Fastnet Rock Fires a Flying Finish to NZB Premier

After a strong start it was an even stronger finish to the final day of the Karaka Premier Sale, with a run of late highlights topping off a great day's trade that provided increased average and median for the Premier Sale.

It was David Ellis of Te Akau Racing who stole the show as he has done so many times at Karaka, waiting until near the end of the day to make his biggest splash when purchasing the Fastnet Rock filly at Lot 429 for $800,000.

Offered by Lyndhurst Farm, Lot 429 is out of Group 1 winning two-year-old Il Quello Veloce (Captain Rio), a blood-sister to boom Group 1 winning sprinter Terravista (Captain Rio).

Ellis came out on top at the end of a competitive bidding duel with Melbourne trainer David Hayes to put a filly at the top of the Premier Sale for the first time in 10 years. At the same time, Ellis secured the top spot as the leading buyer for a record tenth consecutive year.

"I topped this Sale about 23 years ago as a vendor with a filly, and today I topped the Sale buying a filly," commented Ellis. "She is a gorgeous filly, the best I've seen at this Sale in 10 years.

"She was bought for a syndicate I put together and we plan to aim her at the New Zealand Bloodstock Filly of the Year Series, with the 1000 Guineas in mind."

Ellis purchased 22 horses for $3,570,000 over the past two days to, once again, be the leading buyer at the Sale.

"It is something I don't even think about, the only competition in my mind is the competition I face to buy the good horses," said Ellis. "I thought it was a strong Sale with sound quality, and the good ones sold well.

"I am going to be out at the Select Sale tomorrow to continuing purchasing for Te Akau Racing."

Fastnet Rock has now provided the highest priced yearling at Karaka for the past four years in a row. The Coolmore sire was also the overall leading sire at the Sale by average for the fourth consecutive year, with 13 horses sold for $4,310,000 at an average of $331,538.

The second highest priced Lot was also by Fastnet Rock, with the colt at Lot 340 knocked down to Duncan Ramage. Ramage let the early bidding action take place before swooping in with one bold bid of $600,000 to secure the colt.

Lot 340 is out Dance on By (Sadler's Wells) who is a full-sister to Champion Racehorse and Champion Sire High Chaparral.

"It's not our policy to buy the top priced horses that are going through the Sale but I think you'll pay more for the same horse at Easter," commented Ramage.

"Raised by a farm like Waikato Stud that produces Group 1 winner after Group 1 winner, out of a Sadler's Wells mare, on a cross that produces 27% stakes winners and the mother happens to be a full-sister to a champion in High Chaparral who happens to be the sire of So You Think, who's very fond to us. He really dictated to us that we had to buy him.

"By and large we've had to pay a bit but they haven't been overpriced. We're going to stay on for the Select Sale, it's been a few years since we have."

The total spend by Australian buyers exceeded the amount they spent last year with $20,412,500 spent on 127 horses, an increase of 8%.

Leading the Australian spend at the Sale was Ramage's DGR Thoroughbred Services, purchasing 11 horses for $2,260,000, with five of those horses purchased in partnership with Bart & James Cummings.

Ramage's combined purchases placed him as the second leading individual buyer at the Sale, closely followed by Paul Moroney who bought 10 horses for $1,932,500.

Moroney's most expensive purchase was the High Chaparral filly at Lot 251, bought for Sir Owen Glenn for $500,000. The filly is out of Alma Star (Al Maher), a half-sister to the dam of four-time Group 1 winner Atlantic Jewel (Fastnet Rock) and Group 1 winner Commanding Jewel (Commands).

Tom Moore was the third leading individual buyer overall, purchasing six horses for $1,655,000, including a top price of $400,000 paid for Lot 367, a colt by Savabeel out of Group 3 winning mare Eloa (Volksraad) from Little Avondale Stud.

Chris Waller and Peter Moody were other Australians to feature in the top ten individual buyers along with NZ-based agent Dean Hawthorne who was purchasing for Victorian-based clients.

Other Australians with strong activity at the Sale include Kitchwin Hills, Gai Waterhouse, Champion Thoroughbreds, John Chalmers, Bryce Heys, Justin Bahen & Michael Gangemi, Mick Price, Cameron Cooke & Kennewell Racing, Danny O'Brien and more.

The average price finished at a healthy $150,881, increasing 4% from last year's figure of $144,548. The median also rose, finishing at $120,000, an increase of 9%. With 26 fewer horses catalogued this year, the aggregate finished at $44,962,500 with a clearance rate of 75%.

"It was pleasing to see the Premier Sale finish strongly," commented NZB Co-Managing Director Petrea Vela. "As is often the case, the second day was overall a stronger day of selling, and to post figures ahead of last year's Sale is a very pleasing result.

"Yesterday was a very special day with Sir Patrick leading through the last yearling to be sold at auction by the great Zabeel, which has no doubt made this year's Sale more memorable.

"It was great to see David Ellis again to the fore, together with a notable increase in strength from the Australian bench, with its overall spend increasing from last year. It is testament to the quality of horses produced in New Zealand that we see buyers coming back to Karaka to purchase them and we wish them all the very best of success with their purchases."

With a strong line-up of freshman sires at this year's Sale, it was champion kiwi racehorse So You Think who was the leading first season sire by average (with three or more sold). The 10-time Group 1 winning racehorse sold five horses for $950,000 at an average of $190,000, with a top price of $420,000 for the half-brother to VRC Derby winner Preferment. Lot 287 was secured by Melbourne bloodstock agent Cameron Cooke for South Australian businessman Luke Koumi, owner of the Magic Millions 3YO Guineas winner Deiheros.

A host of other freshman sires were well received by the market including Foxwedge, Smart Missile, Redwood, Cape Blanco, Dalghar & Jimmy Choux.

Defending its leading vendor title was Waikato Stud, selling the most yearlings of any vendor – with 40 - for a total of $6,860,000. The Chittick family claimed their first leading vendor title last year and this year achieved their highest individual price ever with Lot 340 sold for $600,000.

"Since Karaka 2014 our stallions have had some massive results on the track and it just makes getting this sort of result so much easier with our stallions performing so well," commented Mark Chittick.

"Clearance rate is our primary focus but this is rewarding for the team who put a huge amount of effort into getting these horses to the Sale."

Click here for all vendor, buyer, sire statistics at the Breednet Sales Centre.

Selling continues at Karaka tomorrow with the first session of the three-day Select Sale , the source of seven individual Group 1 winners last season. Selling commences at Lot 444 from 11am, with the Sale streamed live online at www.nzb.co.nz .

2015 Premier Yearling Sale Statistics

Top Lots