Fastnet Rock Colt Tops NZB Ready to Run Opener

The first day of New Zealand Bloodstock's two-day Ready to Run Sale of 2YO's started with a bang and finished even stronger with international buyers featuring heavily throughout the day.

The top price of the day came in the last hour of selling when Lot 178, a son of boom sire Fastnet Rock, was knocked down for NZ$320,000 on behalf of Hong Kong buyer William Tai.

"We have been coming to the Ready to Run Sale for a number of years now and have purchased many good horses from the Sale," commented Tai. "We purchased Champion Griffin All You Wish three years ago at this Sale.

"We have had some luck with Fastnet Rock in Hong Kong so that helped draw us to him and I think this horse will go very well up there too.

"I just liked the horse, he breezed very well. He will go to Hong Kong next July and I hope he can be the next All You Wish."

Offered by James Chapman's Jamieson Park, the colt is a half-brother to UK Listed winner and Group 1 runner-up Winged Cupid (In the Wings) being out of Listed performer Sweet Emotion (Bering). He breezed in a time of 10.65 seconds.

The first half-hour of selling saw two horses reach $200,000, getting the Sale off to a flying start. Lot 5 (by Denman) was purchased by Francis Lui of Hong Kong, followed shortly by Lot 8 (by Tavistock) purchased by Chris McAnulty, also for Hong Kong.

The second highest price of the day was $300,000 for Lot 100, a colt by Savabeel purchased by Rogerson Bloodstock, with Lot 149following closely behind, purchased by Singapore trainer Michael Clements for $280,000.

New Zealand Bloodstock and the Macau Jockey Club joined forces to stream the Sale live into Macau and the initiative reaped dividends. The Macau Jockey Club took centre stage as the leading individual buyer by the day's end, purchasing 15 horses for a total of $562,000. By comparison, Macau buyers bought just five horses in total last year.

Mike Kneebone, Director of New Zealand Bloodstock Asia, was the driving force behind the Macau concept and was thrilled with the how the day went.

"The Macau Jockey Club is very happy with the day's proceedings," commented Kneebone. "Being our first time, I thought the team here and in Macau did a brilliant job and it is something to build on for the future.

"It was amazing to have them as the leading buyers after the first day and they have expressed interest in further Lots tomorrow so we are excited to see how that develops."

With a strong international presence, 17 of the top 20 highest priced two-year-olds were bought by international buyers, with 94 horses heading offshore, totalling $7,206,000 in receipts.

A prominent Hong Kong presence saw 16 horses purchased for $2,325,000, just ahead of the total Australian spend of $2,229,500 for 25 horses. Amongst the most active Australian buyers today were Segenhoe Thoroughbreds, Poletti Corporation, Hope Racing, and Australian Bloodstock.

The Sale statistics were evidence of a strong buying bench, with the clearance rate improving on the first day of last year's Sale to 68%, and the median price on track to set a new record at $60,000 for the day, surpassing last year's figure of $55,000.

Despite 20 fewer horses catalogued today compared with the first day of last year's Sale, the aggregate for Day 1 finished at $8,658,000, only 1.5% down despite the 10% fewer horses entered.

The leading vendor by aggregate after the first day is Lyndhurst Farm as they look to regain the leading vendor title after missing out on it last year following a run of six consecutive years at the top. Mark and Shelley Treweek's operation have sold eight horses after Day 1 of their catalogued 22 entries for $845,500, with a top price today of $250,000 for their Savabeel half-brother to Folding Gear bought by David Ellis.

Jamison Park, who sold the day's top Lot, finished the day as the leading vendor by average, selling three horses for an aggregate of $600,000, at an average of $200,000.

The leading sire for the day was Savabeel with four two-year-olds selling for an average of $182,500.

Day 2 of the Ready to Run Sale will commence at 11am tomorrow at Karaka, with all lots being streamed live online at www.nzb.co.nz.

2014 Ready to Run Sale Statistics

Top Lots