Riverrock’s Chad Ormsby couldn’t believe his luck last March when he was able to buy a Churchill colt for $25,000.
Fast forward almost nine months and that same horse by the Coolmore shuttle sire sold for $775,000, day two’s highest price at the New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale at Karaka.
An I Am Invincible colt out of dual Group 1-winning mare Shillelagh smashed the southern hemisphere two-year-old sale record price when he was bought by Te Akau Racing on Wednesday for $1.65 million.
The judgment of Ormsby, whose father-in-law is trainer Mike Moroney, was also proven correct when he knocked back serious offers to sell the colt after he won a barrier trial at Waipa on October 1.
He subsequently breezed up in 10.42 seconds at Te Rapa.
“It was a hard one because we turned down money after his trial win, good money,” Ormsby said.
“We're only little and we bring maybe 10 horses (to the sale) each year and it was hard not taking the money after the trial, but we wanted to promote ourselves and our brand by bringing a horse like that.”
Malaysian trainer HY Cheng, who acts for several Hong Kong contacts, and Nick Kneebone, the son of NZB’s Mike Kneebone, were the successful bidders.
Ormsby bought the colt, who is out of unraced Pierro mare Bagitol, from Twin Hills Stud at the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale in Melbourne earlier this year for what is now proven to be a paltry amount.
“We couldn't believe we were getting a horse of that quality for that price when we bought him,” Ormsby said.
“Then to develop him and see him go the way we'd hoped and everything - there's so many stages that can go wrong with the preparation and nothing did - was faultless.
“He's just an absolute weapon of an animal. He's almost a model. When you take him out of the box, he just turns it on. He looks fantastic.”
The same Melbourne Premier sale as Thursday’s session-topper was also the source of another stunning pinhook result just five lots earlier.
Tim Rowe
A colt by Toronado, who is also the sire of top-class Hong Kong horses Helios Express and Victor The Winner, sold for $625,000 to prominent agent Willie Leung of Magus Equine on behalf of champion trainer Francis Lui.
Well-known agent and trader Shane McGrath bought the colt for $97,500 from Newhaven Park at Inglis’ Victorian sale and sent him to Cranbourne to be educated by trainer Clinton McDonald.
The pair also combined to prepare a draft for last month’s Inglis Ready2Race Sale.
“He's just an absolute weapon of an animal. He's almost a model. When you take him out of the box, he just turns it on. He looks fantastic” - Chad Ormsby on the sale of his Ready to Run Churchill colt
Cambridge-based BMD Bloodstock’s Barry Donoghue took over the colt’s preparation prior to the Te Rapa breeze-ups where he stopped the clock in 10.75 seconds.
“You've obviously got to keep putting some money back in the tin, so we can regroup for next year,” McGrath told The Straight.
“He was quite a big horse at the yearling sales and he probably wasn't for everyone, but I just felt that he didn’t have a lot more growing to do. He just needed the furnish.
“I had another nice Toronado that was going to Sydney, so I wanted to split him up. He breezed really well, he was the talk of the sale and he sold accordingly.”
As for Leung and Lui, they are hoping they have found their next Golden Sixty, the recently retired Hong Kong champion who was also bought out of the Karaka two-year-old sale in 2017 for $300,000.
“I rated him the best horse in the sale and Toronado is doing very well in Hong Kong,” Leung said.
“He looks more like a miler-plus horse, so, in the long-term, I am dreaming about getting him to the (Hong Kong) Derby.”
The two-year-old, a son of Zabeel mare Attractive who is from the same family as Group 1 winners Velocitea and Loving Gaby, is likely to remain in New Zealand to continue his education for the next nine to 12 months.
Tim Rowe
Leung also went to $400,000 for an Ohukia Lodge-consigned two-year-old by Russian Revolution.
“It’s been a strong sale,” Leung said.
“There are some very good quality horses here, and you have to be prepared to pay quite a bit of money to get the ones that you want.”
The thirst for high-end horses continued until the final minutes of the two-year-old sale with a Snitzel colt selling for $480,000 to Blandford Bloodstock’s Stuart Boman and fellow agent Andrew Williams while the Harry Angel brother to Lindsay Park's Group 2-winning sprinter Arkansaw Kid made $520,000.
A $300,000 pinhook by Ohukia Lodge’s Jamie Beatson, who bought him from Sledmere Stud at the Inglis Classic sale in February, the juvenile was bought by agent Morgan Carter for $520,000.
Rookie Hong Kong trainer David Eustace, who has trained five winners so far in his debut season in Asia, was the under bidder.
Carter was also acting for Hong Kong clients with the goal of getting the sharp-looking colt up to Sha Tin but first he will continue his education with Matamata-based trainer Glenn Old.
“By the looks of it, he's not going to take long,” Carter said.
“We'll get him back and assess him after a couple of weeks in the paddock and, after that, we'll look at a plan from there, but he'll eventually go to Hong Kong.”
Old was an assistant trainer in Macau prior to moving back to New Zealand to take out his own licence.
“Glenn Old has done an incredible job with our purchases from last year,” Carter said.
“We've had a lot of success with Glenn.”
The sale’s leading buyer, Hong Kong’s Kin Man Yeung, also continued his spending spree, buying the third last horse to go through the ring for $420,000.
The gelding by Derryn, who was initially a $21,000 weanling purchase by Pinhook Bloodstock’s Dave Mee, was pinhooked by Riversley Park after outlaying $40,000 for him at this year’s Karaka Yearling Sale.
NZB managing director Andrew Seabrook was thrilled with this year’s edition of the sale, which significantly bettered the 2024 edition.
“Last year's sale obviously was up 45 per cent, so I thought, ‘how are we going to do this again?’,” Seabrook told The Straight.
“I would have taken these figures and run, to be honest, if I was offered them a couple of weeks ago. We increased the turnover from $35 million to $38 million, remembering that it went up $10 million last year on the previous year's sale, so it is quite an achievement.”
Seabrook believes the fact that a new record was set on day one with the I Am Invincible colt effectively selling to a colts syndicate could further change the dynamic of the two-year-old sale.
“I think that selling a seven-figure horse, the $1.65 million colt, is quite a significant milestone, and one that perhaps vendors and breeders will look at with some degree of confidence, knowing that, hey, if they can't get a colt to yearling sale time with a top pedigree, they've now got a very viable option in the two-year-old sale,” he said.
“I’ve also got to pay tribute to Mr Yeung, he was absolutely incredible. He's bought 26 horses for around $5 million.”
NZB is expected to release it’s 2025 Karaka National Yearling Sale catalogue next week.
Sale results
Catalogued 404 (383)
Offered 319 (308)
Sold 241 (225)
Clearance 77% (73%)
Aggregate $37,168,000 ($35,107,000)
Average $154,244 ($156,031)
Median $90,000 ($90,000)
*denotes 2023 figures
