Mark Newnham is four strong for Sunday’s Classic Mile at Sha Tin and hopes his squad of Invincible Ibis, Infinite Resolve, Crimson Flash and Winfield can get the job done as he goes for back-to-back wins.
My Wish provided Newnham with his breakout Hong Kong victory 12 months ago and after a stellar campaign that has seen him rise through the grades, Invincible Ibis looks to be his biggest chance of repeating the dose.
Beaten off a rating of 55 for his opening run of the campaign in September...View the full article
I presume you mean sellers? That would be impossible to accurately work out unless you knew the individual circumstances of each breeder and their costs.
The invercargill club would named the race,not hrnz. I think lots of clubs name races acknowledging peoples contributions. But yeah,many don't get the recognition they deserve.
The final session of NZB’s 100th National Yearling Sale took place at Karaka on Thursday, with a strong inaugural Karaka Summer Sale.
112 yearlings sold for a total aggregate of more than $3.4 million at an average of $30,612. Six lots sold for $100,000 or more which added to a solid clearance rate of 81%.
NZB Managing Director Andrew Seabrook was elated for all those involved in the historic week.
“To sum it up, this week we’ve turned over $9.6 million more than last year, with 79 less horses catalogued.”
“We’re just over the moon, seeing these results from the new format.
“The Karaka Summer Sale today was one of the strongest sessions, almost matching Book 2 results from last year.
“It’s just been a phenomenal week all around, celebrating such a big milestone in New Zealand thoroughbred history, and returning almost $96 million back to breeders.
“Our vendors have done an incredible job presenting their yearlings, our buyers supporting the Sale so well and our whole NZB team who have all contributed to its success.
“We’re looking forward to the demand for our yearlings continuing to our Online Yearling Sale, where of course the outstanding filly Well Written was purchased from.”
The top lot of the day came when first time vendor Stew McGregor offered his sole yearling. The colt by emerging sire Armory out of Satono Aladdin mare Hanako (Lot 958), was knocked down to John Foote Bloodstock for $130,000.
Westbury Stud were leading vendors & their resident stallion Redwood was leading sire. Pictured: Lot 958 Photo: supplied
“We’re so, so thrilled,” commented an emotional McGregor.
“To have that amount of people and trainers come through and inspect him, it’s really neat. We hope he’s got an exciting future for us to follow.”
The well-known Waikato Hunt member praised his surrounding stud farms for all their help.
“Dean Hawkins, Windsor Park Stud and others around me have been instrumental in helping me along the way,” added McGregor.
“It’s a team sport, alright.”
The leading vendor by aggregate and average for the Karaka Summer Sale was Westbury Stud who sold seven lots for $432,000 at an average of $61,714.
The leading buyer at the end of selling of the final session was Victorian trainer Patrick Payne, having purchased three lots for $236,000. This included Lot 938, a colt for $100,000 out of the leading sire of the session in Redwood.
All yearlings purchased are eligible for the Karaka Millions Series featuring the $1m TAB Karaka Millions 2YO (1200m), followed by the $1.5m TAB Karaka Millions 3YO (1600m) as well as the NZB Mega Maiden Bonus Series with $1m in bonuses up for grabs across 40 maiden races each season. The Karaka Summer Sale is further boosted by a $200,000 Karaka Millions bonus. For the first Karaka Summer Sale graduate home in both the 2027 $1m TAB Karaka Millions 2YO and 2028 $1.5m TAB Karaka Millions 3YO, $100,000 will be split evenly between the vendor and purchaser for each race. Entries close Monday 2 March 2026.
To enquire about Passed Lots from the Karaka Summer Sale contact Patrick Cunningham on +64 21 181 5898 or email Patrick.Cunningham@nzb.co.nz, or Andrew Buick on +64 27 555 0640 or email Andrew.Buick@nzb.co.nz.
Attention now turns to the National Online Yearling Sale, where superstar filly Well Written (Written Tycoon) was purchased for $80,000. Set to take place on Gavelhouse Plus, with bidding closing from 6pm on 14 April. Entries open early February via NZB’s portal.
View the full Karaka Summer Sale results here. Catch the highlights and Lot-by-Lot footage from the Karaka Summer Sale here.
2026 SALE SCHEDULE
National Online Yearling Sale 14 April on Gavelhouse Plus
National Weanling Sale 25 June at Karaka
NZB Ready to Run Sale of 2YOs 18 & 19 November at Karaka
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Respected international bloodstock agent John Foote has been attending the National Yearling Sale in New Zealand for over 50 years, and he returned to Karaka for the historic 100th National Yearling Sale this week.
The Queensland-based agent was active across all three Books at Karaka, purchasing 14 lots in total.
His final purchase was a colt by Armory catalogued as Lot 958 out of the Satono Aladdin mare Hanako, beautifully prepared by Putaruru vendor Stew McGregor.
Lot 958 Armory – Hanako Colt led by vendor Stew McGregor. Photo: Trish Dunell
Foote paid $130,000 for the colt, which was the highest price of Thursday’s inaugural Karaka Summer Sale.
“He’s a lovely big three-year-old type,” Foote said. “He’s a lovely moving horse with plenty of him. His pedigree’s quite good when you go back into it, being from the family of Zirna and the three-time Hong Kong winner Super Football.
“I just took to him, so we bought him.”
Foote has been impressed with the progeny of Armory, who also had a pair of colts sell for $65,000 each on Thursday and had progeny sell for up to $625,000 at the Ready to Run Sale in November. The Mapperley Stud stallion’s oldest progeny are two-year-olds, and he has already been represented by early winner Silhouette.
“There was one sold earlier for about $65,000 that was with Little Avondale, which was a nice horse and I saw a few last year that I liked as well, so I have liked a good few of them,” Foote said.
Foote’s other Summer Sale purchase on Thursday was Lot 951, a Redwood colt from the draft of Westbury Stud. Foote paid $100,000 for the son of the Sebring mare Florid Affair, who won two races and is the dam of winners Part Time Lover, Mossfair, Ornate and Bid In A Hurry.
Lot 951 Rewood – Florid Affair Colt. Photo: Trish Dunell
“Russell Warwick told me about six weeks ago, ‘I’ve got one horse for you to buy, and you’ve got to buy it,’” Foote said. “He said it’s the best horse he’s bred for a long time. So we’ll see.”
Both Summer Sale colts, along with the majority of Foote’s dozen other purchases for the week, are destined for Hong Kong.
Following on from record-breaking results in the Book 1 and Book 2 sessions, the brand-new Summer Sale achieved an aggregate of $3.43 million, an average price of $31,000, a median of $20,000 and a clearance rate of 81 percent.
“It’s an improvement on the old Festival Sale and Book 3,” Foote said. “There are a lot of horses here that could have been in Book 2. We have been quite impressed with the standard here.”
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