Rock of Gibraltar mare Quatro fetched top price of $80,000 at the NZB National Sale at Karaka on Tuesday.

Wellfield Lodge owner Bill Gleeson bought the session-topper from Blandford Lodge and will send her to Alamosa this year.  “First and foremost, she’s a stunning mare and a super type with a good Australian-based pedigree that we liked,” Gleeson said.  “We’ve found there’s tremendous value at Karaka if you do your homework.

“We’ve been buying a number of mares that are going to suit our stallions including recent purchases of Shez Sinsational and Fantastic Honour and are fortunate to have a number of clients supporting this process and our stallions.”

Quatro is a daughter of G1 AJC Oaks winner My Brilliant Star (Copper Kingdom) and is a half-sister to G1 Toorak Handicap winner Shot of Thunder (Thunder Gulch).

The leading vendor of the broodmare session by aggregate and average was Blandford Lodge with 10 broodmares sold for $278,900 led by Quatro who was offered on behalf of Sir Owen Glenn.

“We had quality horses that appealed to the buyers,” commented Blandford’s Graham Bax.  “When combined with good conformation and pedigrees, buyers tended to go that extra mile to secure them.”

Tuesday’s trade saw 136 mares sell for $1.16 million at a clearance rate of 79%.  The average rose 26% to $8,603 and the median saw an impressive increase of 108% to $3,325.