Friday's South Island Sale a Southern Feature

New Zealand Bloodstock's South Island Sale of Two-Year-Olds & Mixed Bloodstock holds a unique place on Australasia's annual auction sales calendar and the one-day Sale will begin this Friday at 11am.

To be held in the frosty south of New Zealand at Canterbury Agricultural Park in Christchurch, the Sale trades off a rich heritage of success from the southern region and will see 154 untried two-year-olds offered this year.

The South Island Sale has produced some top performers in recent times with Group 1 Caulfield Cup winner Master O'Reilly, Group 1 VRC Derby winner Second Coming and Group 1 NZ 2000 Guineas winner Hustler sold through its ranks.

This year's Sale features the progeny of 56 stallions with two-year-olds by both young and established sires including Alamosa, Any Suggestion, Coats Choice, Falkirk, Faltaat, Fast 'n' Famous, Gallant Guru, High Chaparral, Iffraaj, O'Reilly, Pentire, Pins, Perfectly Ready, Savabeel, Sir Percy and more.

With two-year-olds hailing from a good mixture of hardy southern and internationally performed thoroughbred families, some of the lots included in Friday's two-year-old session include:

• Lot 49, the Stravinsky gelding from Group 2 City of Auckland Cup winning mare Highflying(Entrepreneur).
• Lot 65, the Lucky Unicorn half-brother to Group 1 winner Kindacross (Cape Cross) and Group 2 winner Respect(Zabeel).
• Lot 124, the Danroad half-brother to Group 3 Desert Gold Stakes winner Senorita Dane (Senor Pete) from the Australian Group 3 winning mare Snadame (Snaadee).

A feature of the South Island racing calendar, New Zealand Bloodstock's Southern Filly of the Year Series is always well contested and sees some of the best fillies compete for the title. This year's two-year-old session will offer a sister to the 2006 Series winner Ombre Rose (O'Reilly) at Lot 68 and a three-quarter brother by Gallant Guru to last season's winner Ortem Fire at Lot 82.

Other entries include a Coats Choice full brother to dual stakes winning three-year-old Milo at Lot 86, a Falkirk half-sister to Mercury Mistress at Lot 44 and a Librettist half-brother to Royal Reign at Lot 87.

The Sale will also see the first two-year-olds by sires Fully Fledged, Guillotine and Sir Percy whose yearlings were well received at Karaka 2012, as well as Stockade and Minstrel Court, the son of Danehill Dancer who has a draft of seven two-year-olds and stands at Willow Glen in Waimate.

The mixed bloodstock section will offer three broodmares, three yearlings and two unraced horses including:

• The mare Speedos at Lot 157. By the champion sire Redoute's Choice, Speedos is a close relation to Group 2 winner Rose of Danehill (Danehill) and Fashions Afield (Redoute's Choice). She is the dam of stakes placed Devised (Galileo) and has been served by the champion European Two-Year-Old Teofilo.

Five supplementary entries will be offered at the Sale (Lots 163 - 167) with two two-year-olds by Bachelor Duke and three broodmares, two of which have been served by Group 1 winner Bunker.

The Sale will again be offering the Southern Bonus Race to all two-year-olds in the Sale. A new incentive race offered to buyers for the first time at the 2011 South Island Sale, the Southern Bonus Race (1400m) will be held at Riccarton in November next year and will offer a $40,000 cash bonus - on top of any stakes winnings - to the first eligible graduate across the line.

Southern Bonus Race eligible horses will also be able to contest the Southern Bonus Preludes.
Announced just a few weeks ago, each Southern Bonus Prelude will offer a $5,000 bonus- on top of any stakes winnings - to any eligible horse that can win the Prelude.

The South Island Sale catalogue can be viewed on the iPad sales application which can be downloaded for free by clicking here. To view the catalogue online, click here.

New Zealand Bloodstock's South Island Sale will be held at Christchurch's Canterbury Agricultural Park this Friday 10 August from 11am.