A Pinhooking Paradise

A booming market at the NZB Ready to Run Sale this week delivered handsome profits for canny investors that have played the pinhook game in purchasing yearlings with a specific view to re-offering them as going concerns.

While Australian sales of this type continue to struggle for consistent success, the Kiwis have this market well and truly pegged.

Confidence in the product seems to be the key to their success with a steady stream of Group I winners emerging from this sale to dispel any thoughts that the best of these horses are kept after being tried - quiet clearly they are going through the ring and buyers are happy to snap them up.

The sale-topping Savabeel colt from Bling was sourced for $80,000 out of the Waikato Stud draft by Diamond Lodge at the NZB Premier Yearling Sale and was bought by fledgling Sydney trainer Bryce Heys for $460,000.

He's pictured here as a yearling and has certainly not gone backwards!

The best pinhookers for this type of sale have the skill to most importantly identify a 'runner' and in finding a 'runner' they quite frequently find a winner and often it's a good one.

Pinhooking from weanling to yearling is very different to pinhooking from yearling to two year-old as some vendors find out to their detriment.

The ability to run far outweighs pedigree and even sometimes type as you are going to be far more forgiving of a horse with a minor conformational flaw when you've just seen him breeze in sub 11 with a good clean action.

With over 90 pinhooks in this sale, 80 made their yearling price or more, so plenty of people here know what they are doing.

Top 10 Pinhooks (please note no account is taken of Australian to Kiwi dollars, so this is a basic guide)