Rogerson keen on his Ready to Run quartet headed by an Almanzor colt
Kiwis do early legwork ahead of this week’s New Zealand Bloodstock two-year-old sale
If Graeme Rogerson’s experience is any guide, agents and buyers intending to participate in this week’s New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale have heeded the call to undertake their pre-auction work early.
The two-day sale of juveniles, the largest of the three Australasian two-year-old auctions, will be conducted in a virtual manner at Te Rapa due to NZB’s Karaka complex being unable to be used because the Auckland region is currently in lockdown.
Rogerson, a trainer, breeder, vendor and studmaster, will offer three colts and a filly by Epaulette (Commands), Redwood (High Chaparral), Almanzor (Wootton Bassett) and Reliable Man (Dalakhani) under his Dormello Stud banner across Wednesday and Thursday.
“I can’t believe the people and the vets who have been to my place. I would have had 30 last week who came and inspected them all,” Rogerson told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday.
“Quite a few have been vetted, which is a hell of a good sign.”
Rogerson believes his colt by Cambridge Stud shuttler Almanzor, who is catalogued as Lot 283, is one of the stand-out horses in the catalogue.
Out of Savabeel Star (Savabeel), he is a half-brother to the New Zealand stakes winner Stella Di Paco (Paco Boy), while his older half-brother, by Sacred Falls (O’Reilly), made NZ$525,000 at last year’s NZB Ready to Run Sale.
Rogerson’s Almanzor colt, who he bought for NZ$75,000 from the Cambridge Stud draft at this year’s Karaka Yearling Sale, breezed–up in 11.48 seconds while his colt by Redwood, catalogued as Lot 255, breezed–up in 11.19 seconds in wet conditions.
The Almanzor colt is by the same sire as Rogerson’s two-year-old colt Gibraltar Rising, the only southern hemisphere-bred juvenile to race so far by the Cambridge Stud shuttler, who finished third on debut in September and was runner-up to Wolverine (Tivaci) at Otaki on November 4.
“He was probably a little bit unlucky in running second and third. He ran off the track in his first one and then that really good filly beat him the other day, but they were 16.5 lengths in front of the next one. He is going to the Wakeful Challenge Stakes (at Trentham) next start,” Rogerson said.
“He will aim up at the Karaka Million, for sure. He’s a really good horse. I’m just going along quietly with him now until December 4.”
Rogerson syndicated his breeze-up horses with the plan to trade them at the Ready to Run Sale, but he would love nothing more than for them to return to his Tuhikaramea stables.
“The worst thing now is, if I want to own them, I have to bid for them on my own. I will see what happens,” he said.
“If I end up with some I won’t be disappointed, but I’ll have to buy everyone else out. It’s not a great business scheme.”
Last year, Rogerson bought out his partners in an Epaulette (Commands) colt who is now called Drum Major.
The now gelding has won one of his eight starts and is a horse, Rogerson says, has received interest from Hong Kong buyers.
“He was a little bit unlucky that he didn’t get to the 2,000 Guineas. His white blood cells (count) were up,” he said.
“I think he’s a pretty handy horse. He ran third in the Hawke’s Bay Guineas.”
Fourteen of the 260-lot catalogue in this week’s NZB Ready to Run Sale are by Little Avondale Stud’s Per Incanto (Street Cry), a stallion who is siring winners in New Zealand, Australia and Hong Kong. Per Incanto claimed the Hong Kong leading sire title last season (by winners) and he currently leads by earnings this season.
He is also the sire of high-class Australian sprinter Lost And Running, trained by John O’Shea in Sydney, added to the stallion’s record with a victory in Saturday’s $1 million The Hunter (1300m) at Newcastle.
“I think the Ready To Run Sale will once again provide some tremendous opportunities for buyers and the only disappointing thing about the 14 Per Incantos on offer is that none of them are ours,” Little Avondale Stud’s Sam Williams said.
“The sale has traditionally been underpinned by demand from both the Asian and Australian market and that is where Per Incanto has excelled.
“Timing is everything and Per Incanto has delivered plenty for people to think about through horses like Lost And Running and Justacanta, who was a multiple stakes winner during the Melbourne spring carnival, while he continues to provide a steady stream of winners in Hong Kong.
“I think those people who are offering a Per Incanto will be over the moon with the results they get.”
The NZB Ready to Run Sale will start at 1pm NZ time on Wednesday and Thursday.