Karaka a Cornerstone of Young Stock Auction Space

NZB’s upcoming Karaka May Sale has gained widespread attention from racing enthusiasts with proven racetrack success coupled with a golden opportunity for pinhooking prowess.

With no hard and fast rules to pinhooking, the traditional strategy is to buy low and sell high focusing on type, pedigree and what’s fashionable. The Sale has been littered with examples of relatively low-priced weanlings that have made a substantial profit when offered again as a yearling or Ready to Run two-year-old.

This year’s National Yearling Sales Series saw the weanlings of last year’s Weanling session come to fruition with the most profitable pinhook a Showcasing colt offered by Seaton Park at Lot 376 in Book 1. Haunui Farm sold the colt as a weanling for $30,000 to Rocky Bay Bloodstock and he returned as a yearling with the Hong Kong Jockey Club outlaying $200,000 to secure him.

Henley Park’s Iffraaj colt, catalogued in Book 1 as Lot 93, marked another big pinhooking score when sold to Australian buyer DGR Thoroughbred Services for $210,000 after fetching $85,000 as a weanling when consigned by Dan Myers.

Other yearlings who produced lucrative returns from their weanling price include:

• Hyde Park’s Lot 593 – a colt by Bullbars who they purchased as a weanling for $32,000 and sold as a yearling for $150,000 to Waikato Bloodstock.
• Lot 592, a colt by Reliable Man, was bought in Inglewood Stud’s name as a weanling for $50,000 and returned in their yearling draft to fetch $160,000 from Go Racing.
• Lyndhurst Farm had double success with their two pinhooked weanling colts – they secured an Iffraaj weanling for $80,000 who returned to make $150,000 as a yearling at Lot 587, and a Hinchinbrook weanling for $130,000 who then sold for $190,000 as a yearling at Lot 378.

The 2017 Ready to Run Sale of Two-Year-Olds was another successful Sale for pinhookers with Charma Heights’ Alamosa colt (Lot 299) a prolific money spinner. Purchased as a weanling for $11,000 out of Wellfield Lodge’s draft he returned to the sale ring as a two-year-old with Dungowan Farm going the distance to acquire him for $240,000.

Three other pinhooked juveniles broke the $200,000 mark returning tidy profits for their savvy buyers:

• Lot 138, a Reliable Man gelding, was purchased by Ric Wylie Bloodstock as a yearling at the Sale for $40,000 and returned to the Ready to Run Sale with JK Farm who sold him for $210,000 to Kelly Schweida.
• Regal Farms’ Lot 24 (So You Think) was bought as a weanling out of Curraghmore’s draft for $130,000 and returned as a two-year-old fetching $200,000 from First Light Racing, Nottingham Farm and Paul Willetts.
• Lot 402, a gelding by Tavistock, was purchased by Phil Cataldo Bloodstock as a weanling for $155,000 and consigned as a two-year-old under Lyndhurst Farm selling for $220,000 to the bid of Hong Kong buyer Francis Lui.

There will be ample opportunities to secure the next sale ring star and future investment with 294 weanlings entered at the 2018 Karaka May Sale on 7 and 8 May.

The Weanling category is set to include the eagerly anticipated first crops by the likes of Complacent, Contributer, Kermadec, Mongolian Khan, Nostradamus, Press Statement, Pride of Dubai, Sweynesse, The Bold One and Vespa. Proven and emerging sires will also be represented such as Burgundy, Darci Brahma, Iffraaj, Makfi, Ocean Park, Per Incanto, Pins, Reliable Man, Shocking, Showcasing, So You Think, Star Witness, Tavistock, Written Tycoon, Zacinto and many more.

Day 1 will commence at 10am with the Yearling category, followed by the first half of the Weanling category with 185 weanlings going through the ring. Day 2 will start at 10am by offering the remaining 109 weanlings (294 in total), followed by Two-Year-Old’s, Unraced Stock, Racehorses and Broodmares.

You can view the catalogue online, on the iPad application or request a printed copy from Faye Hunt at [email protected]. For travel and accommodation information contact Harry King at [email protected].