Proisir colt tops National Weanling Sale
New Zealand Bloodstock’s first-ever National Weanling Sale, conducted online via Gavelhouse Plus, resulted in 60 lots selling for a total turnover of $1,044,051. The average reached $17,401 while the median closed at $8,250 with a clearance rate of 75 percent.
Running on the enhanced online platform, the sale drew an international buying bench with the top lot, a weanling colt by Proisir out of Pennacchio (Lot 19), secured by Sydney-based trainer Anthony Cummings for $107,500.
Bred by Greg Tomlinson’s Nearco Stud, whom Cummings also purchased Hong Kong Champion Beauty Generation from, the Curraghmore-consigned colt surpassed last year’s top priced weanling at the Karaka May Sale of $95,000. Cummings has an insight into the quality of the family, with the colt a half-brother to the Cummings-trained last-start winner Clever Man, in addition to Hong Kong Group 3 winner Full Of Beauty.
“I’m very happy to secure this colt,” Cummings said. “I know the potential of this particular cross and I have confidence in the horse as an individual,” Cummings said. “He is by Proisir, leading second season sire in New Zealand and he has a great pedigree and physical type, and how these things merge together in the family make it very easy to walk into a sale situation and purchase a horse like him.”
Cummings was also enthusiastic about the online sale experience. “I really liked the idea of an online sale and I think it works well from both a buying and selling perspective. “Buyers get extensive information and there are plenty of people to talk to, making it easy to do your homework,” he said.
Curraghmore’s Gordon Cunningham was pleased with the sale. “He’s a good colt from a well-performed mare who has already left a very good horse in Hong Kong, and he is by an emerging sire,” Cunningham said. “He made a good price that justified our decision to offer him online. “Vendors made a very good effort and took the sale seriously and I hope they were rewarded.”
Weanlings by champion sire Savabeel were not surprisingly in demand, with a colt by the Waikato Stud sire out of My Country (Lot 15), secured for $97,500 by Zhongli Thoroughbreds from Valachi Downs. Another Savabeel colt out of Serenade (Lot 29) was purchased for $95,000 by Carlaw Park from the draft of Waikato Stud.
First season sire Almanzor, who shuttles to Cambridge Stud, delivered promising results with his two weanling fillies, Lot 57 (ex Colombelle) and Lot 3 (ex Lady Pinot) selling for $60,000 and $36,000 respectively. The filly from Colombelle was sold by Haunui Farm and comes from their foundation family, with the dam a Zabeel half-sister to Group 3 winner Valpolicella, in turn the dam of stakes winners Vavasour, Vilanova, Celebrity Dream and Group 1 performer Rondinella. “I think at the end of the day, it is a new experience with slightly more premium product and it was great to see some good competition on the horses,” Haunui Farm Managing Director Mark Chitty said. “We had three or four sell past their reserve and when that happens, it is a sign of a strong sale. “We are more than happy with our results and it is a great stepping stone to build on for the future.”
New Zealand Bloodstock Sales Manager Danny Rolston was complimentary of vendor’s efforts resulting in a pleasing day of trade. “We entered new territory and vendors had to pivot and be versatile,” Rolston said. “The way they embraced the format and lifted the game of digital presentations was reflected in the results. “There was a broad, international buying bench and considering the circumstances, we are thrilled with the outcome.”
A charity auction held at the end of the Sale as Lot 83, offered a service fee to Champion Two-Year-Old in Australia, Microphone. Donated by Darley, the service fee sold for $40,000 with all proceeds going to the Catwalk Trust, who fund world-class research to find a cure for spinal cord injuries.
Weanlings offered in the sale are eligible to enter in the Karaka Million Series featuring two $1 million races available for graduates as two and three-year-olds, plus the $100,000 CollinsonForex Karaka Cup for the duration of their career.