NZB: buyers and vendors ready to engage with virtual sale
Auction house well prepared to overcome challenges of online setting for next month’s two-year-old market
New Zealand Bloodstock’s Danny Rolston is adamant both buyers and vendors can defy the challenges presented by the prevailing Covid-19 restrictions in the country, which on Monday forced the auction house to take next month’s Ready To Run Sale online and to a venue away from its traditional home at Karaka in Auckland.
Following a government announcement on Friday which sees Auckland continue under strict lockdown restrictions in the face of rising Covid cases, difficulties with the movement of domestic players meant there presented no other option but to take the November 18-19 sale online and to Te Rapa.
“We investigated a whole load of alternative options, including alternative venues in different parts of the country that weren’t under the same lockdown restrictions as Auckland is, and everywhere we turned it presented different complications,” Rolston told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday.
“We looked at potentially delaying the sale to allow access to the Karaka complex, but the announcement on Friday made it pretty clear that wasn’t going to happen within a reasonable time frame, so that made the decision pretty easy for us based on that outcome on Friday to go virtual.
“We’ve kept our communication up with our vendors and buyers. The decision has been met with good support from the vendors, and they’ve really ramped up everything they can do in terms of increased media production, on-farm inspections, veterinary inspections that the vendors are doing themselves, as well as their own marketing and social media.”
Twelve months ago, NZB was presented with its first major test of the Covid-era, with the closure of international borders preventing the on-site presence of key overseas buyers for its two-day juvenile sale. A scenario that Rolston admitted resulted in significant concerns for the prosperity of the sale, particularly with participation from Hong Kong, a jurisdiction which sourced perennial champion Golden Sixty (Medaglia D’Oro) from this sale in 2017, and one that last year ended up comprising 30 per cent of the total aggregate and took home 15 of the top 30 lots, headlined by a NZ$500,000 son of Sacred Falls (O’Reilly).
However, the resounding success of the 2020 sale, and that of the NZB yearling sales in January, as well as refined preparations ahead of this year’s edition, sees the company’s bloodstock sales manager convinced that the auction will once again produce headline results.
“This time last year we were going into the first sale with closed international borders, and add to that, we couldn’t get any of our personnel in to do any marketing or promotion in Hong Kong, and we were very nervous about Hong Kong leading into the Ready to Run sale last year, and the spend actually increased year-on-year,” Rolston said.
“The demand from Hong Kong is there, the engagement is there – we’ve had a lot of communication with buyers there – and we’re feeling very comfortable that the Hong Kong market is well and truly engaged in the sale.
“I think the success that we had with both the Ready to Run Sale last year and Karaka this year with closed borders, what we achieved there gave our vendors a lot of confidence that our technology, our marketing and our sales team etcetera, were robust and reliable.
“We’ve got the trust and support of our vendors to make the right decision, which made it a whole lot easier.”
Despite going online, the sale will continue in the format of a traditional auction, with lots sold one after the other by an auctioneer, with online and phone bidding available, as opposed to the timed format utilised by sister digital platform Gavelhouse.com.
However, in the absence of the 274 lots set to go under the hammer being present at Te Rapa, Rolston urged potential buyers to conduct their research early, including the undertaking of inspections and vetting procedures.
“The biggest challenge that we’ve seen with going virtual is not just an absence of the horses in the ring, it’s having the buyers conducting inspections, pre-purchase vettings, all things that buyers regularly do, they won’t have the luxury of being able to do that during the sale,” Rolston said.
“Effectively, the horses are on 40-odd properties around the country, so vets will not be able to conduct vettings at short notice and bloodstock agents that have seen the horses in advance will not be able to see the horses at short notice.
“We’re really encouraging people to (watch) the breeze-up videos as soon as possible and look at the parade videos, do their shortlisting and reach out to their people on the ground, including their vets, to make sure all their pre-sale due diligence is conducted in advance of the sale.”
Breeze-ups for all horses were completed on October 11 and 12 at Te Rapa, with a colt by Astern (Medaglia D’Oro) recording the fastest time for the 200-metre hit out, stopping the clock in 10.45 secs.
Consigned as Lot 98, the Ohukia Lodge-consigned colt is the first foal out of Alamosa (O’Reilly) mare Dragon Robe, a half-sister to stakes-winning sisters All Saints Eve (Sacred Falls) and All Hallows Eve, as well as New Zealand 1,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Hasahalo (Savabeel).
The Jamie Beatson-run operation was responsible for five of the quickest ten breeze-up performers, which include two geldings by Savabeel (Zabeel) and a gelding by his Waikato Stud-based barnmate Tivaci (High Chaparral).
“I was at the breeze-ups in the parade ring, so I got to see all the horses and I think it’s a particularly strong year,” Rolston added.
“Some of the big pedigrees and some of the big sires are matched up with some good physical individuals, so there’s definitely good horses here and I know if some of the international buyers were attending this year they’d be impressed.
“Two things that will hold the sale in really good stead is the success of graduates from the sale over recent years, and the strong rapport of the New Zealand vendors and the relationship that they have with their buyers.”