Vibrant trade marks opening day of NZB Ready To Run Sale
Wednesday’s first session of the NZB Ready To Run Sale produced a vibrant day’s trade, with the spend topped by Chinese newcomer Sanxiong Gao, who signed for both top lots alongside Hong Kong-based trainer David Hayes.
Headlining his spoils was Lot 214, a Kiltannon Stables-consigned son of Per Incanto (Street Cry) who was secured for $750,000 after a bidding duel with Bruce Perry.
The $300,000 NZB National Yearling Sale purchase ran a slick 10.41-second breeze up and is out of the Fastnet Rock (Danehill) mare Aleria, the dam of the Group 2-placed winner War Eternal (Pierro).
Gao had earlier parted with $675,000 for a Satono Aladdin (Deep Impact) colt, consigned by Riversley Park as Lot 105.
Hayes told ANZ News that Gao had recently been put in contact with him by the Hong Kong Jockey Club, and that the prospect of such a haul had enticed him to attend the sale.
“I wasn’t actually coming because Ka Ying Rising is trialing on Friday,” he said. “Mr Gao asked if I could come down and help him pick a few horses out that might be suitable for Hong Kong, and he’s got deep pockets. He said don’t worry about the budget, so that’s music to a trainer’s ears.
“The plan is these horses will go back to Lindsay Park, as Ka Ying Rising did from New Zealand, and they’ll be assessed. The most suitable one for Hong Kong will probably go, and the other one will probably race down with the boys [Ben, Will and JD Hayes].
Hayes credited long-time agent Dean Hawthorne with scouting the pair and said there’s a chance of another purchase on Thursday.
“Dean found a broad selection of horses, and he has worked for me for years, he’s been the backbone of the boys’ selection committee. Dean knows what we like and they were two of our favorites, and maybe there’s one more tomorrow, and that’ll be us done.”
Asked whether the success of Ka Ying Rising (Shamexpress) had influenced buyer interest from Asia, Hayes said the superstar sprinter had been a valuable flag-bearer for New Zealand-bred talent and helped generate fresh enthusiasm among emerging investors.
“I think no doubt he’s been incredible for business, like Mr Brightside has been for the boys – good Kiwi horses,” he said.
“I feel that it’s an exciting new era in China, and there’s a lot of diamonds in the rough out there. If you look at Yulong, what he’s done in the industry, you only need to find two or three more of these sorts of guys, and the industry’s in great shape. So hopefully there are people out there like Mr. Gao that want to really have a crack.”
Kiltannon owners Mark and Lorraine Forbes were buoyed to sell the top lot for the second consecutive year with the juvenile affectionately nicknamed ‘Potato’, having sold the record-breaking I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) colt out of Group 1 winner Shillelagh (Savabeel) for $1,650,000 last year.
“The bidding went really quickly and then we were hoping for another bid or two to be the top price and he did it for us,” Lorraine Forbes told ANZ.
“We all loved the colt. He has a great action, did a nice breeze up and took everything in his stride. We give all our draft nicknames and use the first letter of the sire’s name as a start; we called him Potato and it stuck. He’s no problem to handle at all and he was very busy during inspections.”
Riversley Park’s Sam Beatson was thrilled with the return on the Satono Aladdin colt, another NZB National Yearling Sale purchase who validated his initial $130,000 price tag.
He is the second foal out of winning Atlante (Fastnet Rock) mare Shezdelicious, a half-sister to Champion NZ 3YO Madison County (Pins) and $1 million The Gong (1600m) winner Detonator Jack (Jakkalberry).
“He’s a big scopey colt with a good brain which we bought off Dave Duley of Landsdowne Park back in January,” he told ANZ.
“Mick Guerin and I bought him and since then he has shown he has ability. As for the result, we were stoked. It only takes two big players to want the same horse.”
The third top lot on the day was KB Bloodstock’s colt by Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) out of the Group 3-winning Savabeel (Zabeel) mare Samovare, who breezed up in 10.80s and was knocked down to Patella Bloodstock for $525,000.
“He has been on our radar for a few weeks and after his breeze up we were keen,” Patella director Nick Kneebone told ANZ.
