New Zealand Bloodstock’s Premier Sale average jumped from $NZ145,985 ($A113,766) at the end of day one to $NZ154,677 over both days, a significant improvement but still down on the 2011 average of more than $NZ174,864.

The median, an important indicator of the middle market, was also significantly down from $NZ140,000 to $NZ120,000, and the clearance rate dropped from 79 per cent to 74 per cent.

“We were very pleased to see the market strengthen from yesterday, with a number of the better pedigreed horses coming through the ring today,” New Zealand Bloodstock co-managing director Petrea Vela said.

“It’s disappointing not to have been able to get the clearance rate up a bit higher but hopefully over the course of the next couple of days there’ll be more sales completed from this session.”

The top priced lot was a Fastnet Rock-Nureyev’s Girl colt, a half-brother to top mare King’s Rose, from the Cambridge Stud draft, which was sold to New Zealand syndicator David Ellis for $NZ1.75 million.

Ellis was the leading buyer, spending $NZ6.26 million on 27 yearlings, while Cambridge Stud was leading vendor for the 31st consecutive year, selling 43 yearlings for a total of $NZ10.8 million.

Fastnet Rock was the leading sire by average, while Lyndhurst Farm was the leading vendor by average.

The three-day Select Sale runs from Wednesday to Friday, and the sale series ends with the Festival Sale on Sunday.

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The head of the Te Akau racing and breeding operation, Ellis bought the Fastnet Rock-Nureyev’s Girl colt from the Cambridge Stud draft at the Karaka Premier Yearling Sale on Tuesday after a bidding battle with Coolmore Stud.

The price had only been bettered by four yearlings in the sale’s history but Ellis says he could be worth much more.

“The fact that he’s by such a great sire out of a Nureyev mare that’s left a Filly of the Year gives this colt terrific potential,” Ellis said.

“If this colt can win Group One races he’s worth real money.”

Ellis’ $1.1 million purchase from 2004, Darci Brahma, was a multiple Group One winner who has more than earned his purchase price through stud fees.

He said not every big buy would be a top horse but the upside when a good horse with a top pedigree was up to Group One level was worth the investment.

“Horses of the quality of Darci Brahma are really hard to find, and that is why when you do hit the jackpot… you have a horse with extreme value,” he said.

The colt will head to Ellis’ Te Akau Stables to be trained by Jason Bridgman.

King’s Rose won the Filly of the Year series in New Zealand last season and won two Group Two races in Melbourne last spring after being transferred to the stable of Peter Moody.

Earlier, Hong Kong buyer Willie Leung paid $800,000 for a three-quarter brother to Australasian champion So You Think.

The $1.75 million colt sale pushed the sale average up to $159,866, still below the 2011 figure of $174,864.

Sir Patrick Hogan’s Cambridge Stud was the leading vendor for the 31st consecutive year.

Despite topping the aggregates again, Sir Patrick said selling wasn’t easy as buyers were being selective, especially as the world economy meant more people were saving their cash.

“I’d have to describe it as being a tough sale, but quality horses have made their money,” he said.

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David Ellis of Te Akau Stud won out in a bidding duel with Irish conglomerate Coolmore to secure the Fastnet Rock colt out of Nureyev’s Girl.

Ellis said he was determined to secure the colt.

“I really wanted him for the New Zealand breeding industry,” Ellis said.

“It is essential we retain horses like this.

“I knew Coolmore would be on and I had my first bid at $1.45 (million).

After a sluggish start on day one, Tuesday’s session got off to a good start with Hong Kong buyer Willie Leung paying $800,000 for a three-quarter brother to weight-for-age champion So You Think.

Ellis said 75 per cent of the sale topping colt had already been sold and he expected to finalise the remaining shares over the next few days.

Prime Minister John Key will open New Zealand Bloodstock’s 86th National Yearling Sales Series on Monday.

The six-day event offers 1444 horses and a three-quarter brother to So You Think is among the headliners.

The colt, offered in the Windsor Stud Park draft, is out of La Souvenir, a daughter of So You Think’s dam Triassic.

“He is a good sized horse and is a very strong and well put together colt,” said stud manager Rodney Schick.

“He ticks all the boxes on type and is hard to fault so we expect him to be very popular.”

