Hong Kong and Chinese buyers dominate Ready to Run Sale

[Wandering Eyes]

Buyers from Hong Kong and mainland China were an unstoppable force on the second day of the New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale at Karaka on Thursday.

Picking up where they left off at the end of Wednesday’s opening session, Hong Kong and Chinese buyers combined to purchase 57 horses on Thursday for a total of more than $13 million.

That haul included all of Thursday’s four highest-priced lots, including a sale-topping colt by Zoustar out of the stakes-winning Hussonet mare Hijack Hussy.

Offered by Kit Brooks’ KB Bloodstock as Lot 374, the colt was bought by prolific purchaser Kin Man Yeung for $825,000.

“Mr Yeung has a very nice Zoustar in Hong Kong (Patch Of Theta) who’s placed at Group level, so he was looking for another Zoustar and he loved this one,” bloodstock agent Willie Leung said.

“He looks big and strong and is an early type, so it is likely that we’ll bring him to Hong Kong early.”

The sale-topping colt was one of 16 purchases for Yeung, who took leading buyer honours at the Ready to Run Sale for the third year in a row. He spent a total of $3.57 million across Wednesday and Thursday.

Mr & Mrs Wong Kwun Keong, Mr & Mrs Yeung Kin Man and Mr & Mrs Manfred Man at Karaka this week
Photo: Angelique Bridson

“Mr Yeung enjoys the sale very much, because the first year we got two winners and they have won nine races, which was a good result,” Leung said.

“And last year we bought more and we already are about to bring 10 new horses to Hong Kong. He wanted to stock up a little bit more and then pick the quality ones to go to Hong Kong for racing.”

Yeung’s first leading buyer title came in 2023, when he bought 12 horses for a total of $2.46 million. He followed that up with 24 purchases last year for $4.99 million.

James Cummings paid $775,000 on Thursday for Lot 371, a Written Tycoon colt from the Prima Park draft. The colt is a half-brother to My Whisper, the winner of the Gr.3 Tesio Stakes (1600m), Gr.3 Summoned Stakes (1600m) and Gr.3 Auraria Stakes (1800m) and placegetter in the Gr.1 Australasian Oaks (2000m).

Lot 371, a colt by Written Tycoon purchased by James Cummings for $775,000
Photo: Angelique Bridson

This week marked the first visit to Karaka in close to a decade for Cummings, who is building ammunition as he prepares to join Hong Kong’s training ranks for the 2026-27 season.

Cummings came away from the sale with three purchases for a total of $1.43 million. As well as his $775,000 Written Tycoon colt, he also bought a Bivouac gelding for $425,000 and an Exceedance gelding for $230,000.

“I haven’t been here since early 2017, so it’s good to be back and seeing some familiar faces,” said Cummings, who won over 50 Group One races during an eight-year tenure as Godolphin’s head trainer in Australia.

“This is a very good sale. It’s a good set-up and there’s lots of clients here from Hong Kong. It’s definitely a hunting ground, and a happy one at that, for good quality Hong Kong gallopers.”

Shijiazhuang Hongtao Horse Breeding went to $700,000 to secure Trelawney Stud’s Per Incanto colt that was catalogued as Lot 398, while Hongwei Chen paid the same price for Lot 283, BMD Bloodstock’s colt by Hello Youmzain out of Cool Tart.

That strong Hong Kong and Chinese market underpinned an enormously successful sale, which achieved an aggregate of over $41 million for the first time in the Ready to Run Sale’s history. Hong Kong buyers alone accounted for more than $17 million of that amount.

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