Increased demand from vendors has prompted New Zealand Bloodstock to compile an expanded catalogue for its 2025 Ready to Run Sale, to be held at Karaka in November.
New Zealand Bloodstock has unveiled a bumper 480-Lot catalogue for its 2025 Ready to Run Sale, a year after the auction house set an Australasian NZ$1.65 million record at Karaka.
Buoyed by the past season’s results, in which NZB’s two-year-old sale had 10 Group 1-winning graduates last season, the two-day November sale catalogue has increased by 19 per cent year-on-year.
The NZB Ready to Run Group 1 honour roll includes Antino, Ceolwulf, Feroce, Gringotts, Mr Brightside and War Machine, a last-start winner of the Stradbroke Handicap at Eagle Farm in June.
This year’s sale will be held at Karaka on November 12 and 13, marking the third of three Australasian breeze-up sales.
Magic Millions and Inglis will stage their respective one-day sales in October.
NZB director of business development Mike Kneebone is confident that an extra 78 horses compared to 2024 would help attract buyers, particularly from Australia and key Asian markets.
The success of graduates in Australia in 2024/2025 will also prove to be a major selling point when it comes to luring buyers to Karaka in November, Kneebone says.
“I think that plays a massive part in it, but from an Asian perspective, from Hong Kong and Malaysia now, which are probably the two big ones for us, they need big numbers to come down and be happy to compete and that's where the sale has a big advantage,” Kneebone told The Straight.
“You sort of need numbers for people to travel to the sales because they need to know that they're going to be able to actually go away with something and that competitive atmosphere with the numbers makes a big difference.”
The Ready to Run catalogue is comprised of two-year-olds by 114 different stallions including champion sires Savabeel, Zoustar, I Am Invincible, Snitzel and Proisir as well as the versatile Per Incanto, Almanzor, Santono Aladdin, Super Seth and Shamexpress, the sire of Hong Kong superstar Ka Ying Rising.
Siblings to black-type earners such as War Machine, Lucky Patch, Amphitrite, Coeur Volante, Jungle Magnate, Globe, La Crique, Bonham, Full of Beauty, Asterix, Happy Archer and Turn Me Loose featured. Plus, close relations on offer to Alabama Lass, Lion’s Roar, Lucky Sweynesse, War Eternal, Forgot You, and Fix are also being prepared for the Ready to Run Sale.
Last year’s record-breaking sales topper, I Am Invincible colt Hostility, was runner-up in the Group 1 Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes and he won a barrier trial at Ellerslie last week for Te Akau as he prepares for his spring return.
Kneebone is confident that another quality catalogue has been put together with the support of experienced and respected as well as first-time educators and vendors.
“From what I've seen just at places like the Cambridge track and in the Waikato, they're outstanding. I think everybody knows what's required of the sale,” he said.
“There's a lot of type about the sale, as well as pedigrees and all kinds of ranges, whether they've taken them through from weanlings to yearlings or bred them specifically for the sale this year.
“There's one thing we can always rely on is that New Zealanders, the horsemen and women, just do such a good job. They've been doing it for a long time now, and they're world-class at it.”
Breeze-ups to be held at Te Rapa Racecourse on October 13 and 14, a month before the Karaka sale.
The Ready to Run Sale will open a big three-month period for NZB, which next year celebrates the 100-year anniversary of the country’s national yearling sales.
