This year's NZB Ready to Run Sale features two-year-olds by 123 high-quality sires, including those whose progeny have shone brightly on Australasian racetracks so far this season.
The leading New Zealand sire through the first two months of the new season has been Savabeel , who also made a clean sweep of the New Zealand sire awards in 2015-16. Leading Savabeel's charge so far in 2016-17 is his son Kawi (NZ), the dominant winner of both the Group 1 Makfi Challenge Stakes and the Group 1 Windsor Park Plate.
Savabeel is the sire of 11 Group 1 winners overall, including this year's A$4 million Queen Elizabeth Stakes heroine Lucia Valentina (NZ), and he will be represented by 13two-year-olds at this year's Sale.
Hot sire Iffraaj has been getting the job done in the southern hemisphere this year, with Turn Me Loose (NZ) racking up Group 1 success in Melbourne.
The sire of this year's Karaka Million winner Xiong Feng (NZ), Iffraaj has 11 two-year-olds catalogued for the Sale.
Darci Brahma is third on this season's New Zealand sires' premiership with 14 individual winners so far, plus the Group 1-placed Rasa Lila (NZ). Darci Brahma is a graduate of the Karaka sale ring himself and will be represented by 10 Ready to Run two-year-olds.
Young guns Tavistock and Per Incanto have a strong representation in the catalogue with 22 two-year-olds featuring by sire sensation Tavistock while Per Incanto has 14 of his offspring featured. Per Incanto's stars so far this season include the dual Group Two winner Saracino (NZ), while Tavistock has had several winners in the opening two months as well as the Group 1-placed Hasselhoof (NZ).
The leading sire in Australia this season is Snitzel, whose progeny have already amassed more than A$2 million through the first two months of 2016-17. The best of his 40 winners, including six at stakes level, is the unbeaten Group 2 Roman Consul Stakes winner Russian Revolution.
Snitzel sired an incredible 30 individual two-year-old winners last season, equalling a record that had stood for 40 years. The son of Redoute's Choice has four two-year-olds catalogued for this year's Sale.
Second on the Australian list is the deceased champion sire Street Cry , who has made headlines around the world through the likes of Zenyatta , Shocking , Street Sense and the current superstar mare Winx. Street Cry features with one two-year-old at the Ready to Run Sale.
The Australian top five at the moment is rounded out by Not a Single Doubt (two horses in the Ready to Run catalogue), Exceed and Excel (one) and High Chaparral (four). Exceed and Excel has sired the winners of all three Australian juvenile races this season, all at Listed level.
International champion Fastnet Rock was to the fore on the racetrack yet again last weekend with the runaway five-length Group 2 Hawke's Bay Guineas success of Mongolian Falcon . The sire of 24 Group 1 winners including last season's Champion New Zealand Two-Year-Old Heroic Valour (NZ), Fastnet Rock has two two-year-olds catalogued for the Sale.
Medaglia d'Oro is the sire of the undefeated American super-filly Songbird and Hall of Fame galloper Rachel Alexandra , plus Golden Slipper winner Vancouver , Golden Rose hero Astern and many more. He has four two-year-olds in this year's catalogue.
Himself a sensational two-year-old and Golden Slipper winner, Sebring has become a star sire as well with the likes of multiple Group 1 winners Dissident and Criterion (NZ). He will be represented by seven two-year-olds.
The late, great O'Reilly was a headline act at last year's Sale, siring the $525,000 top lot. The sire of 12 Group 1 winners including Sacred Falls (NZ) and Silent Achiever (NZ), O'Reilly has 14 two-year-olds at this year's Sale.
So You Think was a global champion galloper with five Group 1 wins to his credit in Australia, including two Cox Plates, and another five Group 1 victories in the United Kingdom and Ireland. He has already made an impression at stud with Group 2 winner Gold Rush (NZ) in his first crop, and he has sired a two-year-old winner this season in Global Thinking . He has two two-year-olds in this year's catalogue.
Other sires with progeny in the Sale include Alamosa, All Too Hard, Americain, Animal Kingdom, Choisir, Encosta De Lago, Foxwedge, Hinchinbrook, I Am Invincible, Jimmy Choux, Keeper, Makfi, Manhattan Rain, Pentire, Pierro, Pins, Pour Moi, Redoute's Choice, Shocking, Showcasing, Smart Missile, Swiss Ace, Starspangledbanner, Stryker and Zacinto.
The 2016 NZB Ready to Run Sale catalogue has attracted 552 two-year-olds.
Every horse entered in the Sale has the opportunity to Breeze Up with the last 200m of their work filmed and timed. Breeze-Ups are set to be conducted at Te Rapa Racecourse on 17 & 18 October.
New Zealand Bloodstock's Ready to Run Sale will be held on 16 & 17 November 2016 with selling starting at 10am each day.
To view New Zealand Bloodstock's Ready to Run Sale catalogue online, click here.
To request a catalogue or Breeze Up DVD please email receptionist Faye Hunt at reception@nzb.co.nzor call +64 (0)9 298 0055. For further information please visit www.nzb.co.nz.