The two-day premier sale is followed by the three-day Select Sale of 620 horses and then the one-day Festival Sale of 308 horses.

In 2011, buyers from 11 countries bought 1050 yearlings for more than $NZ88 million ($A68 million).

This year, good money can be expected for the top lots but the world economic uncertainties could test the strength of the overall market.

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The colt being offered in the Windsor Stud Park draft is one of 61 yearlings in New Zealand Bloodstock’s most important sale by the last New Zealand-sired draft of High Chaparral, who took Australasian racing by storm in 2009 and 2010.

High Chaparral produced the Derby winners Monaco Consul and Shoot Out in his first crop but none hit the headlines like So You Think, the winner of five Group Ones in Australia before winning another three in Europe in 2011.

The colt on sale at Karaka is out of La Souvenir, a daughter of So You Think’s dam Triassic.

“He is a fantastic type, he’s a beast,” Rodney Schick, stud manager at Windsor Park Stud, said.

“He is a good sized horse and is a very strong and well put together colt. He ticks all the boxes on type and is hard to fault so we expect him to be very popular.”

The High Chaparrals should be popular but there should also be demand for the stock of Zabeel whose progeny will be key to Cambridge Stud’s effort to be leading vendor by aggregate for the 31st consecutive year.

Among the best lots from the stud of Sir Patrick Hogan are several from the family of top broodmare Eight Carat.

The two-day premier sale is followed by the three-day Select Sale and then the one-day Festival Sale.

The highly sought after High Chaparral colt will go through the ring on Tuesday.

Good money can be expected for the top lots but the world economic uncertainties could test the strength of the overall market.

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The colt is by dual Horse of the Year Curlin (2007 and 2008).

Jess Jackson, owner of Stonestreet Farm in Kentucky, said last March his dream breeding pair would produce a super horse and the product of their mating was born on Sunday afternoon.

The mother and the colt were doing well on Monday when the footage of the baby’s first steps was placed on the farm’s website.

The colt has a patch of white hair on his face and white colouring on the lower part of his hind legs.

“Rachel is a natural mother and took to the colt immediately,” farm manager Gary Megibben said.

Rachel Alexandra became the first filly in 85 years to win the Preakness when she beat the boys in the US Triple Crown showdown in 2009.

Curlin won the 2007 Breeders’ Cup Classic and 2008 Dubai World Cup to earn his Horse of the Year titles.

“I’m thrilled with the good news of Rachel’s safe delivery and health of the handsome colt that resembles her,” co-owner Barbara Banke said.

“This colt represents Jess’ dream to raise and race the best.”

The colt will have a chance to race in the Triple Crown events, which also include the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes, as a three-year-old in 2015.

Later this year, Rachel Alexandra is set to be served by 2006 Preakness winner Bernardini.

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The four days of the premium section of the Magic Millions sale grossed 62.57 million for a catalogue of 645 horses compared with the 2011 gross of $63.669 million for 674 lots.

The buying bench was led by Gai Waterhouse who was both a winner and a loser in Saturday’s $2 million Magic Millions Classic fought out by stablemates No Looking Back and Driefontein.

No Looking Back was relegated to second on protest.

Waterhouse, in partnership with James Harron Bloodstock, spent $5.532 million on 22 yearlings while Denise Martin’s Star Thoroughbreds, which syndicated Driefontein, purchased 16 yearlings for $2.197 million.

Star Thoroughbred horses are all trained by Waterhouse.

With a clearance rate of 84.4 per cent and a top price of $960,000, the average was $127,175, up from $123,629 a year ago.

“We’re thrilled with the figures for the sale,” Magic Millions managing director Vin Cox said.

“The story of the sale is the clearance and the median price. The clearance rate is outstanding.

“And the average price has increased on last year’s figures – so all in all we’re very happy.”

“Demand on the quality lots was strong and many vendors returned some positive results.”
Arrowfield Stud’s Redoute’s Choice was the leading sire by average with eight lots sold at $255.370 followed by Coolmore’s Fastnet Rock (27 sold at $246,364).

Among Waterhouse’s purchases was a $680,000 colt by More Than Ready out of Aqua D’Amore who Waterhouse trained to win the 2007 Group One Futurity Stakes.

Fellow Sydney trainer Gerald Ryan had to go to $750,000 to buy a full brother to star mare Melito who he took to two wins and four placings at Group One level during the autumn of 2010.

