Records Fall at NZB Ready to Run

NZB's 2014 Ready to Run Sale of 2YOs stepped up another gear today at Karaka, with hot competition providing a new record average, aggregate and median for this Sale for the third year in a row.

A very strong international buying bench purchased a total of 241 horses for a record turnover of $19,297,500, a 5% increase with 41 fewer horses catalogued this year. The median hit a new high at $60,000, 20% ahead of last year's record of $50,000, while a new record average of $80,073 was posted – the highest ever at a two-year-old auction in Australasia. The final clearance rate was a healthy 73%, up significantly on last year's 62%.

The day opened with a bang when Diamond Lodge's Savabeel gelding at Lot 201 was knocked down for NZ$350,000 to Gold Coast trainer John Morrisey. This was an early sign of more to come, as both the vendor and the Waikato Stud sire continued to feature prominently throughout the day.

Providing the top price of the Sale, the Savabeel colt from Bling at Lot 264 – a full brother to Group 2 winner & Group 1 placegetter Diademe - was secured after a heated bidding duel for $460,000 by Warwick Farm trainer Bryce Heys from Diamond Lodge.

"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 Savvy Nature here two years ago and this horse is him all over again."

"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."

With 115 stallions represented at the Sale, Waikato Stud sire Savabeel provided two of the three top prices of the day and was the second leading sire of the Sale overall with an average of $215,909 for 11 horses sold.

The underbidder on the top Lot was Anton Koolman, who didn't take long to make his own mark when he claimed the second top price of the day under his Fraternity Thoroughbreds banner, with the Exceed and Excel colt at Lot 322 bought for $430,000 from Beatson Stables.

"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," he said.

"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.

"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."

Koolman also bought Lot 294 for $150,000, a colt by Equiano from Lyndhurst Farm, for Unifaith Bloodstock.

With a strong international presence at Karaka throughout the past two days, the leading buyer of the Sale was Singapore trainer Michael Clements, buying 10 horses for $1,440,000. The most expensive of his purchases was Lot 149, the Commands colt bought for $280,000 yesterday from Prima Park.

"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 NZ 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 $3,533,000 for 48 horses, with Clements, Perfect Racing Stable, Shane Baertschiger, Cliff Brown and Michael Freedman among the most active.

The internet bidding from Macau continued to reap dividends with the Macau Jockey Club purchasing 20 lots, compared with just four purchases from Macau last year in total. With prices ranging from $9,000 to $72,500, $753,000 was spent by a selection of enthusiastic bidders based in their remote sale room in Macau.

Also with 20 purchases was Inner Mongolia Rider Horse from China, with prices ranging from $8,000 to $100,000, providing strength and depth to that part of the market.

Australia was the leading country by spend for the fourth year in a row, buying 57 horses for $5,770,000, an increase of 6% from last year. This year's leading buyers from Australia included Bryce Heys, Poletti Corporation, Anton Koolman, John Morrisey, Segenhoe Thoroughbreds, Round Table Racing & James Harron, Hope Racing, and John Sadler.

Hong Kong buyers have also been very prominent, purchasing 31 horses for $4,260,000 and were the second-leading buying bench behind Australia. Leading buyers from Hong Kong included Peter Ho, Johnny Shih, Manfred Man, William Fung, Ricky Yiu, Francis Lui, Michael Chang and Willie Leung.

Lyndhurst Farm returned to the top of the leading vendor list after its six-year reign was ended last year by Diamond Lodge. Mark and Shelley Treweek's operation sold 18 horses for a total of $2,625,500 at an average of $145,861. Their top lot was the Commands colt at Lot 344 that was purchased for $330,000 by Mr CC Lai.

Topping the leading vendors by average with three or more sold was the overnight leader James Chapman's Jamieson Park with three horses sold for an average of $200,000.

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. It has been great to see Australian buyers step up their activity from last year and, together with Hong Kong and Singapore buyers, have such an influence on 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. 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.

"We are extremely grateful to all buyers and vendors who have participated this week, and wish the new owners the very best of luck with their Karaka purchases."

Full results from this week's 2013 Ready to Run Sale of 2YOs can be viewed online. To make enquiries about any Passed Lots visit www.nzb.co.nz .

2014 Ready to Run Sale Statistics

Top Lots