‘Wonderful positivity’ as NZB releases Ready to Run catalogue
Graduate success and a buoyant domestic industry raises confidence as auction house reveals 383-lot line-up
New Zealand Bloodstock yesterday released its catalogue for their Ready to Run Sale carrying the confidence that the auction, already widely regarded as the leading southern hemisphere sale of its kind, is in a position of ever-growing strength.
The two-day sale, to be held on November 22 and 23 at Karaka, will feature 383 lots, the highest number since the pre-Covid sale of 2019 which contained 414 catalogued juveniles. With a 12-month back-drop of considerable graduate success in key markets and a domestic industry buoyant on the wave of new investment, the Kiwi auction house is hopeful these factors can align for the conducting of a vibrant sale in two months’ time.
New Zealand Bloodstock’s Kane Jones, for whom this year’s sale will be the first since his appointment in February to the role of bloodstock sales manager, believed the Ready to Run Sale was well placed to be a success on the back of the catalogue release.
“There’s no doubt that this is the premier breeze up sale in this part of the world,” Jones told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“We’ve seen the graduates have an amazing season again, with the likes of Hong Kong champions Lucky Sweynesse, who is arguably the best sprinter in the world, and Golden Sixty, who was the Horse of the Year for a record–breaking third time. So, to have those two horses come out of this sale has been phenomenal. People know if they want a quality horse, this is where they come.
“The result of that is that there’s good numbers to the sale and it’s matched by some excellent quality from top to bottom. We fully expect the success of the graduates to continue well into the future.”
Graduate success has long been a unique selling point of the auction, with Karaka’s two-year-old sale boasting a formidable 23 Group 1 wins since 2017 and with eight of those elite-level triumphs having come just last season, this year’s sale will come amidst a new impetus of success.
Hong Kong’s champion sprinter Lucky Sweynesse (Sweynesse), a $90,000 graduate of the 2020 sale, is a winner of three Group 1s so far this year, and along with the jurisdiction’s perennial champion Golden Sixty (Medaglia D’Oro), will ensure the traditionally strong Hong Kong buying bench continues to flourish. On top of that, big race wins for the likes of Spring Champion Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) scorer Sharp ‘N’ Smart (Redwood), South Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) hero Dunkel (Dundeel) and Saturday’s Memsie Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) winner Mr Brightside (Bullbars) in the lucrative export market of Australia, will further entice investors from across the Tasman.
Buyers at this year’s sale can follow a proven path, with this year’s catalogue including a half-brother to Lucky Sweynesse by Contributer (High Chaparral), consigned as Lot 116 within the Woburn Farm draft. Other well-related juveniles set to be sold at the sale include Lot 298, a filly by Super Seth (Dundeel) out of Vitesse (Makfi) who is a half-sister to Group 1 winner Kovalica (Ocean Park), and Lot 69, a half-brother to Kermadec (Teofilo) by Turn Me Loose (Iffraaj) offered by Riversley Park.
The NZB Ready To Run Sale bounced back with a flourish a year ago, as overseas investors from Hong Kong and other parts of Asia made a welcome return to the sale grounds following a two-year absence due to Covid-19 and, along with buyers from neighbouring Australia, spent in abundance, to take the aggregate revenue soaring to beyond $25 million, the highest grossing Ready To Run sale since 2017.
Hong Kong investors purchased seven of the ten highest-priced lots in 2022, expending with more than $9.5 million, headlined by the $625,000 paid by leading buyer and renowned agent John Foote for a Capitalist (Written Tycoon) colt offered by Regal Farm.
But it is the domestic market, which last year accounted for 18 per cent of the expenditure, that Jones hopes will make its presence felt more than ever at Karaka.
The 2023 Ready to Run Sale will be the first live sale in New Zealand conducted since a $20 million boost to prize-money in the country was announced in June as a result of the TAB deal with Entain, a development which has fostered a feeling of overwhelming positivity around New Zealand racing and its bloodstock industry on the whole.
The stallion pool in the country, too, is at its most fervent for many years, featuring the likes of Savabeel (Zabeel), who has nine lots catalogued in this year’s sale; newly crowned champion Proisir (Choisir) (12 lots); Ocean Park (Thorn Park) (20), as well as up and coming sires Super Seth (Dundeel) (12), Almanzor (Wootton Bassett) (nine) and Tarzino (Tavistock) (11).
“The local Kiwis have seen a really good upturn in our stakes money, so we can expect them to be active and strong at all levels as well,” Jones said.
“There’s a real buzz and a wonderful positivity in the local industry right now. Talking to a number of local breeders and trainers, everyone involved in the industry over here, I don’t think I’ve seen so much positivity as there is right now. It’s extremely exciting.
“Because of the strength of this sale we often see breeders specifically target it, and it adds to the reasons as to why it is so strong.
“The power of the New Zealand stallion pool is as strong as we can remember for a long, long time. With Savabeel and Proisir, and others such as Ocean Park and Per Incanto, we’re in a really good position, not only for his sale, but for Karaka in 2024 as well.”
A potential area of concern, which will also be encountered by Inglis and Magic Millions when they conduct their 226 and 146-lot two-year-old sales next month, will be the repercussions of the recently announced impending closure of racing in Singapore, a racing jurisdiction which spent nearly $2 million on 23 lots at the NZB Ready to Run Sale in 2022, and uncertainty around Macau, whose management is yet to confirm a 2024 racing season at Taipa.
Malaysia, a jurisdiction touted as a potential successor to Singapore, was a notable buyer at last year’s auction, with purchasers from the nation coming away with 17 lots for an outlay of more than $1 million, and Jones pointed to the developing nation and other possible destinations which will come to the fore.
“There is uncertainty in places like Singapore and Macau, but we’re in a good position to mitigate that. We expect Hong Kong and Australia to be strong, but even in areas such as South Korea and Malaysia, we’ve developed strong relationships with both those countries, so we’re in pretty good shape.
“There will be horses here for every market and at every level as well.”
The breeze up session for the 2023 NZB Ready to Run Sale will be held at Te Rapa on October 16 and 17 before the sale itself on November 22 and 23.