Buyers at next month’s NZB National Weanling Sale at Karaka will have access to the progeny of an outstanding range of proven and emerging stallion talent – and at lower price levels than they are likely to command later in life.
The catalogue for the National Weanling Sale features 49 different sires, including many of the biggest names among New Zealand’s stallion ranks.
SAVABEEL
The 2024 National Weanling Sale gives buyers a rare opportunity to secure a weanling by Savabeel at Karaka.
In the last seven years, a total of only eight Savabeel weanlings have been sold by NZB for an average price of $121,750. His huge numbers of Book 1 yearlings have averaged $262,350 at Karaka during that same period. He has had 10 yearlings sell for $800,000 or more, with three breaking the $1m mark headed by a $1.4m price tag in 2019.
Savabeel’s achievements need little introduction. He is an eight-time champion New Zealand sire and has been credited with no fewer than 145 individual stakes winners, 33 of them at Group One level. He stands for a service fee of $100,000 at Waikato Stud.
Savabeel is the sire of Lot 56 in the National Weanling Sale – a colt out of the Medaglia d’Oro mare Miss Maya. The unraced dam is a half-sister to the South African Group One performer Muwaary (O’Reilly), while the stakes-winning second dam Silently (Anabaa) is a half-sister to Australian Group One stars Criterion (NZ) (Sebring) and Comin’ Through (Fastnet Rock).
PROISIR
The only stallion to interrupt Savabeel’s almost decade-long dominance of the New Zealand sires’ premiership is Rich Hill Stud’s Proisir. After standing for a $17,500 service fee as recently as two years ago, the breakout performer will command $80,000 in 2024.
Proisir topped the New Zealand premiership with an extraordinary season in 2022-23. His progeny earned a total of $4.1m on Kiwi racetracks – the first time a sire has broken the $4m mark in New Zealand. He was represented by no fewer than five Group One winners that season with Legarto (NZ), Prowess (NZ), Levante (NZ), Dark Destroyer (NZ) and Pier (NZ).
Yearlings by Proisir have averaged almost $240,000 in Book 1 at Karaka in the last two seasons. In contrast, his weanlings have averaged $47,750 across the 2022 and 2023 National Weanling Sales.
Proisir is strongly represented with nine of his progeny in the 2024 National Weanling Sale catalogue, including:
- Lot 108, a son of Ticket To Ride (NZ) (Shocking), whose nine wins are headed by the Group Three Canterbury Breeders’ Stakes (1400m).
- Lot 130, a half-sister to the five-race winner and Group performer Le Castile (NZ) (Dalghar). The dam, the unraced mare Awatea (NZ) (Danasinga), is a half-sister to the dual Group One winner Grout (NZ) (Gold Brose)
- Lot 146, a filly out of the Zabeel mare Christmas Day. Herself a winner in Australia, Christmas Day is the dam of two foals to race, who have won eight races each – including the Listed John Letts Cup (1800m) winner Pudding (NZ) (Tavistock).
ALMANZOR
It has been a highly successful autumn for Almanzor, whose 2024 service fee has been set at $30,000 by Cambridge Stud.
He achieved an incredibly rare double on April 13, siring the quinella in the Group One Sydney Cup (3200m) with Circle Of Fire and Athabascan, while his unbeaten two-year-old son Nucleozor (NZ) won the Listed Welcome Stakes over just 1000 metres that same afternoon.
Almanzor has sired 22 winners across Australasia since April 1, including five stakes winners. Moonlight Magic (NZ) captured the Group Three Championship Stakes (2100m) at Ellerslie, while Positivity (NZ) – previously runner-up in the Group One New Zealand Oaks (2400m) – ventured to Adelaide and won the Group Three SA Fillies’ Classic (2500m). Ahuriri (NZ) took out the Listed VRC St Leger (2800m).
Yearlings by Almanzor have averaged $128,666 in Book 1 of Karaka in the last two seasons. His weanlings have earned an average price of $33,500 in the same period.
Four colts by Almanzor will go through the Karaka sale ring as part of the National Online Weanling Sale, including:
- Lot 87, whose dam Secret Allure (NZ) (Zacinto) won five races including the Group Three Desert Gold Stakes (1600m), the Group Three Taranaki Breeders’ Stakes (1400m) and two Listed races. She also finished fourth in the Group One New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m). This is her second foal.
