Already the focus of the New Zealand breeding industry the Karaka yearling sales will be even bigger than usual this month. Photo/Trish Dunell
NZB NATIONAL YEARLING SALES TIMELINE
Jan 18: Yearlings start to arrive at Karaka for inspections.
Jan 21: Barrier draws for Karaka Millions races, fields for meeting released.
Jan 24: TAB Karaka Millions at Ellerslie.
Jan 25-26: National Yearling Sale, Book 1 (567 horses catalogued)
Jan 27: National Yearling Sale, Book 2 (280 horses catalogued)
Jan 29: Karaka summer sale (160 horses catalogued)
More info: www.nzb.co.nz
One of the most important weeks in the history of the New Zealand thoroughbred sales industry is attracting record interest from home and abroad.
The National Yearling Sales, which start at Karaka on January 25, will be the 100th held in New Zealand dating back to 1927 at Trentham.
The very next year perhaps New Zealand’s most famous ever racehorse Phar Lap was sold at that Trentham sale and exported to Australia where he became a transtasman icon.
New Zealand Bloodstock has reconfigured this year’s sale, with three days of selling covering Book 1 (Jan 25-26) and Book 2 (Jan 27) before a day’s break followed by the Summer Sale on January 29.
That means 848 yearlings have been catalogued for the first three days but by having them on Sunday through to Tuesday, NZB expects to keep more Australian and Hong Kong-based trainers and their owners at Karaka before some return home for their usual Wednesday racing.
So by boosting the numbers sold each day, NZB will ensure most of their potential clients will have the opportunity to see the majority of the yearlings for sale that week.
That is a smart move but you still need the right yearlings and that has been assured by the biggest names in the New Zealand breeding industry throwing their full weight behind the historic event.
“We are only selling yearlings at Karaka this year,” says Cambridge Stud owner Sir Brendan Lindsay.
“We want to support NZB and the industry at what is a very special and momentous occasion so we are taking all 73 yearlings we are selling this year there.”
Cambridge Stud’s support is matched by the other giant of the domestic breeding industry, Waikato Stud, which could end up with almost exactly the same numbers on offer at Karaka.
“Occasions don’t come much bigger than this,” says Waikato Stud boss Mark Chittick.
“Because we breed so many horses, sometimes you can’t prepare them all for one sale.
“And other times, like last year, we need to take some yearlings to Australian sales to help launch a stallion there.
“But this year we are selling almost all of our yearlings at Karaka and think we have 75 heading there at the moment, although that number could come down by a couple.”
Chittick says the 100th sale is only one reason Waikato Stud is sending more of its yearling firepower to Karaka.
“I think everybody wants to be part of something this big but we are also a business and we believe by supporting NZB and the Karaka sale the whole industry gets stronger and we can all collectively bring more buyers here.
“It works both ways. We know we can take horses to Karaka, which is a lot easier than selling them in Australia, and get $200,000 or $300,000 for nice horses.
“And the trainers in Australia know they can buy really good horses here for $200,000 and have them racing for A$130,000 minimum in metro races for the rest of their lives.”
NZB managing director Andrew Seabrook says many of New Zealand’s other leading breeders are adopting the same approach and overseas buyers are already responding to the boost in quality.
“We have been swamped with interest from overseas.
“There are two reasons, one being the really strong catalogue and the new format, meaning buyers can be here for three days and not really miss any racing in their own jurisdictions.
“But also racing and breeding people realise this is a very special sale and a massive deal for not just the New Zealand industry but those places around the world where our horses end up winning races.
“So many people have contacted us and said being the 100th sale they simply can’t miss it.
“We even have one of the world’s great trainers in William Haggas coming down from England to attend so we realise we are on the verge of something very special.”
The Karaka Millions race meeting at Ellerslie on the eve of the sale, January 24, negates the need for a formal party or ball to open the week, with racing people far more interested in doing their catch-ups over a drink at a world class race meeting than packing a tuxedo for Auckland.
NZB has also commissioned two special publications to mark the 100th sale.
“One is a leather-bound book which highlights one horse from each year of the sales and we are very proud of it and of course the horses it showcases,” says Seabrook.
“And we have a coffee book table coming out very soon which is a history of the sales and the people who have made them so special.”
Both publications will be able to purchased online on the New Zealand Bloodstock website.
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.