New Zealand Bloodstock has assembled one of its largest ever National Weanling, Broodmare & Mixed Bloodstock Sale catalogues on May 2 – 4.

There’s a melting pot of breeding, racing and pin-hooking opportunities with 817 entries.

The Sale gets underway with the weanling session of 370 entries.  It looks primed to build on the excellent opportunities buyers were offered in 2010 when weanlings averaged only $11,388.  Many of those were weanlings pin-hooked for the 2011 Karaka Yearling Sales and they provided substantial returns for investors.

Among the pin-hooking highlights at Karaka 2011 was the Iffraaj colt which was bought for $40,000 by Anistay Lodge from the 2010 May Sale (Lot 367). 

The colt was offered by Anistay Lodge at the 2011 Karaka Premier Sale and purchased by the Melbourne Cup winning trainer Mark Kavanagh for $300,000.

Buyers looking to emulate these results will have a lot to look forward to, including from these highlights:

Six weanlings by Australasian super-sire High Chaparral.

Lot 33 – Savabeel three-quarter-brother to tG1 Cox Plate winner Maldivian (Zabeel).

Lot 14 – Half-sister to G1 winner Kristov (Lot 14 by Hawkeye).

Lot 303 – Duelled half-brother to G1 winner The Mighty Lions (Grosvenor).

Lot 315 – Encosta de Lago half-brother to G1 winner Sir Slick (Volksraad).

Lot 321 – Viking Ruler filly from a winning half-sister to the dam of G1 winners Headturner (Anabaa), Anacheeva (Anabaa) and G2 winner Kroner (Viking Ruler).

Lot 366 – One of 12 entries by Iffraaj.  He is from a half-sister to G1 winner Russian Pearl (Soviet Star).

In addition to proven sires Keeper, No Excuse Needed, O’Reilly, Pentire, Pins, Stravinsky, Thorn Park, Towkay and Volksraad, first season sires Alamosa, Eighth Wonder, El Hermano, Fully Fledged, Guillotine, Murtajill, Mutawaajid, Rios, Sakhee’s Secret and Sir Percy will have their initial foals at Karaka.