By MIKE DILLON
New Zealand Bloodstock has come up with some stern competition for buyers at its Ready To Run 2-year-old sale beginning at Karaka tonight - itself.
The bloodstock selling company has just agreed to a request by the Singapore Turf Club to stage a 2-year-old sale on the eve of the inaugural running of the Singapore International Stakes on March 3, in which New Zealand will have an invited runner.
The sale will be run on similar lines to the successful auction conducted by the Hong Kong Jockey Club in conjunction with its international meeting in December.
"We will buy the horses for Singapore out of this sale, " said New Zealand Bloodstock chairman Peter Vela at the breeze up of sale horses at Ellerslie yesterday.
"This is an exciting opportunity not only for our company, but for New Zealand's breeding industry.
"We will start it out small, only 20 horses in March, but we want to develop the sale properly and I can see it becoming a very large sale in a few years."
There is a large buyers' bench of Asians in Auckland for the sale.
Several of the leading Macau trainers are here, including expatriate Kiwi Nigel Tiley, and Singapore's Michael Kent was eying prospective purchases yesterday. Hong Kong-based New Zealander Michael Bastion, a big buyer at Karaka in January, is representing leading Hong Kong trainer David Hayes.
"With the likes of Lee Freedman and Colin Alderson on the buyers' bench, there will be plenty of competition," said Vela.
Long gone is the idea that a ready-to-run, 2-year-old sale is only for yearling sale rejects and the odd horse speculated from the previous season.
Vela said a lot of time had been spent developing the sale as a realistic alternative to purchasing a yearling.
"And getting a horse ready for this sale is somewhat better suited to the New Zealand product."
It is no surprise that a prediction for sale-topper is one of the two Zabeel colts up for grabs.
"There is huge interest in the Zabeel-Great Klaire colt," said Vela, who predicts the Ready To Run record of $300,000 should be consigned to history.
The colt is from the Eight Carat family and is a half-brother to St Klaire, the dam of group one winners Bonanova, Telesto and Fraternity.
The second parade of sale horses is at Ellerslie starting at 10 am today with the sales sessions at 6 pm at Karaka tonight and 10 am tomorrow.
Racing: Look who's bidding against us
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