It has been an extremely successful conclusion to the new Book 1 of Karaka 2018, highlighted by total takings already exceeding the entire sales week at Karaka 2017 with three days of selling to go.
Book 1 turnover (700 lots catalogued) is $83,549,000, representing an average of $155,007 across 539 horses sold at a median of $110,000, with all key measures – turnover, median, average and clearance – surpassing the Premier, Select and Festival Sales combined results in 2017.
“This Sale has already exceeded all expectations,” said New Zealand Bloodstock’s Managing Director Andrew Seabrook.
“For the Book 1 turnover to exceed 2017’s total Sale aggregate is remarkable. One of our ambitions in designing the new format was to retain international buyers onsite for longer, so to see today’s activity so strong right to the end, with a clearance of 85% for Day Four, goes a long way towards validating the success of the new format.”
The appeal of young fillies couldn’t have been better illustrated with seven of the 10 top-priced yearlings at Book 1 being fillies. Even more remarkably, the average for fillies has settled at $167,857 - higher than the colts at $147,504.
An exceptionally strong buying bench has seen the spend by Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore all exceed their combined Premier and Select Sale spend last year. Amongst the leading international buyers was Dean Hawthorne buying for Melbourne-based GSA Bloodstock with nine horses secured for $3.875 million; Hong Kong Jockey Club with seven purchases for $2.060 million; and Lindsay Park Racing with Mark Pilkington accounting for three purchases together for $1.810 million and an additional three by Pilkington and others.
But not to be outdone, the Kiwis featured prominently, led by David Ellis who is on track to receiving his 13th consecutive leading buyer title. Having purchased the top-priced yearling of the Sale - a Savabeel colt (Lot 301) for $1,025,000 – along with three other top lots, he has spent $7.613 million on 27 yearlings, already exceeding his spend last year.
The other Kiwis that are featuring in the leading buyers list are Bruce Perry with 12 lots secured for $2.245 million, expat Kiwi trainers Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young with 14 lots for $2.295 million, Paul Moroney with 14 lots for $1.880 million and Go Racing with six lots for $1.455 million.
The Sale day opened with a farewell to Sir Patrick and Justine Lady Hogan after 44 years at the helm of Cambridge Stud (view here). Leaving on a high note, the Stud produced the top lot of Book 1 (Lot 301) and their sire Tavistock has had a strong sale with 62 sold at an average of $177,016. At the end of Day Four, Cambridge Stud are second on the leading vendor table with 51 yearlings sold for $9.763 million.
The new owners of Cambridge Stud, Brendan and Jo Lindsay, were already active ring side with five purchases for $1.365 million.
Leading the vendors table by aggregate for the fifth year in a row was the Chittick family’s Waikato Stud, with receipts totalling $12.845 million for 70 yearlings sold. Their star sire Savabeel has had a great sale, providing the sale-topping colt while two of his fillies also performed in the top 10 lots, while their freshman sire Sacred Falls has been received exceptionally well by the market, with a top price of $300,000 for Lot 572.
“The new format to me has just been a masterstroke and so successful,” said Waikato Stud’s Mark Chittick. “Everybody in the NZB team has been Group 1 quality.”
With a 100% clearance, Sam & Libby Bleakley’s Highden Park was the leading vendor by average, with six sold and a top price of $500,000 for Lot 48.
Australian sires Snitzel, Fastnet Rock, I Am Invincible and More Than Ready have all featured throughout the highlights at Book 1 alongside local sires Savabeel, Tavistock, and Per Incanto.
A second seven-figure lot was presented at Lot 156 with the Fastnet Rock colt making $1 million, while Tavistock provided the third highest lot, and today’s top lot, with a filly at Lot 612 selling for $975,000. Three other lots by Tavistock finished in the top 10 lots.
Fastnet Rock lead the sires by average (with three or more sold) selling 12 yearlings at an average of $394,167, with I Am Invincible averaging $343,333 for three yearlings sold and More Than Ready closing the top three with an average of $287,500 for four yearlings.
The leading first season sire by average (three or more sold) was Newgate Farm’s Deep Field with eight horses sold for an average of $141,875, and a top price of $300,000 for Lot 363 bought by Tartan Meadow Bloodstock and Mr Peter KS So for Hong Kong.
Haunui Farm provided the top-priced lot of Day Three with the royally-bred Not a Single Doubt filly (Lot 371) fetching $900,000. Bolstering their results at the end of Book 1, Haunui Farm are currently the third leading vendor with 23 yearlings sold for $5.019 million.
The first day of Book 2 commences tomorrow with Lot 701 to Lot 900 going under the hammer from 11am.
