NZ Select Sale a Rising Star

When it comes to value with no compromise on track success, the Karaka Select Sale (30 January – 1 February) is in a league of its own – producing 15 Group 1 winners since the 2010/11 season – with a Sale average of under NZ$50,000.

These 15 Group 1 winners have won 27 Group 1 races in Australia, Hong Kong and New Zealand and join a list of 67 individual stakes winners from the Select Sale since the start of the 2010/11 season.

Ambitious Dragon made it three straight Group 1 Hong Kong Miles for the Karaka Select Sale in December. Photo courtesy of the HKJC.

Averaging $2.3 million in stakes, these 15 Group 1 winners have accumulated a star-studded list of achievements. Between them they’ve won:

• The Cox Plate, Futurity Stakes and Toorak Handicap.
• The last three Group 1 Hong Kong Miles.
• The NZ 1000 Guineas and Australian Guineas.
• The VRC, Australian & Hong Kong Derbies.
• The New Zealand, Queensland & VRC Oaks.

The latest star to emerge from the Select Sale is the kiwi trained Group 1 Cox Plate winner Ocean Park (NZ) (Thorn Park) who will be aimed at Group 1 races in New Zealand, Dubai, England and Ireland in 2013.

Other recent graduates to have graced the Australian turf are ten-time Group 1 winner (King) Mufhasa (Pentire), Queensland Oaks winner Quintessential (Fast ‘N’ Famous), and Shamrocker (O’Reilly) who beat the boys when winning the Group 1 Australian Guineas/Derby double.

In Hong Kong, Select Sale graduate Ambitious Dragon (Pins) has been the reigning Hong Kong Horse of the Year for the last two seasons. He made it three consecutive Group 1 Hong Kong Miles for Select Sale graduates in December with graduates Beauty Flash (Golan) and Able One (Cape Cross) winning the last two runnings.

The Select session is also a proven Sale for buyers looking to pinhook yearlings to take to NZB’s Ready to Run Sale of Two-Year-Olds just over eight months later. Some of the pinhooking highlights at the 2012 Ready to Run Sale that were sourced from the Select session include:

• The Thorn Park colt that was purchased by Prima Park Bloodstock for $52,000 and sold at NZB’s Ready to Run Sale for $270,000.
• A colt by No Excuse Needed - also purchased by Prima Park Bloodstock – for $20,000 and later sold for $145,000at NZB’s Ready to Run Sale.
• The Testa Rossa colt that was purchased for $70,000 and sold for $250,000 at NZB’s Ready to Run Sale.

These results, both on the track and in the sale ring, have propelled the Select Sale into the limelight and have transformed it into a leading Yearling Sale in its own right.

Many of New Zealand and Australia’s leading and up-and-coming sires are represented in the Sale with yearlings by 77 sires including Alamosa, Commands, Darci Brahma, Exceed and Excel, Falkirk, Henrythenavigator, Iffraaj, O’Reilly, Savabeel, Starcraft, Thorn Park, and 19 first season sires including All American, Denman, Mastercraftsman, Nom de Jeu, Red Giant, Swiss Ace and more.

The three-day New Zealand Bloodstock Select Sale will be held from Wednesday 30 January to Friday 1 February 2013. To view the catalogue, click here. All NZB sales sessions will be streamed live online at www.nzb.co.nz.