Adrian Stanley and Hannah Kettlety are in their seventh year preparing yearlings under their Woburn Farm banner and they believe they are bringing their strongest draft yet to Karaka in 2021.
The Waikato couple will offer 20 yearlings in their Book 1 Sale draft, including seven for former Cambridge Stud Principals Sir Patrick and Lady Justine Hogan.
Stanley said he is pleased with all of his draft, but highlighted lot 52, the Written Tycoon colt out of Group One performer Pussy O’Reilly as the standout of their draft.
“The standout colt of our draft is lot 52, the Written Tycoon x Pussy O’Reilly. He is a lovely, athletic, free-moving colt, I really like him,” Stanley said.
Woburn Farm will also offer seven yearlings in Book 2.
“We have got a lovely line-up for Book 2 that were all individually selected on type for this sale, which we thought would sell well and would be easy horses for trainers to syndicate,” he said.
“The Satono Aladdin colt (lot 657) is a lovely, strong, balanced, good-walking colt, and we have got a lovely Rageese filly (lot 817) who is very strong and looks like a Karaka Million type of horse.
“It looks like she would carry on with it and be better at three as well. She has got a lot of presence about her.”
While Stanley admitted it has not been as busy at the Karaka Sales Complex with the absence of international buyers, he said he has gained a lot of confidence with how active New Zealand-based bloodstock agents and domestic trainers have been.
“We had a lot of home parades and our local bloodstock agents are world-renowned,” Stanley said.
“I am sure that the international buyers have confidence in them to select horses out for them and supply them with short-lists.
“Any information they need they can give us a call. We have had a lot of trainers from Australia and Hong Kong get in contact, so it has all been positive.”
Stanley said they have also put in a lot of effort around visual imagery of their yearlings this year in order to give prospective buyers the best possible perspective of their yearlings.
“I am sure with all the information we have got there with photos and videos, they can see the horse from all angles, and they should be confident in the product they buy,” he said.
“Each horse at home takes over an hour to photograph and video, so it is a big job. We canvassed agents to see what angles they wanted to see and we have also tried to get them (videos and photos) out early so trainers and agents can do their homework.”
Stanley said there are a lot of positive things happening in the thoroughbred industry at the moment, particularly at a domestic level, and he is looking forward to growing his operation in the future.
“We are at a good stage now where we have developed our property,” he said.
“We are sitting on 90 acres at the moment and if everything goes ahead with how we think the future will be, then we will be happy enough to grow.”