8 Mar 2022We enjoyed a great run with the progeny of Almanzor on the second day of New Zealand Bloodstock’s Book 1 Sale at Karaka, including a stand-out mid-afternoon result.
Our colt offered as Lot 333 attracted an opening bid of $100,000 with numerous suitors then chasing him and it was respected bloodstock agent Bruce Perry who got in the final blow at $675,000.
“He is a lovely horse and very pleased to have secured him, we paid plenty of money but knew we would probably have to pay that to get him,” Perry said.
“I bought him for Sam Kelt off the back of him winning the Derby with Asterix. We looked at a lot of horses the last few days and this colt was my main pick for him and was Sam’s pick as well so everything fell into line.”
Perry was immediately taken when he inspected the son of Almanzor at a farm parade and a follow up visit at the sale ground confirmed his first opinion.
“I saw him at the farm a month ago and I know the family well. He’s a beautifully athletic horse with a great temperament and he looks like a runner,” he said.
The colt is the second foal of the Showcasing mare Its Our Showtime, whose first is a So You Think filly that sold for A$220,000 at last year’s Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale to Busuttin Racing and Clarke Bloodstock.
The dam, who had a Merchant Navy colt in 2021, is a half-sister to the G1 Railway Stakes and G2 Blamey Stakes winner Inspirational Girl and the stakes winner Ruettiger.
Cambridge trainers Roger James and Robert Wellwood were also in the hunt for an Almanzor youngster and they were successful early on in the session in their pursuit of Lot 225.
They went to $240,000 for the filly, who is a half-sister to our multiple winner and Group performer Familia.
They are out of the winning High Chaparral mare Enjay and she is a half-sister to Rolling Pin, successful in the G2 Shannon Stakes and third in the G1 Epsom Handicap.
Another Cambridge-based horseman in Stephen Marsh wasn’t going to be denied on Lot 324 and secured the Almanzor colt, whose dam is the Galileo mare I Presume, for $220,000.
She is a three-quarter sister to the G2 Princess of Wales’s Stakes winner Doctor Freemantle, who later came to New Zealand and finished third in the G1 Zabeel Classic.
An Almanzor filly boasting a speedy pedigree went to the $180,000 bid of Michael Otto Bloodstock.
Lot 317 is out of the unraced Big Brown mare Infliction and she is a daughter of the Not A Single Doubt mare Karuta Queen.
She was a precocious type who won four on the bounce as a two-year-old, including the Magic Millions 2YO Classic, and finished runner-up in the G1 William Reid Stakes.
Our son of U S Navy Flag, Lot 373, was also a popular individual and was knocked down to Hong Kong buyer YK Lau for $160,000.
The colt is a half-brother to three winners, including black-type performer Divine Power, with their dam the Zabeel mare Lazaan.