Records Fall at NZ RTR Sale
For the third consecutive year, the New Zealand Bloodstock Sale of Ready-To-Run 2-Year-Olds established new records for turnover, average and median. The two-day sale concluded Thursday at the company’s Karaka complex. Despite a catalogue that featured 41 fewer offerings, turnover reached nearly NZ$19.3 million, a 4.5% increase over the 2013 figure, while the cumulative average of NZ$80,073 was the highest ever recorded for a 2-year-old sale in Australasia. The median price leapt by 10% to NZ$60,000, while the buyback rate was a manageable 27%, significantly down from the 37.8% recorded 12 months ago.
New Zealand Bloodstock Co-Managing Director Petrea Vela said the company is very pleased with the results of this year’s Ready to Run Sale.
“We’ve had a very successful Sale here at Karaka over the past two days,” she said. “It’s a great credit to the vendors to post another record batch of figures for the third year in a row. Particularly pleasing is the significant increase in the clearance rate from last year, coupled with such a strong median figure. The competition has come from all corners, with a very broad international buying bench spreading their interest throughout the sale, including lots of new faces.”
The session was off to a flying start Thursday, as the very horse through the ring, hip 201, fetched A$350,000 from Gold Coast conditioner John Morrisey. It was another good result for Savabeel (Aus) (Zabeel {NZ}), who accounted for two of Wednesday’s top four prices and two of the top three results yesterday. That was highlighted by the sale of hip 264, a full-brother to GSW & G1SP Diademe (NZ), to Warwick Farm trainer Bryce Hays for a sales-topping NZ$460,000. The colt, consigned by Diamond Lodge, breezed his eighth of a mile in a smart :10.70 and proved a smart pinhook, having been purchased for just NZ$80,000 at this company’s Premier Yearling Sale in January.
“We came here with 12 to look at and as soon as I saw him I knew he was the horse,” remarked Heys. “We bought [subsequent MGSW & G1SP] Savvy Nature (NZ) (Savabeel {Aus}) here two years ago and this horse is him all over again.”
He added, “We’re a fan of Savabeel as a sire and his record speaks for itself. This colt fits the profile of what Savabeel has made his name with and he has a very commercial pedigree.”
Savabeel finished the sale as the second-leading sire by average (NZ$215,909) for 11 horses sold.
Anton Koolman was the immediate underbidder on hip 264, but settled for something of a ‘consolation’ prize when going to NZ$430,000 for hip 322, an Exceed and Excel (Aus) colt consigned by Beatson Stables, who clocked a fast eighth of a mile in a cracking :10.12. He was a NZ$175,000 purchase out of the Premier Sale.
“We put in plenty of hours of study before the Sale and once we had narrowed our short list down we had three colts we were keen to buy,” said Koolman, who signed the ticket under his Fraternity Thoroughbreds banner. “Personally, I wanted the Savabeel and we fought pretty hard to get him, but once we missed out there the attention turned to this colt and, luckily, enough we had the ammunition to get the job done.”
He continued, “They are both outstanding types with so much to like about them, but one of the determining factors for this one was the promise being shown by another Exceed and Excel we bought at last year’s sale. He is in Danny Shum’s stable in Hong Kong and looks a horse of real promise so I’m hopeful this colt can do a similar job.”
Singapore trainer Michael Clements left the sales grounds as the most prolific buyer over the course of the two days, signing for 10 horses and accounting for gross receipts of NZ$1.44 million. His most expensive purchase was the NZ$280,000 he gave for hip 149 during Wednesday’s opening session.
“This sale is attractive to me because the horses are that much closer to racing,” commented Clements. “I can have them up in Singapore in a few months and racing in four to six months. I have about half of my purchases aimed at the 2YO Series in Singapore with the other half staying in New Zealand for further pre-training. I managed to get everything I wanted over the past two days and feel lucky to be in that position–I am very happy with my purchases.”
The total spend by Singapore buyers was NZ$3,533,000 for 48 horses, with Clements, Perfect Racing Stable, Shane Baertschiger, Cliff Brown and Michael Freedman among the most active. Also busy were buyers from Australia, Hong Kong and Macau, whose buyers were treated to a live feed from the sale.
“The remote bidding we were able to take in from the Macau Jockey Club worked great, and we’re grateful to the Club for its support to make it work and to the successful bidders for their enthusiastic participation,” Vela offered. “There was also been a considerable increase in participation from China’s Inner Mongolia Rider Horse group, with 20 purchases compared with just six last year, and it’s very encouraging to see the interest in this market growing year to year.