Horse racing: launch of auctions for the Dinkum Karaka

Yesterday’s Karaka sales pitch may have looked like a ‘giant family reunion’, but the family rivalry will intensify when the Ready To Run sale kicks off today.

The two-day sale is the first since the start of 2020 to take place with open borders, meaning buyers from Australia, Asia and even beyond are actually in Karaka, rather than trying to buy online.

Not only will this bolster some prices, but also the atmosphere in Karaka, given that last year the Ready To Run sale was a virtual sale in a hall at Te Rapa Racecourse with no horse in sight.

This week, industry stars like Peter Moody, Mick Price and Busuttin/Young racing will be joined in Karaka by many of Hong Kong’s top trainers and agents, while top Australian stables like Chris Waller, Linsday Park and Maher/Eustace will have their agents on the floors.

Champion coach Jamie Richards is also back in New Zealand for the first time since moving to Hong Kong, adding to the feeling of family reunion as many industry players united who haven’t crossed paths in New Zealand since before Covid have been enjoying Kiwi hospitality.

“The atmosphere on the pitch has been amazing, like a family reunion,” said New Zealand Bloodstock spokesman Kane Jones.

“The return of so many of our international visitors is amazing and there are a lot of handshakes.

“The hotel here [DoubleTree by Hilton on the Karaka grounds] is full and lots of good people, the people the sellers want to see here, are here and more to come.

But the good mood will be put aside from 11am today as the first of 257 lots to be split over two days enters the ring.

This smaller-than-usual catalog, coupled with a seemingly endless global demand for blood and the presence of overseas buyers in lands where they’re still more likely to buy a horse, should make for a strong sale.

“All the metrics are there for a good sale and sellers are saying they’re busy and happy, which is always a really good barometer,” Jones says.

Many top Aussie players see the Ready To Run sale as the place to buy Derby and Oaks contenders, but with high profile milers who have performed in Australia like Mr Brightside and Te Akau Shark having come through the sale in recent times years it has wider appeal.

He’s also had a spring of major Aussie updates with a three-year-old Sharp N Smart star on offer at this sale last year, while Victoria Derby winner Manzoice has a Shooting To Win half-sister. for sale as lot 57 today.

Hong Kong trainers and agents also have the dual appeal of New Zealand horses which are so consistently successful there, but this year’s catalog contains a solid handful of Australian-bred horses bought at sales there and groomed here, injecting speed-dominated Aussie bloodlines into The Next Two Days.

It’s a recipe that produced Ready To Run’s biggest recent commercial in Hong Kong hero Golden Sixty, which was bought from Karaka for $300,000 and rose to the top of the world’s top horse rankings l ‘last year.

Predicting the best lots at a Ready To Run sale is never easy because for some buyers the windbreaks (200m gallops that are filmed) performed on a 5-speed soft track in Te Rapa last month are the crucial element, while others place more emphasis on breeding. or what horses look like, now much more developed than they were when they were a year old.

Coverage of the sale begins at 10.45am each day on Sky Pop Up Channel 263, Freeview 200 as well as the New Zealand Bloodstock website and Facebook page.