Racing: Tavistock colts set pace at Karaka

A son of boom sire Tavistock went for $170,000 at Karaka yesterday. Photo / Trish Dunell

The popularity of New Zealand thoroughbreds was evident on the first day of New Zealand Bloodstock's National Weanling, Broodmare and Mixed Bloodstock Sale at Karaka.

Massive gains were recorded across the board, the highlight being a 188 per cent increase in the median price to $11,500 from $4000 last year and an 85 per cent increase in the average to $22,709 (up from $12,302).

The day one aggregate settled at $2,952,200, up $1,168,450 on last year's opener and this with 15 less horses contributing to the figure.

The strong demand that drove the record figures also saw the clearance rate finish up at 87 per cent.

The progeny of Cambridge Stud stallion Tavistock have been in white-hot form on the racetrack and unsurprisingly his stock were in high demand in the sale ring, accounting for three of the top five lots.

Pinhookers Mark and Shelley Treweek, of Lyndhurst Farm in Waikato, went to $170,000 to secure a son of the boom sire yesterday.

Catalogued as Lot 40, the attractive bay was sold by Gordon Cunningham's Curraghmore on behalf of breeder Greg Tomlinson and is out of the Volksraad mare Sentura, dam of two stakes performers including the Nigel Blackiston-trained Electric Aura which placed in the Tasmanian Oaks this year.

"I obviously like the fact he's by Tavistock and to top it off he's out of a Volksraad mare, which is the same cross as Volkstok'n'barrell," Mark Treweek said.

"We just fell in love with him as soon as we saw him and thought he was the horse of the sale for us, so we just wanted him."

Treweek indicated the colt would be re-offered as a yearling at Karaka in January.

A short time later a Tavistock colt (Lot 78) from the Viking Ruler mare Times Remembered was knocked down to the bid of bloodstock agent Phill Cataldo for $155,000.

"I bought him for a couple of New Zealand investors and it is more than likely that he will go back through the ring in January," Cataldo said.

The leading buyer was Rider Horse NZ, with principal Lang Lin in attendance at the sale.

Rider Horse NZ purchased a total of 20 weanlings yesterday, including 16 colts and four fillies.

Among the headline purchases for Rider Horse NZ was an I Am Invincible filly out of the stakes placed Pivotal mare Pipette, purchased for $130,000 from the draft Dan Myers.

Rider Horse NZ also paid $130,000 for a colt by So You Think from the Listed winning Encosta de Lago mare Astounded, purchased from the draft of Curraghmore.

Gordon Cunningham's Curragh-more has been the leading vendor at this sale for the past ten years, and the Te Awamutu vendor is once again leading that field.

"It has been a good sale," Cunningham said.

NZ Bloodstock managing director Andrew Seabrook was thrilled. "The product we are producing continues to perform in some of the world's toughest racing jurisdictions and the staggering results we have seen here today are not only good for our vendors but good for the industry as a whole," he said.

- NZ Racing Desk