“When we saw him in the skin on Monday that confirmed that we had to have a bid. He is an imposing colt. He has all the attributes necessary to race in Australia. That’s the plan at the moment, then maybe to Hong Kong. We’ll see.”
Cummings secures speedy Bivouac colt
The quickest breezer of the sale [10.27s] went the way of Hong Kong-bound trainer James Cummings, who forked out $425,000 for Lot 110, the Riversley Park-consigned son of Bivouac (Exceed And Excel).
Cummings, who trained the second season Darley sire to three Group 1 victories, told ANZ News he was delighted to secure the gelding to train for a Hong Kong client.
“He had the bullet gallop in the sale, I loved the way he did it,” Cummings said. “He’s a good, clean, sound horse with a good mind and those are the attributes I’ve come here looking for. I get that bit of extra confidence knowing he’s by Bivouac – I should have a good feel of what we’re working with – and he’s out of a very classy broodmare sire in Shamardal.
“I liked the mix there, and the mechanics were all there, so it’s as good a start as I could hope for.”
The colt – out of the winning Shamardal (Giant’s Causeway) mare Shrill, herself a half-sister to Group 2 winner Silent Honor (Sunday Silence) – landed within Cummings’ expectations, and he described the market as competitive for the right individual.
“It was right in the sweet spot, I think he was really good there so I’m happy to get him,” he said. “Depending on value we’ll buy more, he landed where we liked. We missed out on a few earlier that were desirable, so we’re just trying to be sensible.
“I think the market is good, there was a period where a few were passed in, the ones we liked I think have been rock solid.”
Cummings expressed excitement over building his stable ahead of the next chapter of his training career.
“I’ll be beginning to train horses out of the stable as soon as June, so there’s plenty of time,” he said.
“I’m excited, it’s going to be a totally different dimension but I just love training horses and running a stable, so I’m looking forward to getting in the swing of it again. That’s the future, in the meantime I’ve got to build the stable.”
Cummings later purchased Lot 194, a gelding by Exceedance (Exceed And Excel) out of Kiltannon Stables draft, for $230,000.
The session began strongly for trainers as Tony Pike and Joe Pride moved to respectively secure sons of Capitivant (Capitalist) and Tarzino (Tavistock) for $120,000 and $220,000.
Topping proceedings early was Lot 9, the Riverrock Farm-consigned son of Sword Of State (Snitzel) who sold to Cranbourne-based trainers Bevan and Richard Laming for $500,000.
The colt was a $320,000 NZB Yearling Sale purchase is out of winning Rip Van Winkle (Galileo) mare O’Carol, who from two to race has produced the Group 2-placed winner Sedaka (Savabeel) and Auckland Guineas (Gr 2, 1400m) fourth placegetter Suit Yourself (Savile Row) and is herself a half-sister to dual stakes winner Odeon (Zacinto).
“He’s a Guineas colt in my view,” Richard Laming told ANZ. “His breeze up was first class and Chad [Ormsby] does a great job. He had great wraps on the colt. Clearly the colt has ability.
“I had all the solid info I needed and there were a number of good judges on him. He will go to Melbourne this summer and we’ll see what happens from there.”
Laming was also responsible for buying the top lot at the Magic Millions HIT Sale last month when he went to $550,000 for a colt by I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit).
Chad Ormsby, who owns Riverrock Farm with his wife Aliesha, said the result was within expectations.
“He’s a lovely colt, not ours – I wish he was – but our clients are delighted,” he told ANZ. “I thought he’d make about that money and his reserve was right around there. I am really happy for our clients.”
Te Akau secures Ohukia colt as pinhookers enjoy profitable day
The Ready To Run Sale has been a lucrative well for Ohukia Lodge, who’ve recorded the second highest aggregate for its the past three editions, and Jamie and Chanel Beatson’s operation achieved more success when their Ole Kirk (Written Tycoon) colt, bought for $180,000 at the Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale, realised $480,000 to the bid of Te Akau Racing principle David Ellis.
Consigned as Lot 138, the colt is out of Group 3-placed Medaglia D’Oro (El Prado) mare Statuesquely, whose granddam Lotteria (Redoute’s Choice) boasts elite-level wins in the Myer Classic (Gr 1, 1600m) and Flight Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m).
“We thought he was one of the nicest colts we have seen at the Ready to Run for some considerable time,” Ellis told ANZ.
