000 bid.
Fownes, who has trained 12 winners so far this season, was pleased to be back at Karaka laying his eyes over the two-year-olds on offer.
“It was a lot of money, but we came here to buy him,” Fownes said from Karaka.
“I thought he was going to be mid-$300,000, $300,000 to $400,000, maybe somewhere there, but it’s like anything at an auction, all you need is a couple of people to be on it and the price goes up.
“Hopefully we’ll have a nice horse to work with as he looks the part. He’s got a lovely big action with a good head on him for a colt and we really liked his breeze.”
Windsor Park Stud’s Turn Me Loose, the sire of the Andrew Forsman-trained Sistema Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner and MRC Thousand Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) placed She’s Licketysplit, has six progeny in Hong Kong, three of them who have raced, with two already successful.
Fownes has the unraced four-year-old gelding Karma in his stable and has so far liked what he’s seen.
“He’s a stallion who is throwing some good runners around here and there, in Aussie and New Zealand, and I’ve got one in Hong Kong who I think is pretty smart,” the trainer said.
“This horse … has fully matured into his frame, even though he’s just two, and he could be a nice horse for the future.
“We’ve taken the punt and hope we get him right. He’ll just get taken through his trials and then maybe bring him up in February, March, if he comes up, if not he’ll come up in our next summer.”
Fownes added: “It is nice to be able to get out [of Hong Kong to other countries] and feel a little bit normal again.
“Physically seeing the horses is something we always love to do. It’s hard to really get a feel for them when you’re looking at the videos.
“When you see them on the ground and you see what their temperament is like out of their box, it certainly makes you feel a bit more confident about a horse.”
Consigned by Riversley Park’s Sam and Hannah Beatson, the colt, a half-brother to four-time New Zealand winner Mission Hill (Teofilo), breezed up in 10.58 seconds at Te Rapa. He is the sixth foal out of Aypebe (Fusaichi Pegasus), herself a winner over 1700 metres and a sister to the stakes-placed Marvellous Miss.
Sam Beatson said: “The colt has been a star from day one. We turned down several big offers leading up to the sale. He’s a cracker and it’s not too surprising that he sold so well.”
Leung quickly put his disappointment behind him by taking home Lot 22, a son of Iffraaj (Zafonic), from John Malcolm’s Cheltenham Stables for NZ$375,000 on behalf of Hong Kong-based trainer Francis Lui.
“The horse will stay here for another 12 months for pre-training before going to Hong Kong. I bought him for Hong Kong trainer Francis Lui and his client,” Leung said.
“Thank you to Francis for allowing me to buy two horses here.”
The agent, who trades under the Magus Equine banner, also stuck to the Iffraaj sire line by going to NZ$250,000 for Lot 30, a gelding by Turn Me Loose, from the draft of Riversley Park.
He was purchased for Hong Kong-based trainer Jimmy Ting. The trainer and Leung also combined later in the day, going to NZ$260,000 for a Swiss Ace (Secret Savings) colt, who breezed up in 10.68 seconds for Riversley Park. The brother to four-time John Size-trained Hong Kong winner Fantastic Way was catalogued as Lot 99.
“The Swiss Ace was a really nice colt who did a cracking breeze up. His brother is going great guns in Hong Kong and this fellow will head there, too,” Beatson said.
“So, we had a pretty good idea about that.”
Purchasers from Singapore, Malaysia, Macau and South Korea also featured on the buyers’ list and NZB’s Kneebone is confident there’s still plenty of money to be spent during the second session.
“Singapore tried very hard throughout the day and they’ve bought some really nice horses. Malaysia is just starting to get going later in the piece and the South Koreans were pretty good today, too, they bought early and they bought well,” he said.
“Hong Kong is just amazing. Caspar Fownes and Wille Leung and those sort of guys here, they make a sale, and they’ve got the racing to make it worthwhile to pay that sort of money.”
Riversley Park was day one’s leading vendor, selling 14 two-year-olds for a combined NZ$2,682,500 at an average of NZ$191,607. Riverrock Farm sold two lots for a total of NZ$720,000.
Day two starts at 11am NZ time.