‘The stallion strength is something we can hang our hat on this year’
Catalogue for 2025 NZB Karaka Yearling Sale released with 1,088-strong book confirmed
A greater emphasis on New Zealand speed along with the country’s traditional middle-distance and staying depth are the hallmarks of a bumper catalogue for the 2025 Karaka Yearling Sale.
New Zealand Bloodstock’s (NZB) catalogue for the 99th National Yearling Sales Series was released on Monday, with 1,088 lots to be offered in the country’s thoroughbred heartland. This comprises 661 yearlings in Book 1 and 427 in Book 2, with both books to be published in one physical catalogue for the first time.
From the days when Bart Cummings made an artform of raiding New Zealand for his Cups stars, the country has long been the place to go to unearth staying talent, usually at deliciously economical prices.
But that picture has been changing in recent years, and Karaka 2025 is set to again shape as a fertile field for quality shorter distance gallopers as well.
“People often say buyers come here to find middle distance and staying horses,” said NZB’s managing director Andrew Seabrook. “But we can really hang our hats on Group 1–winning sprinters and milers lately.
“The Australian spring carnival has been a great showcase of that, with four Group 1–winning milers coming from New Zealand, in Antino (Redwood), Ceolwulf (Tavistock), Mr Brightside (Bullbars) and Atishu (Savabeel).
“Plus New Zealand has produced the best sprinter in Hong Kong now, Ka Ying Rising (Shamexpress), and he comes off the back of another Kiwi-bred sprinter there in Lucky Sweynesse (Sweynesse).
“There definitely seems to have been a switch here lately from not just breeding middle distance and staying horses, but really genuine Group 1-winning sprinters and milers too.”
That said, Karaka will no doubt again offer a depth of longer distance talent, with some of the country’s most renowned families on show again.
“With our bloodlines we’re always going to produce stayers. We’ve got the wonderful broodmare sires and famous New Zealand families renowned for middle distance and staying horses. That’s never going to change, and they’re sprinkled throughout the catalogue,” said Seabrook.
“People coming from Australia and Asia and further afield will find a catalogue of great quality and variety.”
The stallion strength is something we can hang our hat on this year. That has definitely improved in New Zealand in the past few years
More than 100 sires are represented including Waikato Stud’s all-time Kiwi great Savabeel (Zabeel), his potential heir apparent in Rich Hill’s Proisir (Choisir), plus other New Zealand-based heavyweights including Per Incanto (Street Cry), Almanzor (Wootton Bassett) (pictured below), Satono Aladdin (Deep Impact) and more.
“The stallion strength is something we can hang our hat on this year,” Seabrook said. “That has definitely improved in New Zealand in the past few years, with some nice young horses going well, like Super Seth who got second in the Caulfield Guineas [with Feroce].
“Almanzor’s doing a really nice job as a source of stayers. Savabeel goes without saying, as do Proisir, Satono Alladin, and Per Incanto.
“Across the board there’s a lot of stallion strength, plus with a lot of New Zealanders breeding horses in Australia, there’s also a good mix of Australian stallions.”
Sires from east of the Tasman represented include Home Affairs (I Am Invincible) with 15 lots, So You Think (High Chaparral) with nine, speed sire Russian Revolution (Snitzel) with seven, The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice) and Farnan (Not A Single Doubt) with six, I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) with three, and Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) with two.
Shuttlers to Australia are also out in force, with Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj) represented by ten lots, and nine each for Too Darn Hot (Dubawi) and St Mark’s Basilica (Siyouni).
New Zealand-based first season sires represented include Waikato’s Noverre (Savabeel) with 43 lots, Mapperley Stud’s Armory (Galileo) with 31, plus The Oaks’s The Chosen One (Savabeel) and Cambridge’s Sword Of State (Snitzel) with seven apiece.
Running from January 26-30, the auction will showcase siblings to some of the more outstanding performers to have come through Karaka sales, including a full-brother to quadruple Group 1 winner Lucky Sweynesse (Sweynesse), offered as Lot 93 by Kilgravin Lodge.
A full-sister to New Zealand Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) and Vinery Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) winner Orchestral (Savabeel) will go up as Lot 345 from Haunui Farm, and a full-sister to another two-time trans-Tasman Group 1 heroine in Prowess (Proisir) will be offered as Lot 564 from Hallmark Stud.
Pasadena Girl’s (Savabeel) full-sister goes up as Lot 145 from Blandford Lodge, while Waikato Stud offers Lot 598, a half-sister by Tivaci (High Chaparral) to another Australian Group 1-winning mare, Icebath (Sacred Falls).
Also on offer are siblings to up-and-comers in Australia in Gringotts (Per Incanto) – whose half-sister by Proisir is catalogued as Lot 113 from Highline Thoroughbreds – and Globe (Charm Spirit), who has a half-brother by Ace High (High Chaparral) as Lot 494 from Cambria Park.
First foals go on offer from such track stars as the Group 1-winning Two Illicit (Jimmy Choux) and Group victors Zayydani (Savabeel) and House Of Cartier (Alamosa). Trelawney Stud offers Two Illicit’s Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) filly as Lot 374 and Zayydani’s Snitzel colt as Lot 417. House Of Cartier’s Almanzor (Wootton Bassett) filly is Lot 659 from Prima Park.
