A weanling son of High Chaparral commanded the highest price of NZ$150,000 ($119,073 in U.S. funds) May 8 on the second day of New Zealand Bloodstock’s national weanling, broodmare, and mixed bloodstock sale at Karaka in New Zealand. In addition, the weanling portion of the auction ended with a 5.3% increase in median price from a year ago.
New Zealand Bloodstock, agent, was the winning bidder on the colt, which is headed to pinhookers Mark and Shelley Treweek’s Lyndhurst Farm. The weanling’s consignor was Don McLaren’s Northfields Stud, which is conducting an unreserved replenishing sale.
“We thought this colt was very much like the High Chaparral colt out of Creil that we sold for $650,000 ($515,983) at the premier sale here this year and we are very pleased to have ended up with him,” Mark Treweek said.
The colt, which was the most expensive weanling sold overall, is out of the winning Stravinsky mare Soelin, who finished third in the 2007 Devan Plastics Lowland Stakes (NZ-III).
The results for the national auction’s weanling portion included a gross of NZ$2,970,300 ($2,357,880) for the 248 horses that were sold. The average price was NZ$11,977 ($9,508) and the median was NZ$4,000 ($3,175). Compared to last year, when 243 weanlings were sold, the gross declined 6.7% while the average fell 8.6%.
New Zealand Bloodstock reported a clearance rate of 77%, which rose from 75% in 2011.
“The sale has gone well,” Treweek said. “There is a lot of competition for nice horses and they have been hard to buy. We have paid more than we intended to for one or two, but in the end, a nice horse is a nice horse and they hold their value.”
Also on day two, horses in training, yearlings, 2-year-olds, and unraced stock were sold.