“Just look at the sires in his pedigree. Ole Kirk looks exciting, but look at the line up down his dam line of Medaglia D’Oro, Encosta De Lago, Redoute’s Choice and the great Sir Tristram. In my notes I wrote – ‘classy colt, a real racehorse.’”
Ellis has already made plans for the juvenile to contest the Matamata Slipper (Gr 3, 1200m) in February. The Group 3 was taken out this year by Te Akau’s Return To Conquer (Snitzel), who went on to score in the Sistema Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) a month later.
Jamie Beatson was delighted with the colt’s result, describing him as a forward-going type who had attracted strong attention.
“I agree with David, the colt is all class,” he told ANZ. “He’s definitely a get up and go type and will cop a prep now in time for the Matamata Slipper. He has the right attitude.
“I reckon he was out of his box more than he was in it, he was that popular. He will get every chance at Te Akau. A good result for us as we bought him for $180,000 and we had him on the market at $300,000.”
An earlier pinhook came when BMD Bloodstock’s Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj) colt (Lot 70) sold to bloodstock agent Peter Twomey for $420,000, profiting on the $180,000 he brought at the Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale when selling to Blandford Bloodstock out of Yarraman Park.
It is the third Ready To Run Sale for Barry Donoghue under his BMD Bloodstock banner, the operation selling ten of its 15 to enter the ring last year when his top lot was a Toronado (High Chaparral) gelding who turned $97,500 into $625,000.
The Irish native sold all six of his draft to go through the ring on Wednesday for a combined $1.16 million.
“He was on the market for $300,000 and anything over that was going to be a profit,” Donoghue told ANZ.
“I think they have bought themselves a really nice colt, I loved him. He’s a lovely big, scopey horse, more of a three-year-old type, there’s loads of room for improvement being a November foal. He moved really well and has a good pedigree, and he’s very professional.”
Twomey told ANZ: “I saw him in Melbourne so I knew something about him. As Barry says, there is plenty of improvement to look forward to but he has come on since the yearling sale. He breezed up well.
“My client has quite a few sprinters and was looking for something that could be a Guineas horse and stretch to 2000 metres. The best graduates of this sale have been milers and 2000-metre runners.
“We’d like to keep him a colt if possible since Wootton Bassett is no longer with us. He has a pedigree.”
One of the most gratifying pinhook results of the day came when Kurtis Pertab’s $8,000 Turn Me Loose (Iffraaj) gelding (Lot 35) made $180,000, selling to Hong Kong.
The colt’s dam is a sister to both multiple Malaysian stakes scorer Volcanic General (Magnus) and Adelaide Guineas (Listed, 1600m) winner Alpha Beat, and a half-sister to Group 2 winner Bella Martini (Stratum). He was sourced by Pertab at the NZB National Yearling Sale back in January.
“It’s when you buy them that you make your money,” Pertab told ANZ.
“I found him here back in January and liked him immediately. I trained his half-brother and I have had a few by Turn Me Loose. They have good minds and he has many good attributes. He will eventually go to Hong Kong but we will get him qualified here first.”
With day one returning an aggregate of $19.23 million for 119 lots sold and the median climbing 33 per cent to $120,000, NZB bloodstock sales manager Kane Jones told ANZ he was satisfied with how the sale opened and optimistic about the momentum carrying into day two.
“We’re really, really pleased with day one,” Jones said. “Average and median were particularly strong, and the clearance rate is something we’re working hard on, and we know will certainly improve in the coming hours and overnight.
“There was a really diverse, wide-ranging buying bench, and that certainly showed and the horses the buyers identified were certainly very well sought after. All the vendors have been telling us for the last three or four days, how busy they’ve been and how well inspected the horses have been, and that certainly translated into bidding and buying activity today in the ring.
“We’re really looking forward to day two.”
Day 1 statistics
2025 2024
Catalogued 240 200
Offered 179 161
Sold 119 (66%) 107 (66%)
Aggregate NZ$19,232,000 (3.6%) NZ$18,547,000
Average NZ$161,613 (-6.7%) NZ$173,336
Median NZ$120,000 (33%) NZ$90,000
Top Lot NZ$750,000 NZ$1,650,000