A Headwater colt that made Top 10 at the NZB Ready to Run Sale this week is destined for Hong Kong.
The Vinery sire’s 2yo from Raischek (Mossman) sold for $300,000 after Graham Richardson outlasted fellow agent Dean Hawthorne at Karaka on Wednesday. He was one of several high-priced purchases for Richardson who was acting for a very loyal client in Hong Kong.
“He’s a lovely colt,” Richardson said. “I’ve been buying horses at this Sale for years and have had a lot of luck. It has been a nervous time but now I’m absolutely chuffed for everyone here.”
Raischek is owned by Vinery partner Alan Green and her Headwater colt had been pin-hooked for $80,000 from Vinery’s draft to the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale in February. He breezed 11.07s on Day 2 of the Te Rapa Breeze Ups in October.
Regal Farm’s Shane Crawford prepared the colt for the 2YO Sale and thought $300,000 wasn’t unrealistic. “It rained the night before Day 2 and they weren’t going to run any lower 10s times like Day 1,” he reasoned. “He’s full of quality and we had him on the market at $160,000, so that was a great result from a small draft.”
Raischek has a yearling colt by All Too Hard and a filly foal by Press Statement. She’s a sister to Adelaide Group 1 sprinter Stirling Grove and their dam Kalamata (Desert Prince) was a Stakes winner in New Zealand
Headwater (Exceed And Excel) and Spill The Beans topped the Australian freshman winners table in 2019-20 and their progeny are neck-and-neck with 15 winners this season chasing Pride Of Dubai (18).
A speedy son of Star Turn from Delirious (All Bar One) was purchased by agent Bevan Smith for $130,000 on behalf of Singapore based Al Rashid Stables. He was one of those clocked in the lower 10s at Te Rapa.
The Star Turns sold to $250,000 at the Inglis Ready2Race Sale last month and his sale topper was a $250,000 colt targeted by Wattle Bloodstock’s Peter Twomey for a client of Hong Kong trainer Caspar Fownes.
Star Turn has first-crop filly Galaxy Cat entered for the Crystal Slipper Stakes (1100m) at Ascot on Saturday. Her rivals include Headwater debutante Heavenly Waters who breezed home by three lengths in an Albany trial last month.
More Than Ready (USA) had a Kilgravin Lodge graduate sell for $200,000 to Beamish Bloodstock at Karaka. The gelding is a half-brother to the Foxwedge stakes performers Into the Abyss and Aghna.
NZ Bloodstock reported 31% of total turnover was secured from international buyers using its new online bidding platform over the two-day Sale. The overall average rose 4% to $95,349 off a clearance rate of 77%.
