A colt by Danehill Dancer topped Monday’s opening session of New Zealand
Bloodstock’s National Yearling Sale in Karaka with a final bid of NZ$800,000
(US$618,392). The bay colt, consigned by Cambridge Stud, was purchased by New
Zealand buyer David Ellis.
“He is a very athletic colt, the ideal type of horse for the Karaka Million
and we will be aiming him at the race,” Ellis said. “It would be great to see
him running in the New Zealand two-year-old Group 1 races, and if he is
successful, perhaps race him in Australia as a three-year-old.
“He’s a great colt, the real deal. He is by a hugely successful international
sire out of a good Zabeel mare, a fantastic broodmare sire whose daughters are
proving valuable and highly successful at stud.”
The session-topping youngster is out of Ballycairn (Zabeel) and is a
half-brother to Group 2 winner Pure Harmony (Stravinsky) and Group 1-placed
Galway Lass (Rhythm).
Ellis was the leading buyer on day one, taking home 14 horses for
NZ$2,458,500.
“It is important to remember that we are in a recession, but good horses,
with good pedigrees that look the part, are selling very well,” Ellis said.
“There have been a few that we have not been able to buy and a few that went
well above what we thought they would, so it has been tough buying at times. The
bottom end of the sale is not as strong, which hasn’t been helped by the weak
domestic market.”
A colt by High Chaparral (Ire) was the day’s second highest lot. Consigned by
Windsor Park Stud, the yearling was purchased for NZ$600,000 by Mark Casey’s
Surf Coast Racing. Out of Queen Caelia (*Sir Tristram), the bay is a full
brother to Group 3 winner Fairy Oak.
During Monday’s session, 180 yearlings grossed NZ$29,861,000. The average
fell 9.9 percent to NZ$165,894, while the median decreased 7.1 percent to
NZ$130,000 compared to last year’s opening session of the auction.
New Zealand Bloodstock’s Co-Managing Director Petrea Vela reflected on a
mixed opening session.
“The highlight of today has been the great international interest we’ve had
at Karaka, with the Australian buying bench in particular probably as strong as
we’ve ever had,” Vela said.
“But the increased Australian activity has been offset by the remarkable
decrease in participation by the local buyers. Today the New Zealand spend is
down 32 percent compared with the first day last year, which has had an effect
on the results.
“It was always going to be very hard to repeat the great results we had here
last year, but the sale has started well and improved markedly over the course
of the day. There’s definitely some fire in the market — with the last two
hours of selling averaging nearly NZ$200,000 — so hopefully some of that
strength can roll over into tomorrow as well.”
Day two of the Premier sale gets underway Tuesday and continues Wednesday
with the three-day Select Sale.