Progeny of other Group 1-winning mares including Bonneval (Makfi) and Jennifer Eccles (Rip Van Winkle) will also go under the hammer. Bonneval’s Noverre colt is one of 66 lots from the vast Waikato Stud draft as Lot 493, while Jennifer Eccles’s filly by Farnan (Not A Single Doubt) is Lot 29 from Woburn Farm’s selection.
Seabrook said he was expecting a robust auction price-wise, after the success of last week’s NZB Ready To Run Sale, which posted a ten per cent aggregate rise on its old record set a year earlier, a strong 78 per cent clearance rate and median price of NZ$90,000, and a southern hemisphere record of $1.65 million for its highest lot.
“A few months ago I thought the yearling sales could possibly come back in 2025, given the state of the world economy, and with New Zealand’s economy just battling away,” Seabrook said.
“But the Ready To Run sale gave us a lot of confidence. For that sale to have turnover up from $35 million to $39 million, and a clearance rate of near 80 per cent – which is unheard of for a two-year-old sale – that’s going to give the panel confidence to go again.
But also, the prize-money in New Zealand continues to strengthen, there’s good vibes and a lot of positive talk around the industry
“But also, the prize-money in New Zealand continues to strengthen, there’s good vibes and a lot of positive talk around the industry.
“It’s amazing how resilient the bloodstock industry is, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the yearling sale did go up in January, which is what I wouldn’t have thought a few months ago.
“But there’s always value in New Zealand, and the good horses can come from anywhere. Look at the good horses who’ve come from Book 2 over the years.”
This year’s Karaka sale moved 758 yearlings at an aggregate of $92.3 million – up 12 per cent on 2023. The Book 1 average of NZ$168,000 was up 11 per cent, while the median rose from NZ$80,000 to NZ$87,500.
Among the leading vendors in 2025, Rich Hill will offer 40 lots – 28 of them in Book 1. Managing director John Thompson is particularly excited over the farm’s yearlings by its star stallion Proisir (Choisir), who knocked Savabeel (Zabeel) off his perch to claim New Zealand Champion Sire honours in 2022-23, before running second to him again last season. Rich Hill’s nine Proisirs are among 63 for the stallion at Karaka.
“For us, it’s the first of the well-bred Proisirs coming on board,” Thompson told ANZ. “It’s well known that he covered mares at $7,000 and $12,500 starting off. This crop comes from when his service fee rose to $17,500. That’s still a fraction of what he stands at now ($80,000), but it was a far better selection of young horses with better quality pedigrees than he’s had previously.”
Thompson drew a parallel with another Rich Hill sire, Satono Aladdin (Deep Impact) (pictured above). His 57 yearlings were borne from a season when his service fee was $12,500. It is now $65,000 after a glorious 2022-23 in which first-cropper Pennyweka was named her country’s Champion Stayer following wins in the New Zealand Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) and Australian Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m), and Tokyo Tycoon Champion 2YO.
Rich Hill offers a full-sister to the Karaka 2YO Million (RL, 1200m)–winning Tokyo Tycoon, as Lot 439.
“Satono Aladdin was at $12,500 and then all of a sudden he took off. He got great support from breeders, and there’ll be some lovely quality pedigrees among his yearlings at the sale,” said Thompson, who’s also expecting a strong sale overall.
“Indications are prices should be pretty solid, coming off a good Ready To Run sale. That’s quite a good indicator, because a lot of good pin-hookers go to Karaka to find their product, and I’d say they’ll be back again, given how the Ready To Run sale went.”
Brendan and Jo Lindsay’s Cambridge Stud is among the most prominent vendors, with 45 lots including many by their sires Almanzor, who has 18 in the draft, Hello Youmzain (Kodiac) with 13, and Australian import Sword Of State, with seven.
There’s an even quality to our draft this year, and it’s very much that the strength of our draft is in our own stallions
“There’s an even quality to our draft this year, and it’s very much that the strength of our draft is in our own stallions,” said Cambridge’s sales and nominations manager Scott Calder.
“Almanzor’s enjoying a fantastic spring, Hello Youmzain is very exciting and has just had a fee increase here, which shows what the market feels about his quality since his first runners are just hitting the track.”
Calder said recent Australian Group 1 successes for Cambridge products Ceolwulf (Tavistock) and El Castello (Castelvecchio) augured well for the farm’s 2025 draft.
“When you look at those two, I’d like to think there’ll be some horses in our draft that – anyone looking to buy a Classic winner should find something that fits the bill,” he said.
“And a horse who might be a surprise package for people is Sword Of State. His are a punchier type than what we might usually have, and I think on price they’re going to find favour with the buyers.
“Each year we keep trying to raise the bar and improve the quality of our broodmare band and I think that’s reflected in our draft again this year. Brendan and Jo have invested heavily in our families, and that’s starting to pay dividends with our farm graduates enjoying a particularly good spring.”
Karaka week begins at Ellerslie on Saturday, January 25, with the Karaka Millions raceday, now worth more than $5 million in prize-money. The NZB Karaka Yearling Sale catalogue can be viewed here.