KEY POINTS:
Matamata trainer Lance Noble is more used to shopping for yearlings in the $20-$100,000 range.
But his strategy changed within seconds - just after Christmas - when he first saw Lyndhurst Farm's marquee colt by Encosta de Lago colt out former top racemare Goivana.
In one of the gutsiest self-promotions to the VIP buyers' bench, Noble set the early pace at the national yearling sales at Karaka yesterday with an economic meltdown-defying $800,000 bid.
"I first saw him with a group of Matamata trainers and he's the one that as soon as he walked out everyone went whoa!" said Noble.
"I thought, 'I'd love to have that horse in my stable', but then you think, 'that's got to be too much'.
"But then you start thinking if you had a few people involved, it doesn't have to be."
Noble said he didn't have to do a lot of arm-twisting to pull in owners; once they saw that his looks matched his pedigree, the horse sold himself.
There are still "two or three" shares left in the 10-strong syndicate, but Noble is confident they'll be quickly snapped up.
"My wife Leigh has just got her syndicator's license, and having just moved into a lovely new property this is the logical next step.
"I'm not saying we want to compete on the same level as Te Akau, but it's about giving people another choice."
If there is supposed to be a recession on right now, no one told Noble, 40.
He admits he would have gone as high as $1 million for the prized colt.
"I thought he may have gone for more, said Noble.
"I'm not sure if it was the economic climate or the fact he was early in the sale and people were treading carefully - who knows.
"Sometimes you can jump in too deep and I'm a pretty cautious person; hopefully he wins a group race and the dream comes true."
Other leading New Zealand buyers yesterday, Te Akau boss David Ellis and Matamata trainer Roger James also reported syndicates for their blue-chip lots filling fast.
In the best buyers' market seen at Karaka for years, James paid $700,000 for a Redoute's Choice colt out of former top class stable racemare La Sizeranne, while Ellis matched that sum for Pencarrow Stud's Redoute's Choice-Love Connection bay colt.
"There are still a lot of people who want to invest in racing," said Ellis.
"The sharemarket jumps up and down and it's not for everyone. If you can get a good colt to win the 2000 Guineas it's worth a lot of money."
Making good on his mission to nab "the top five colts" at the two-day premier sale, Ellis later spent $510,000 on Cambridge Stud's Zabeel colt out of Miss Power Bird, a yearling many insiders tipped as a potential sales-topper.
James admits he expected to pay closer to $1 million for the keenly-contested Redoute's Choice colt from Trelawny Stud's draft.
But given the current global market, he had a hunch it was a good time to open the shoulders.
"That's why I had a go this year, but we've been in troughs before and come out of it," said James.
James said the 10-share syndicate who will race the striking colt was already "two-thirds" full.
The line-up includes Trelawney and loyal US owners, Jack Maronde and son Mark who also raced the colt's dam La Sizeranne.
"He's got a lot more strength and precociousness than the mare," said James who trained a winning double at yesterday's Whakatane meeting.
Bloodstock agent Dean Hawthorne bought the top-priced filly yesterday for $625,000, Curraghmore Stud's Redoute's Choice yearling out of speedy racemare Sarah Vee.
She will race across the Tasman for clients of top Aussie trainer David Hayes.
"On her conformation she's one of the best we've seen - fantastic," said Hawthorne. "David said she's like Miss Finland - big and masculine - and the best fillies usually are."
The premier sale continues today at Karaka from 11am.
Average slides
* The average for the first day was $150,136, down on last year's record average of just under $200,000.
* Clearance rate was 73.3 per cent, compared to last year's sale average of 86 per cent.
* The drop was expected given the economic downturn and as last year's sale was boosted by smaller Australian sales due to the equine influenza epidemic.
