Author: NZRacingDesk

The Ready to Run Sale’s previous record price of $825,000 was blown out of the water at Karaka on Wednesday as Te Akau Racing principal David Ellis went to $1,650,000 to secure an I Am Invincible colt with a special connection to the stable. The standout colt was offered by Kiltannon Stables as Lot 174 and fetched the highest price ever paid for a two-year-old at a public auction in the southern hemisphere. He is out of the Savabeel mare Shillelagh, who was trained by Te Akau’s former trainer Jamie…

The Ready to Run Sale’s previous record price of $825,000 was blown out of the water at Karaka on Wednesday as Te Akau Racing principal David Ellis went to $1,650,000 to secure an I Am Invincible colt with a special connection to the stable. The standout colt was offered by Kiltannon Stables as Lot 174 and fetched the highest price ever paid for a two-year-old at a public auction in the southern hemisphere. He is out of the Savabeel mare Shillelagh, who was trained by Te Akau’s former trainer Jamie…

Bloodstock agent Andrew Williams won a spirited bidding battle to secure a well-related Proisir gelding for $650,000 on the opening day of the NZB Ready to Run Sale at Karaka on Wednesday. Offered by Riversley Park, the gelding was catalogued as Lot 79 and is out of the unraced Carlton House mare Miss Vegas. That makes him a full-sister to this season’s Gr.3 Northland Breeders’ Stakes (1200m) fourth placegetter Vegas Queen, while Miss Vegas is a half-sister to the dam of emerging Australian star Gringotts. The Ciaron Maher-trained Gringotts has…

Champion Australian stallion I Am Invincible sired the two highest-priced lots on the opening day of NZB’s Ready to Run Sale at Karaka on Wednesday, including a colt that was snapped up by the high-flying Yulong operation for $675,000. Hours before another I Am Invincible colt shattered Ready to Run records with his $1,650,000 purchase price, all eyes were on Lot 32 in the draft of KB Bloodstock. He is out of the Group One-winning Written Tycoon mare (La) Luna Rossa and was high on Yulong’s wish list in the…

Following the retirement of his stakes-winning mare Casino Princess, Cliff Goss turned to New Zealand Bloodstock’s Ready To Run Sale in search of another filly, which he found early on day one in the form of Lot 25. Goss was in the spotlight over the past 12 months courtesy of the daughter of Casino Prince, who won the Listed Tauranga Classic (1400m), and post-retirement was sold to Windsor Park Stud via gavelhouse.com. At the Ready To Runs, the nonagenarian horseman was on the lookout for progeny of Almanzor and soon…

Promising filly Diablo Blanco will kick-off her preparation towards a southern stakes target when she heads to Phar Lap Raceway on Thursday to tackle the McMillan Feeds (1200m). The daughter of Super Seth showed plenty of ability as a juvenile, winning two of her five starts and finished fourth behind subsequent Group One winner Captured By Love in the Gr.2 Wakefield Challenge Stakes (1100m) at Trentham last December. She continued her winning form into her three-year-old term, winning over 1200m on the Riccarton Synthetic, but put in an uncustomary poor…

Group One performer Express Yourself has returned home from her spring campaign in Melbourne and is now on a path towards the Gr.1 TAB Telegraph (1200m) at Trentham on January 4. The six-year-old mare had four starts at Caulfield for trainers Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr, placing in the Listed Regal Roller Stakes (1200m) in August and Listed Alinghi Stakes (1100m) on Caulfield Cup Day. She has returned to part-owner Nikki Hurdle’s Awapuni stable in Palmerston North, and while pleased with her stakes results, Hurdle said her mare didn’t…

Last start Gr.3 Thompson Handicap (1600m) winner Town Cryer has another Trentham feature in her sights, taking the next step towards the Gr.1 TAB Mufhasa Classic (1600m) at the Foxton trials on Tuesday. In the hands of Lisa Allpress, who made a welcome return to the trials following an injury in August, Town Cryer led up the field in her usual fashion and wasn’t pressured to the line, finishing a narrow second to Vanish. “She did exactly what we thought she’d do, she likes to do her own thing and…

Bill Thurlow couldn’t have hoped for a better week at the New Zealand Cup carnival and is optimistic a more senior member of the team can add a northern feature to the stable’s tally this Saturday. The Waverley trainer collected a brace of wins, a runner-up finish and a treasured Group One placing at Riccarton and is now focused on No Compromise’s tilt at the Gr.3 TAB Counties Cup (2100m). Successful in the Gr.1 The Metropolitan (2400m) during his tenure with Chris Waller, the eight-year-old son of Pins hasn’t won…

Te Akau Racing will be hoping Group 2 winner Wild Night (NZ) (Vanbrugh) can start his Australian campaign on a strong note in Saturday’s Listed Cranbourne Cup (1600m), after the stable reported the ‘cool, calm and collected customer’ had ‘settled in beautifully’ at their Cranbourne base. “He arrived last Wednesday … they often arrive sort of a week-and-a-half before their run, it gives them time to settle in,” said Ben Gleeson, who is Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson’s assistant trainer. “He’s got a really good attitude.” The team utilised Southside…