Excellent Art colt tops final session of NZ Select Yearling
Sale
A son of first season sire Excellent Art (GB) topped the final session of New
Zealand Bloodstock’s Select Yearling Sale in Karaka on Friday. Lot No. 1009, a
half-brother to Rich Hill Mile (NZ-G2) hero Fears Nothing (Faltaat), was scooped
up by Coolmore’s Tom Magnier and BBA Ireland’s Adrian Nicoll for NZ$250,000. The
colt was offered by Pencarrow Stud and is out of the unraced Magical Moment
(Sadler’s Wells).
“He’s a fantastic yearling that has all the makings of a super racehorse and
we are delighted to have bought him,” Magnier said. “He is certainly a credit to
the team at Pencarrow. This sale has served as a great endorsement of what an
exciting young sire Excellent Art is. He had another colt (Lot 551) make
NZ$170,000 here on Wednesday and they have been selling very well in Australia
also.”
“He is an outstanding colt that has everything,” Coolmore advisor Demi
O’Byrne added. “He’s probably the best looking yearling I’ve seen in Australasia
so far this year.”
Excellent Art’s day three topper helped put him atop all sires by average
during the Select sale, with three of his representatives realizing an average
of NZ$155,000. Iffraaj led all stallions by aggregate. A total of 34 yearlings
by the young sire brought NZ$2,620,500 for an average of NZ$77,074. Ifraaj also
sired the toppers on day one and two.
The most active buyer was Magnus Equine of Hong Kong, which bought seven
yearlings during the session for a total of NZ$755,000. Magnus also purchased
two yearlings during the Premier session.
Yesterday’s big buy put Peter and Philip Vela’s Pencarrow Stud at the top of
all vendors by average. Their four colts sold for NZ$348,000 — about NZ$87,000
each. Ron and Mark Chitty’s Haunui Farm led vendors by aggregate, as they
offered 11 of the Iffraajs. Their 29 sold yearlings from 36 offered yielded
NZ$1,614,000.
For the three-day Select session, 418 of the 627 cataloged lots were sold for
a total of NZ$19,107,000 with average of NZ$45,711. The NZ$39,000 median fell
2.5 percent, just short of last year’s NZ$40,000 median, with a final clearance
rate of 73 percent. The gross and average dropped by 16.7 percent and 12.7
percent, respectively, over last year’s numbers of NZ$22,927,500 and NZ$52,346.
Last year’s Select session showed high increases over the previous year, with
a 35-percent rise in clearance, 40-percent in average and 33-percent in median.
Despite the drops this time around, all three of the 2011 figures were still
higher than 2009’s numbers. In that context, NZB Co-Managing Director Petrea
Vela was pleased with this year’s results.
“Given the strength of last year’s Select Sale, to be within striking
distance of those figures is a good result,” said Vela. “One of the most
pleasing aspects has been the median holding up well against last year
reflecting the solid demand that was still very evident on quality horses.
The clearance rate has strengthened over the three days but is still a bit
disappointing which unfortunately seems to reflect the confidence lacking from
our domestic market. Still our local buyers have been far more active here than
we saw at the Premier Sale, and with two days of selling still to go hopefully
they will be back in action at the Festival Sale.”
The two-day Festival sale begins Sunday. For complete results and catalog
visit www.nzb.co.nz.