Filly Record Set at New Zealand Sale

Tik Tik Trinidad, representing Gooree Stud owner Eduardo Cojuangco, went to $1,450,000 (about US$645,178) to buy the sale topper and establish a new yearling filly record at the New Zealand Premier Sale on Thursday.

The Zabeel-Marquise filly was the pre-sale talk and lived up to that hype, though bringing less than some had projected. The same connections purchased a Zabeel colt from the same family last year for a New Zealand record $3.6 million. Both will race in Australia.

Cojuangco is best known to Americans as the breeder of 1986 champion grass horse Manila.

There was one other seven-figure lot, a Zabeel -- L'Quiz colt bought by Rob McAnulty for $1 million. He has been syndicated to race for a partnership of eight persons.

Overall, the gross and average were down a bit from last year's record sale. This year over three days, 388 were sold for $47,866,000, an average of $123,366 (US$54,892). Another 86 (18%) were listed as not sold. A year ago, the sale averaged AUS$128,013 on gross receipts of $55,173,500.The records just keep being rewritten at Karaka.