Ready to Run Sale going from strength to strength

[Wandering Eyes]

The retirement of Hong Kong megastar Golden Sixty has done nothing to slow the momentum of NZB’s Ready to Run Sale, with buyers from across Australasia and Asia converging on Karaka for the two-day sale on Wednesday and Thursday.

Billed as the best sale of its kind anywhere in the world, the Ready to Run Sale has produced a long list of big-race performers headed by the great Golden Sixty. Bought for $300,000 from Riversley Park’s draft in 2017, he went on to win 26 of his 31 starts including 10 Group One triumphs. He broke Hong Kong’s all-time prizemoney record with more than HK$167 million (NZ$34 million).

While Golden Sixty was retired from racing earlier this year, the Ready to Run Sale has remained in the spotlight with a series of Group One wins in Australia this spring. Ceolwulf has risen to stardom with back-to-back victories in the Gr.1 Epsom Handicap (1600m) and Gr.1 King Charles III Stakes (1600m), while Antino won the Gr.1 Toorak Handicap (1600m) and Mr Brightside and Antino delivered a one-two finish for the Ready to Run Sale in this month’s Gr.1 Champions Mile (1600m) at Flemington.

Notably, both the legendary Golden Sixty and new kid on the block Ceolwulf are graduates of Riversley Park. Ceolwulf was bought for $170,000 by trainer Joe Pride and part-owner Leighton Howl in 2022.

Riversley Park has been the Ready to Run Sale’s leading vendor by aggregate for all of the last seven years. Sam Beatson’s operation looms as a major player again this week with 45 two-year-olds set to go through the ring.

“With Golden Sixty’s amazing career coming to an end, it’s been exciting to see another of our graduates step up and start performing on the big stage the way Ceolwulf has,” Beatson said.

“Coming back as a four-year-old this spring, with Joe Pride dropping back to the mile after he performed up to 2400m at three, he’s done a great job to win a couple of big Group One races and beat quality horses like Pride Of Jenni and Fangirl. He’s exciting.

“We’ve got another decent-sized draft this year with 45 for sale, and I think it’s a pretty even group. We should have a horse for all sorts of markets. I think it’s a very even line-up for such a big number.

“We had even conditions at Te Rapa across the two days of breeze-ups, which is a big help, and I thought our horses all put their best foot forward and breezed up really well.”

A notable member of the Riversley draft is Lot 88. The colt is by three-time champion Hong Kong sire Deep Field, while his unraced dam My Goodness is a half-sister to dual Hong Kong Horse of the Year Fairy King Prawn.

“The Deep Field and Fairy King Prawn factors have created a fair bit of Hong Kong interest in that horse,” Beatson said. “He’s a lovely looking colt and has a lot going for him. He’s been very popular and very busy here at the complex, and with many of the Hong Kong buyers only making their way over here after Sunday’s races, I’m expecting that to increase.

“Another member of the draft that I really like is the Proisir gelding, who I think has a lot of quality.”

Catalogued as Lot 79, the Proisir gelding is a full-brother to this season’s Gr.3 Northland Breeders’ Stakes (1200m) fourth placegetter Vegas Queen. His dam is a half-sister to the dam of the A$3 million The Big Dance (1600m) winner Gringotts, while second dam Operavega is a half-sister to the dam of the legendary Winx.

“But overall, it’s a very even draft and hard to pick standouts,” Beatson said. “Out of the 45, I think we’ve got at least 40 very nice horses. That’s a good position to be in.”

Beatson’s cousin Jamie finished second on the vendors’ list last year under the Ohukia Lodge banner that he operates with his wife Chanel.

Ohukia is back again with a 26-strong draft this year that Jamie Beatson holds in extremely high regard.

“I think it’s probably the nicest draft we’ve ever brought to this sale, and by quite a bit actually,” he said. “It was a nice draft last year too, but this year we’ve got a lot of real quality horses.”

A potential headline act is Lot 372, who is a full-brother to this spring’s Gr.2 Bobbie Lewis Quality (1200m) and Listed Regal Roller Stakes (1200m) winner Arkansaw Kid.

“Arksansaw Kid has done a great job this spring with his Group Two and Listed wins in Melbourne,” Beatson said. “His brother is an absolute belter, he’s a standout. We paid A$300,000 for him as a yearling, so we put a bit of faith in him. But we’ve always had a huge opinion of him.

“We’ve also got a Zoustar (Lot 304) that breezed up really nicely. He’s a sharp horse and he’s really shown us a heap of ability. He’s a natural.

“There’s also Lot 190, the Deep Field, who breezed up beautifully as well.”

Eion and Megan Kemp’s Kilgravin Lodge had an amazing Ready to Run Sale last November, finishing as leading vendors by average. Their 16 two-year-olds sold for an average of just over $300,000, headed by an $800,000 colt by Harry Angel.

“It was one of those sales you only dream about,” Eoin Kemp said. “All the stars aligned and it really couldn’t have gone any better. It was a ripper of a sale in general, and for us it was a very special couple of days.”

The Kemps have watched with pride as that draft embarked on their racing careers. There have already been four winners, headed by the Super Seth gelding Feroce, whose seven-start career has produced two wins, a desperately close second in the Gr.1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m) and a third in the Gr.3 Carbine Club Stakes (1600m).

Feroce was a $160,000 purchase and has quickly turned that into more than A$700,000 in stakes.

“Several of our graduates from last year have already come out and performed on the track, obviously headed by what Feroce did in that Caulfield Guineas,” Kemp said. “He was a little bit unlucky there and we almost thought he had it won, but it was a terrific performance anyway.”

Kilgravin will offer another well-credentialled draft of just over 30 at this year’s sale.

“We’re really happy with them,” Kemp said. “They’ve all come through their preparations and the breeze-ups well, and they’re parading nicely on the complex.

“I think we’ve got most markets covered, both sire-wise and type-wise. We have some very nice top-end horses for the Hong Kong and Australian markets, but also some very nice prospects for the middle and lower markets as well, which I think is important.

“A couple of standouts for me would be the Deep Field (Lot 21) and the Harry Angel (Lot 306). They’re probably two of the nicest colts we’re offering. But there wouldn’t be many in our draft that I’d write off. Across the board, they’re a very nice group of horses.”

Mark and Lorraine Forbes’ Kiltannon Stables will offer a select group of just under a dozen. There is particular buzz around Lot 174, who is a colt by champion Australian sire I Am Invincible out of the elite racemare Shillelagh.

Herself the winner of the Gr.1 Cantala Stakes (1600m) and Gr.1 Empire Rose Stakes (1600m) at Flemington, Shillelagh’s only foal to race so far is last season’s unlucky Gr.3 Mufhasa Stakes (1400m) placegetter Irish Legacy.

Lot 174 was a star performer in last month’s breeze-ups, clocking the fastest time across the two days with a slick 9.97 seconds. The second-fastest was 10.06 seconds.

“That one in particular really impressed us on breeze-up day,” Lorraine Forbes told NZB. “But we’ve got a couple of other really nice colts and also some lovely fillies that we’re hoping will attract the Australian market. The success of Ready to Run horses over there at the moment has been encouraging.”

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