Trish Dunell
New Zealand Bloodstock’s Karaka Sale ring has tonight played host to a gun opening session of its 2018 National Yearling Sales Series.
A brand new format has seen the first 100 Lots of the new Book 1 go through the ring, with heated bidding setting a positive tone for the new four-day session. A strong buying bench of both overseas and local buyers competed keenly for the selection on offer, with the clearance rate of 81% a good indicator of the strength of the demand.
“With no comparable Sale, we won’t get the full measure of the sale from a statistics point of view until the end of the week, but all early indications point to a great week ahead,” commented NZB’s managing director Andrew Seabrook.
“This is probably the best opening session we’ve seen at Karaka to date, and with really good reports on the overall quality on offer this year, and great depth to the buying bench, it bodes well for the momentum to continue.”
A total of 76 lots were sold for $11.5 million at an average of $151,382. The clearance rate was an extremely pleasing 81%, as strong as ever witnessed over Karaka’s first three hours of selling.
Amongst tonight’s highlights has been hot demand for local sires Tavistock, Savabeel, along with perennial star Fastnet Rock, providing the top prices of the evening. In total 11 lots sold for $300,000 or more.
Five Tavistock yearlings featured in the top 10 lots with $1.93 million outlaid by buyers at an average of $386,000. Dean Hawthorne secured the top-equal price of the night bidding $500,000 for the Tavistock filly (Lot 48) and full sister to Werther, while Wallace Thoroughbreds paid the same amount to purchase a More Than Ready colt (Lot 84) for their Hong Kong clients.
With Sir Patrick’s last foray under the Cambridge Stud banner, they have also featured prominently at the opening session providing three of the top lots.
Fresh off the back of a quinella in the Karaka Million 2YO with Avantage (Fastnet Rock) and Al Hasa (NZ) (Exceed and Excel) respectively, Karaka’s leading buyer for the last 12 years, Te Akau Racing’s David Ellis, got off to a soaring start. Eight yearlings were secured by the perennial buyer for $1.03 million at an average of $128,750.
New Zealand’s new minister for Racing and Deputy PM Winston Peters opened tonight’s session with some welcome news for the industry, promising “change for the better.” For full details of Peters’ announcement click here.
Book 1 continues tomorrow from 11am with Lots 101 to 320.