One Week to Karaka 2007

With just one week to go until the hammer goes down on the first lot of the New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sales Series at Karaka, the marquees are popping up and buyers and sellers are preparing for the selling extravanganza ahead.

A total of 1362 lots are catalogued for the week long Sale, set to be officially opened next Monday 29 January by New Zealand Prime Minister, Helen Clark.

Proceedings get underway with the two-day Premier Sale, where the cream of the Australasian yearling crop will be showcased in front of a broad selection of trainers, agents and racing enthusiasts from around the world.

Marketing Manager Petrea Vela says a strong international presence is expected at Karaka this week, "Horses start arriving at Karaka today, with a flow of buyers from Australia, Hong Kong, England, Ireland, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Macau, Korea and the Philippines starting to arrive from tomorrow. In our favour this year is a strong, international catalogue that would stand up to scrutiny at any thoroughbred auction around the world, so there is plenty to appeal to a wide selection of buyers and budgets over the fortnight ahead."

Included in this year's Premier Sale catalogue are 27 full or half relatives to Group 1 winners, including Don Eduardo, Gee I Jane, Headturner, Jokers Wild, Miss Potential, Perlin, Dorabella and St Reims; plus 17 yearlings out of Group 1 winning racemares including New Zealand champions, Sunline and Ethereal.

The 459 Premier Sale yearlings this year represent 69 individual sires. Amongst these are Encosta de Lago, O'Reilly, Montjeu, Pins, Pentire, Redoute's Choice, Stravinsky and Volksraad, plus 28 yearlings by New Zealand champion sire, Zabeel.

Sixteen freshman sires will also be represented at the Premier Sale.

As an added incentive to buyers this year, every yearling sold at the Sale is eligible to enter New Zealand's new one million dollar two year old race - the Karaka Million - set for January 2008. For further information contact Marketing Manager, Petrea Vela (petrea@nzb.co.nz), or visit the marquee at Karaka from Sunday.

The 2007 Karaka catalogues with latest withdrawals and pedigree updates can be viewed online, together with video clips of selected lots in the Sale courtesy of Sirecam and Equivision.

The National Yearling Sales Series will commence on Monday 29 January at 11am. For buyer registration information, contact Ross Gwyn (lease@nzb.co.nz).