A striking Pins colt topped the NZB South Island 2YO Sale at Karaka on Friday.

Presented by Phoenix Park, the colt made $50,000 to the bid of Joe Barnes of J & I Bloodstock.  “I came down to specifically to buy this horse for Hong Kong,” Barnes said.  “They love Pins up there and this one ticks all the boxes.”

The sale-topper is out of the 2006 NZB Southern Filly of the Year Series winner Ombre Rose and is bred on the Waikato Stud cross of Pins over O’Reilly that has proven so successful in the past.

South Island sire Raise the Flag led the fillies with a $40,000 graduate from Emerald Fire (Honor Grades).  Offered by White Robe Lodge, where Raise the Flag is based, she is a half-sister to feature winners Inferno (Yamanin Vital) and Ortem Fire (Gallant Guru),

Agent John Foote purchased the filly for clients of leading Victorian trainer Darren Weir Racing.  “She had the best pedigree in the catalogue and I like Raise the Flag,” Foote said.  “He is leaving good types and I was taken by a few he had in the Festival Sale this year.”

This year’s catalogue saw 84 Lots go under the hammer with an aggregate of $592,400 at an average price of $10,041.  The clearance rate rose 6 points to 78%.

The leading vendor by aggregate was White Robe Lodge selling 6 lots for a total of $91,700, with their resident sire Raise the Flag the leading sire by average (two or more sold) with 3 of his progeny selling for an average price of $21,667.

The leading vendor on average was Janine Dunlop’s Phoenix Park for the second year in a row with 3 sold for an average of $25,333 including the top-priced Pins colt.

The leading purchaser for the Sale was J & I Bloodstock buying 3 lots at an average of $22,667.