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Hallmark Stud’s Mark Baker purchases youngster for NZ$145,000.
Almanzor's (Wootton Bassett) first southern hemisphere-bred crop of yearlings were well received during the sales earlier this year and the demand for progeny of the Cambridge Stud shuttler continued apace at the New Zealand Bloodstock National Weanling Sale on Friday as Hallmark Stud's Mark Baker went to NZ$145,000 for a colt by the sire.
Catalogued as Lot 78 and offered by Haunui Farm, the colt is the third foal out of dual Group 3 winner and Group 1-placed mare Girl Of My Dreams (Gold Centre).
Baker said the colt would now be prepared for the 2022 New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale.
"I loved him from the time we saw him at Haunui. Myself and my partners are delighted to get him," Baker said.
"He has a wonderful temperament, he never batted an eyelid up here all week. He is beautifully balanced with great strength, great movement, and is correct. He is off a great farm by an extremely exciting young horse in Almanzor.
"The plan is to go through Karaka in 2022. But with a lovely horse like this you have got some options too," Baker said.
Baker has already had great success with Almanzor's first crop of yearlings at this year's sales.
"Almanzor has been very good to us," he said. "We sold one for NZ$560,000 on behalf of the Pike's, and a filly we bred for NZ$300,000.
"They are wonderful types and I have worked with enough of them now and they have got brilliant temperaments, they are going to be a huge chance."
Baker played a dual role at Karaka, also offering a five-strong draft under his Hallmark Stud banner.
"For a nice horse, they were extremely hard to buy," he said. "If you had a genuine horse here today, as was proven, there was a lot of money here.
"He's certainly a horse that we look forward to bringing back through to Karaka 2022, which I'm sure will be a great sale," Baker said.
Haunui Farm's Mark Chitty said he had expected the colt to make six-figures.
"We have been selling weanlings for a long time and he is the nicest we have brought to this sale, and he sold accordingly," Chitty said.
"He is a lovely colt out of a very good mare and by a young sire who has created a lot of interest, and they have sold really well.
"I expected him to be a six-figure horse. He oozes class and handles pressure. He was bought by a very good judge in Mark Baker. He bought Hardline off us and he went on and won the Karaka Million. It was a very good pinhook result for him.
"The mare is back in-foal to Almanzor, so it was a great result."
Haunui Farm was the leading vendor at the close of trade, selling 15 of their offerings for a total of NZ$339,500 and they averaged NZ$22,633.
"The good horses, and there haven't been a lot of them, have sold well, but underneath that reflects the state of the industry," Chitty said.
"You haven't got people buying horses to put in the paddock and wait. It's the traders, people who are looking to pinhook yearlings or ready-to-runners."
Chitty is a big supporter of the dedicated weanling sale and his thoughts were justified by the strong market on Friday.
"I totally support a standalone weanling sale," he said. "I don't think you have to have it mixed up and I think that it is great to be back at a sale ground.
"The pinhookers like to see horses in the flesh and they like to see how they handle pressure, especially if they are going to pay decent money for them."
Almanzor finished the day at the leading sire by both aggregate and average (with three or more lots sold), having seven of his weanlings realise an aggregate of NZ$409,500 at an average of NZ$58,500.
Earlier on in the day, a colt by Little Avondale Stud-based sire Per Incanto (Street Cry) proved popular when he was purchased by Jamie Beatson of Riversley Park for NZ$110,000 and he will be offered at the New Zealand Bloodstock Ready To Run Sale.
Offered by Curraghmore and catalogued as Lot 104, the colt is out of winning Choisir (Danehill Dancer) mare Mandalong Belle, who is herself a half-sister to dual Singapore Listed winner Spanish Bay (Nadeem) and stakes-placed Casino Belle (Casino Prince).
Further back this is also the same family as Group 2 scorer Khaptivaan (Adraan) - the dam of Group 1 winner Khaptingly (Bletchingly) and Listed scorer Khaptrist (Sir Tristram).
"He was a lovely looking horse and had a lot of quality about him. He looked very sharp like he'd be an early running type," Beatson said.
"The plan is to carry him through to NZB's Ready to Run Sale, so we will just put him in the paddock for now and let him grow out."
Gordon Cunningham's Curraghmore was the leading consignor by average (with three or more lots sold) and second leading consigner by aggregate, after selling six weanlings for an average for NZ$52,500, for a gross of NZ$315,000.
The leading buyer at the sale was Phill Cataldo, who purchased four weanlings for an aggregate of NZ$168,000 at an average of NZ$42,000.
NZB's Managing Director Andrew Seabrook was absolutely thrilled at the conclusion of selling.
"All key metrics were well up across the board and we couldn't be happier with how the Sale went today," said Seabrook.
"We saw great participation by both international and domestic buyers, highlighted by a strong contingent of pinhookers.
"With the market and demand for our New Zealand stock being so strong, we would have loved to have had the ability to sell more horses on behalf of our consignors.
"However, we're looking forward to having more international buyers back on the grounds for our forthcoming sales."
With coronavirus forcing last year's sale online the statistics are incomparable, but the NZ$1,820,000 aggregate earned after 82 lots sold at a clearance of 82 per cent is up 10 per cent on the 2019 aggregate of NZ$1,649,000, where 91 lots sold at a clearance of 71 per cent.
Meanwhile, the average closed at NZ$22,195 up 22 per cent on the 2019 average of NZ$18,121, while the median was up 10 per cent to NZ$11,000 having finished at NZ$10,000 in 2019.