- Lot 126, a half-brother to the black-type performer Alchemia (NZ) (Per Incanto).
PER INCANTO
A prolific source of winners, Per Incanto will stand for a $50,000 service fee at Little Avondale Stud next spring.
The son of Street Cry has sired 91 winners since August 1 – a list topped by Belclare (NZ), who won the Group One New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (1600m) for the second year in a row. Gringotts (NZ) joined the black-type list with a recent win in Brisbane, while Jimmysstar (NZ), Rue De Royale (NZ), Semper Magico (NZ), Lightning Jack (NZ), Charms Star (NZ), Duke Wai (NZ) and Little Brose have all been stakes-placed.
Recognising the deeds of the likes of Melbourne Group One sprinting star Roch ‘N’ Horse (NZ), buyers have elevated the average price for Per Incanto yearlings to $182,978 across the last two Book 1 sessions at Karaka. His weanlings have averaged $50,375 during the same period.
Per Incanto is the sire of three lots in the National Weanling Sale catalogue. Among them is Lot 102, whose second dam is a three-quarter-sister to the dam of multiple Group One winner and Australian Horse of the Year Typhoon Tracy (Red Ransom).
SATONO ALADDIN
A missed season of shuttling during COVID-19 has restricted Satono Aladdin to only two crops of racing age in New Zealand so far, but the Rich Hill Stud sensation has wasted no time in making his mark. His service fee has risen to $65,000 for 2024.
Those two New Zealand-conceived crops have produced 38 winners from 83 runners, headed by dual Group One Oaks heroine Pennyweka (NZ) and fellow Group winners Lantern Way (NZ), Sacred Satono (NZ), Tokyo Tycoon (NZ), Still Bangon (NZ), Lupo Solitario (NZ) and Raf Attack (NZ).
Satono Aladdin’s return to the sires’ index was enthusiastically welcomed at Karaka 2024 earlier this year, finishing Book 1 with an average of $234,643. His weanlings at the 2023 National Weanling Sale averaged $53,333.
The 2024 National Weanling Sale features eight progeny of Satono Aladdin, including:
- Lot 25, a filly whose dam is a half-sister to the multiple Group One-winning 2017 Weanling Sale graduate Callsign Mav (NZ) (Atlante).
- Lot 70, a half-brother to the Listed winner (She’s A) Treasure (NZ) (Mastercraftsman) and is closely related to Group One winners Mo’unga (NZ) (Savabeel) and Chenille (NZ) (Pentire), along with this season’s stakes-winning and undefeated two-year-old Super Photon (NZ) (Super Seth).
- Lot 85, whose dam is a three-quarter-sister to the Group One Australian Derby (2400m) hero Jon Snow (NZ) (Iffraaj).
TARZINO
Stepping into the void left by his late father Tavistock (NZ), Westbury Stud’s Tarzino (NZ) has quickly racked up a career total of 70 winners and will stand for a $20,000 service fee this season.
Tarzino’s 41 winners this season include Group Two Autumn Classic (1800m) winner Immediacy (NZ), along with exciting three-year-old filly Tomodachi (NZ) and fellow three-race winners Star Ballot (NZ) and Akrotiri (NZ). Kind Thoughts (NZ) has made a big impression with two wins and two placings from five starts, while Wallen (NZ) has recorded two wins and five placings in an eight-start career and captured the inaugural $350,000 Sir Patrick Hogan Karapiro Classic (1600m) in February.
Tarzino had no weanlings catalogued for this sale last year, but buyers will have the choice of eight in the 2024 catalogue, including:
- Lot 23, a half-brother to Dream Queen (NZ) (Super Easy), who won three of her seven starts including the Listed William Crockett Stakes (1200m) at Moonee Valley.
- Lot 41, a half-brother to four winners including the Listed Canterbury Belle Stakes (1200m) placegetter Woodcote Lass (NZ) (Showcasing).
All weanlings offered in the National Weanling Sale are eligible to be nominated for NZB’s lucrative Karaka Millions Series. Graduates can compete in the $1m TAB Karaka Millions 2YO (1200m), followed by the $1.5m TAB Karaka Millions 3YO (1600m), as well as the new $1m Mega Maiden Series comprising of 40 non-Saturday maiden races located throughout New Zealand.
Selling is set to take place at the Karaka Sales Centre from 11am (NZT) on Thursday 20 June.
