Author: NZRacingDesk

NZB’s National Yearling Sales Series started on the right note on Sunday, with a strong first day of trade for Book 1. At the close of selling for the opening session, a total of 163 lots sold for $26,665,000 at an average of $163,589, while the clearance rate reached 73%. The top lot was made early in the day with Lot 6, a colt by in-vogue stallion Wootton Bassett making $725,000. Bred by Nearco Stud and offered out of Gordon Cunningham’s Curraghmore draft, the colt was secured by the combination…

New Zealand-based syndicator Go Racing have gone back to the proven well at Karaka to source what they hope to be their next champion juvenile.  They went to $190,000 to secure last season’s New Zealand Champion Two-Year-Old Velocious out of Inglewood Stud’s 2023 New Zealand Bloodstock Book 1 Yearling Sale draft, and the daughter of Written Tycoon took her syndicate on the ride of a lifetime.  She carried the Go Racing silks to victories in the Listed Counties Challenge Stakes (1100m) and Karaka Millions 2YO (1200m) before her breakthrough elite-level…

The colts had taken centre-stage on the opening day at New Zealand Bloodstock’s National Yearling Sale before lot 168, a well-bred daughter of Too Darn Hot, entered the Karaka auditorium and was knocked down for $675,000 to the bid of bloodstock agent James Harron. Presented through the draft of Curraghmore, the filly is out of So You Think mare On The Ball, who was a placegetter at two, while her half-brother Swords Drawn is a multiple-Group Three performer, with Group Three winner Vigor Winner also in the family. On The…

Wootton Bassett was in vogue at Karaka on Sunday, with two of the top lots in the opening session of New Zealand Bloodstock’s National Yearling Sale sired by the Coolmore stallion. Just six lots in, a colt by the boom European sire, from Curraghmore’s draft, was knocked down to the $725,000 bid of Michael Freedman, Michael Wallace and Tom Magnier, the latter standing Wootton Bassett and owning his current Gr.1 Golden Slipper (1200m) favourite Wodeton. He is the first foal out of Nearco Stud mare Il Affare, a daughter of…

The Gr.1 Australian Oaks at Randwick in April is part of an ambitious autumn plan for one of the country’s most promising fillies Aeliana (NZ) (Castelvecchio). The Gr.3 Carbine Club Stakes winner, who went on to a luckless second in the Gr.1 Thousand Guineas at Caulfield in November, is back in work at Chris Waller’s Rosehill stables and is building up to a return to the races in the first week of March, according to managing owner Denise Martin. Purchased by Martin’s Star Thoroughbreds from Rich Hill Stud for NZ$180,000…

Weigh In is live from the NZB Karaka Sales Complex to review all the action of the TAB Karaka Millions race night and get all the latest news, straight from the horse’s mouth. Weigh In – Karaka Special

The Hong Kong Jockey Club struck early at Karaka in the opening session of New Zealand Bloodstock’s National Yearling Sale, going to $625,000 to secure lot 11, the Savabeel colt out of Group Three performer Indecision, a half-sister to dual Group One winner Viadana.  The Jockey Club’s southern hemisphere buying agent Craig Rounsefell, of Boomer Bloodstock, was taken by the colt when inspecting him at Trelawney Stud, and he believes he is an ideal prospect for Hong Kong.   “I think it is a strong start to the sale. It is…

Barneswood Farm have made the $1 million Elsdon Park Aotearoa Classic (1600m) their own, winning last year’s inaugural running with Desert Lightning (NZ) (Pride Of Dubai), and backing that up as breeders of this year’s victor Orchestral (NZ) (Savabeel).  The pair gave Barneswood Farm’s Sarah and Chris Green, and business partner Ger Beemsterboer, their biggest moment in racing when recording a memorable double in the Aotearoa Classic-Karaka Millions 3YO double at the Karaka Millions meeting last year, and they were rapt to see farm graduate Orchestral continue their dominance of…

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD NEWSLETTER

Tough and talented mare Elettrica (NZ) (Vespa), who has a half-brother in the catalogue for Karaka 2025, added valuable black type to her CV with a dominant victory in Saturday’s A$160,000 Listed Coastline BMW Sunshine Coast Cup (1400m). It was the first black-type success for the Vespa mare, who has had 36 starts for six wins, 14 placings and A$528,317 in prize-money. She has won over distances ranging from 1300m to 1800m. Elettrica is trained by Richard and Will Freedman at Rosehill, and all of her three previous Australian victories…