Ready To Run Sale Bounces Back In Style

After a couple of relatively lack lustre years the New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale has bounced back in style. Today saw one of the strongest buying benches ever assembled for this sale compete strongly for a catalogue that boasted quality over quantity this year. Results were bolstered accordingly, with significant increases in average prices and clearance rates and a sale aggregate that exceeded last year despite 60 less horse being catalogued for today's sale. The fact that the average price for colts & geldings right across the sale increased by 52% from last year to this year really says it all about the buoyancy of the market today.

New Zealand Bloodstock's General Manager of Bloodstock & Marketing, Julia Naismith, summed the day up by commenting:
�We were reasonably confident going into the sale but I'd have to say that the turn out of buyers and strength of the sale well exceeded our hopes. Demand for quality horses just keeps growing. Being the only major breeze up sale in the southern hemisphere also worked in our favour this year. As well as our traditional markets of Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore and Malaysia this sale has really established a firm foothold with Australian buyers now and they were out in force today. Overall we were delighted with the attendance and results achieved and it gives us a positive boost as we head towards our National Yearling Sales in January.�

SELECT SESSION

The Select session of the 2003 Ready to Run Sale started strongly with an early lot topping the sale at $300,000. Rob McAnulty bought Lot 11, a Flying Spur x Joy colt from the Ebony Lodge draft, for the San Luis Partnership (which also raced star colt, San Luis) to keep and race in New Zealand. The colt is a half brother to highly talented Group 2 winning galloper in Australia, Thorn Park.

Overseas buyers were out in force with sixteen of the top twenty ten lots heading offshore to Australia and Hong Kong and all but three of those hitting or exceeding the $100,000 mark. The sale also saw a number of buyers from Singapore, Korea, Malaysia and Macau.

Magic Racing Bloodstock from Queensland was the leading buyer of the Select Session, snaring a total of ten lots for $516,000. Their boldest purchase was for Lot 20, a Secret Savings x Lisset colt acquired for $120,000. The second biggest buyer by aggregate was John Wallace of Queensland, who netted the second top priced lot of the day with $260,000 for a Gold Brose colt out of Rebecca Sharp. Another notable buyer was bloodstock agent Michael Stedman who also featured in the top five buyers with a total spend of $325,000 on behalf of Hong Kong clients.

Overall the day saw an extremely strong demand for colts and geldings, with the average price for Select colts/geldings leaping to $76,400 from $53,153 last year � a whopping 43% increase.
It is still more difficult to sell fillies at this sale, however the average price for Select fillies still managed to creep up from $33,875 last year to $39,184 today.

While the beginning of the day saw a number of lots being passed in, as vendor expectations and buyer demand met in the middle, the clearance rate for the Select session (183 lots) settled at a very pleasing fraction over 75%, up significantly from 64% last year. The average price came in at $52,459, up from $50,338 last year.

Select Session Summary

Select Session Average = $52,459 ($50,338 last year)

Colts Average = $76,400 ($53,153 last year)
Fillies Average = $39,184 ($33,875 last year)

Top Price = $300,000 for Lot 11 ($240,000 last year)

Session Aggregate = $6,400,000 (183 lots sold)
($5,738,500 for 114 lots last year)

Clearance Rate = 75.31% (64% last year)

Leading Buyer by Aggregate = Magic Racing Bloodstock, Queensland : 10 Lots for $516,000.

Leading Vendor by Aggregate = Lyndhurst Farm
16 Sold, 3 Passed. Aggregate $803,500. Average $50,219.

General Session Summary<