12 Dec 2008
New Zealand’s leading thoroughbred stud owner Sir Patrick Hogan has warned vendors to go into the 2009 yearling sales series at Karaka with a conservative approach on prices.
“I think vendors need to be conservative with their approach to the reserves they put on their yearlings at the upcoming sales,” Sir Patrick said.
“The downturn in the world economy has seen yearling prices fall in the Northern Hemisphere this year and undoubtedly this will have an effect on the southern hemisphere sales as well,” he said.
“However, I believe that if vendors go into the sales with realistic reserves then they could be in for a pleasant surprise because the buyers will react accordingly,” he said. “We (vendors) must give buyers the opportunity to buy the product and not have our expectations too high. Having a good clearance race of horses will be vitally important for the success of the sales.”
Sir Patrick believes a combination of factors will help the Karaka yearling sales to maintain a healthy market in 2009.
Importantly the sale catalogue for the Premier Sale and Select Sale at Karaka is described by Sir Patrick as the best overall line-up of yearlings on paper he has ever seen go through a New Zealand sale ring.
Another is the high degree of success enjoyed by New Zealand-bred horses in Australia, Asia and South Africa in the past 12 months. “Our horses have punched well above their weight on the international scene in the past year,” he said.
The other factor is that buyers only get one opportunity to buy all of the top yearlings in New Zealand in one sale and that is at Karaka in January.
“Once the Karaka sales are over there is not another opportunity in New Zealand to buy such a collective group of top yearlings in the one place,” he said.
Sir Patrick said buyers have also come to realize that New Zealand offers the most genuine yearling sale in Australasia. “We have far fewer buybacks at the Karaka sales than they do at the major yearling sales in Australia.
Sir Patrick has observed in the past couple of years an encouraging trend of buyers to be leaning back towards the classic weight-for-age type of horse for their purchases at the yearling sales. “They are realizing that there is a lot more money to be won from these middle distance horses over many seasons than a 2-year-old only type which has a limited racing span.”
“New Zealand Bloodstock and its team have as usual put in a sterling effort into marketing the Karaka sales on a worldwide basis and I’m sure as a result of this vendors can feel confident that a satisfactory result will be achieved,” said Sir Patrick.
Sir Patrick’s Cambridge Stud has committed to sell its entire 71-strong draft of yearlings for 2009 at Karaka. The Premier Sale gets underway on January 26 and concludes on January 27 and is then followed by the Select and Festival Sales.
Cambridge Stud, which has been the leading vendor at the Karaka yearling sales for the past 27 years, will offer 30 blueblood colts and 30 blueblood fillies in the Premier Sale and has 11 entries in the Select Sale comprising 9 fillies and 2 colts.