Sire power, impeccable female bloodlines and the enviable reputation of the New Zealand thoroughbred’s performance on the track are set to combine in New Zealand Bloodstock’s Karaka May Sale which commences on Monday, May 7.
51 vendors from across the country have a selection of 518 weanlings, yearlings, two-year-olds, unraced stock, racehorses and broodmares set to be presented to domestic and international buyers.
Hawera-based vendor Dan Myers took top billing by both aggregate and average in the 2017 Sale. Again, selling his entire foal crop, Myers has another 20 quality weanlings in the 2018 catalogue with all signs pointing towards another successful draft.
“Selling our foal crop as weanlings suits us,” Myers said.
“It gives us the opportunity to prepare the horses ourselves and if the pinhookers do well we are delighted. This year we’ve got probably the best draft in the three years that we’ve been doing this.”
Featuring extensively as leading vendor at the Sale over the years, Curraghmore have continuously offered quality drafts.
“We’ve got another good draft this year. In terms of the horses’ physique, they’re well up there with the horses we have presented in the past and we’re looking forward to putting them in front of buyers,” Curraghmore’s Gordon Cunningham said.
Cunningham believes the catalogue is receiving better support from breeders selling quality stock. He will offer 29 lots for sale across the two-day catalogue, including nine yearlings.
“We’ve always offered one or two yearlings, but with the opportunity to have these yearlings eligible for the Karaka Million Series, that gives us a really good option for another group of horses to offer,” Cunningham said.
“Many of our draft could have been part of Book 1 or Book 2 in January. We’ve got fillies by Snitzel and Tavistock and several horses out of stakes-performed mares, so I hope the new concept is a success.”
With Cambridge Stud ushering in a new era under the ownership of Brendan and Jo Lindsay, a good selection of 21 broodmares from the famed nursery will be presented.
“With the purchase of Cambridge Stud we bought 84 mares,” Cambridge Stud chief executive Henry Plumptre said.
“It is quite well known that over 40 years Cambridge has built up some very strong families which have carried the stud to success in the sale ring and on the racetrack.
“There are a lot of representatives of those families in the broodmare band. Daughters, Grand-Daughters and even Great Grand-Daughters of those wonderful bloodlines.
“We felt that as long as we had good representation left with the younger mares at Cambridge, we would be happy to sell a number of them. A couple of them are in foal to Tavistock as well which adds another dimension to it,” Plumptre said.
The Karaka May Sale has a strong history of producing quality racetrack performers, profitable pinhooks and quality broodmares.
Among the May Sale graduates in recent years are Group One winners Ladies First ($8,000 yearling), Gingernuts ($5,000 weanling) and I Am A Star ($12,000 weanling).
Singapore star Infantry ($7,000 weanling) and Zarzino ($1,500 broodmare), dam of multiple Group One winner Tarzino are other examples of the quality and value the sale has provided.
Selling commences at 10am on May 7 and 8 with the catalogue available at www.nzb.co.nz