Want a Runner in a Stakes Race This Weekend?

For those who want to experience the thrill of owning a horse running in a stakes race this weekend, Thursday’s Horses-in-Training session at NZB’s National Weanling, Broodmare & Mixed Bloodstock Sale is a must attend. 

Horses-in-Training Session

The Horses-in-Training session, now in its third year, is set to offer a unique opportunity among its 22 entries on Thursday, with the chance to purchase a mare who is nominated to run in a Listed race this weekend at Rotorua, the Listed Rotorua Stakes.

The race is a weight-for-age fillies and mares race over 1400 metres and the current owners have paid the race nomination fees, giving any new owners the opportunity to enjoy the thrill of racing at stakes level just two days after she makes her appearance in the ring.

That mare is Ready Steady (Lot 375), a four-year-old by Perfectly Ready who is a half-sister to Group 2 winner Ego from the Redoute’s Choice mare Buckling. Ready Steady already has black-type to her name having run second in the Listed Lion Red Plate, and won her last start at Tauranga by three lengths on 22 April for trainer Andrew Scott.

The Horses-in-Training session will also feature race winners Currency Spike (Keeper), Deecruz (Pins), Jealous Much (Keeper), Jimato (Handsome Ransom), Queen of Rock (Elvstroem) as well as the Group 2 placed mares Orutan (Pins), Prestigious Miss (Written Tycoon) and Queen Boudicca (Perfectly Ready).

The Horses-in-Training session follows the completion of the weanling offering, commencing at Lot 356 on Thursday afternoon.

Broodmare Session

The prowess of Zabeel as a broodmare sire is well-established given his achievements last season having won both the New Zealand and Australian Broodmare Sire Premierships.

With Zabeel mares producing 108 stakes winners, 22 at Group 1 level, including the likes of It’s a Dundeel, Ocean Park and Atlantic Jewel, they have become a rare commodity at auction as breeders’ are reluctant to sell them given the record they have established and continue to build on.

The Broodmare session at the May Sale, which will see almost 330 broodmares offered this Friday, will feature six mares by Zabeel: Lot 439, Lot 460, Lot 476, Lot 509, Lot 532 & Lot 548.

Other leading and emerging young stallions with good dam-sire records with mares in the Sale include Centaine (5), Danehill (5), Flying Spur (3), Gold Brose (1), Kaapstad (2), Last Tycoon (1), Marscay (1), O’Reilly (13), Sadler’s Wells (1), Volksraad (2) and many more.

A number of the mares to be offered on Friday were served last season by such sires as Alamosa, Captain Rio, Falkirk, Iffraaj, Keeper, Mastercraftsman, Nom du Jeu, Pins, Savabeel & Stravinsky.

In addition, 16 mares were served by sires who covered their first book last year. These include:

• Cape Blanco (Galileo) - 1: Irish Derby winner at three and dual US Gr.1 winner at four. 
• Dalghar (Anabaa) – 1: Gr.3 winner & a half-brother to Gr.1 winning sire Dalakhani. 
• Jimmy Choux (Thorn Park) – 7: NZ Horse of the Year & five time Gr.1 winner in NZ and Australia. 
• Pour Moi (Montjeu) – 1: Winner of the Gr.1 English Derby.
• Redwood (High Chaparral) – 5: Raced in five countries and won the Gr.1 Northern Dancer Turf Stakes in Canada at four. 
• Sun Ruler (Zabeel) – 1: A son of the champion New Zealand mare Sunline.

Pour Moi	Jimmy Choux	Cape Blanco

The Sale will also include a selection of yearlings, two-year-olds, raced & unraced horses which will be offered on Thursday immediately following the horses-in-training session.

NZB’s National Weanling, Broodmare & Mixed Bloodstock Sale will start tomorrow morning (Weds) at 10am with the last day on Friday 10 May. To view the catalogue online, click here. The Sale will also be streamed live online at www.nzb.co.nz.