The top priced lot, a Fastnet Rock colt out of Rose Of Cimmaron, was knocked down to bloodstock agents James Bester and Demi O’Byrne.

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Waterhouse went to $450,000 to buy a colt by Redoute’s Choice out of former boom two-year-old I Got Chills, who was unbeaten as a juvenile before being struck down by injury.

She also secured another son of the successful stallion out of Hustle Bustle, dam of multiple stakeswinner Hurried Choice, for $300,000.

“This is a buyer’s market,” Waterhouse said on Sky Channel.

She believed there was plenty of value at the sale, the first yearling auction of the year in Australia, and said quality horses were selling for much cheaper prices than a few years ago.

Fellow Sydney trainer Anthony Cummings also dug deep, buying a Redoute’s Choice-Miss Jakeo colt from the draft of Gerry Harvey’s Baramul Stud for $450,000.

There was an international presence with the Hong Kong Jockey Club paying $350,000 for an Exceed And Excel colt out of 2006 Magic Millions winner Mirror Mirror.

However, there were a number of lots which failed to reach their reserves, including a Redoute’s Choice colt out of Inaflury who was passed in for $275,000.

The sale continues on Thursday with the yearlings purchased eligible for next year’s $2 million Magic Millions Classic (1200m).

This year’s renewal of the race is at the Gold Coast on Saturday with the Waterhouse-trained Driefontein favourite.

A three-quarter brother will be offered at the New Zealand Premier Sale at Karaka next month while a full-brother is catalogued for the Easter Sale in Sydney.

The colt to be sold at Karaka is by High Chaparral out of La Souvenir, a daughter of So You Think’s dam Triassic.

Windsor Park Stud’s co-owner and stud manager Rodney Schick said he expected the colt to be popular with prospective buyers.

“He is a fantastic type, he’s a beast,” Schick said.

“He is a good sized horse and is a very strong and well put together colt. He ticks all the boxes on type and is hard to fault so we expect him to be very popular come sale time.”

Eight-time Group One winner So You Think was bought by Duncan Ramage at the 2008 Premier Sale for just $US110,000 and has gone on to win $A7.4 million.

An all-the-way winner of the 2009 Cox Plate for trainer Bart Cummings, So You Think became the only horse in Australian racing history to win the weight-for-age championship at three and four when he backed up the following year.

In between the 2010 Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup, Dato Tan Chin Nam sold a controlling interest in So You Think to Ireland’s Coolmore Stud and he was transferred to Aidan O’Brien after running third in the Cup.

Under O’Brien he won his first start, the Group Three Mooresbridge Stakes by 10 lengths, then took out the Group One Tattersalls Gold Cup.

He was narrowly beaten in the Group One Prince of Wales’s Stakes by the ill-fated Rewilding then bounced back to beat Workforce and win the Group One Eclipse Stakes (2000m) becoming the first Australasian horse to win a Group One race in England at further than a mile (1600m).

He won the Irish Champion Stakes (2000m) before finishing fourth in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and was sixth at his most recent start in the Breeders’ Cup on the unfamiliar dirt track at Churchill Downs.

So You Think’s sire High Chaparral has the largest draft in the Premier Sale with 61 yearlings – 35 colts and 26 fillies.

The sire of seven Group One winners, four from his first New Zealand crop, the son of Sadler’s Wells has sired 32 stakeswinners.

High Chaparral began his southern hemisphere career at Windsor Park Stud in 2005 and the 2012 Karaka yearlings will be the last of his New Zealand-conceived yearlings.

He is now part of Coolmore’s Australian stallion roster.

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It was the first time that the triple Melbourne Cup winner had foaled in Victoria.

Owners Tony and Deslee Santic were delighted to hear the news.

“We always wait in anticipation for Makybe Diva to foal and this time was no exception,” they said in a statement.

“We are extremely happy that both mum and foal are doing well.”

To date, Makybe Diva’s progeny comprise Rockstardom, a four-year-old by Galileo trained by Danny O’Brien, La Dolce Diva, a three-year-old filly by Fusaichi Pegasus with Mark Kavanagh and a two-year-old Encosta De Lago colt.

The new foal is a bay.

The Santics have yet to make a decision on a stallion for Makybe Diva this season.

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