The NZB National Yearling Sale Series gets underway at Karaka on Sunday January 29, so we’ve gone looking for a few standout yearlings in Book 1 to catch our eye bred on ‘nicks that click’.
You don’t see many grey yearlings by Golden Slipper winning sire Pierro, but Cambridge Stud will offer one and it’s Lot 214, colt from Gracious Grey, a winning three-quarter sister to Group II winner Positive Peace and daughter of grey stakes-winner Warpath.
The Pierro x Redoute’s Choice nick has generated great stats with 16% SW to runner and nine stakes-winners bred this way including Group I winners Arcadia Queen, Levendi and Regal Power.
Champion sire Savabeel has worked so well with a number of sires, but one of his most potent nicks is with Flying Spur and Milan Park will present the only filly bred this way in Lot 534, a Savabeel filly from Sombreuil.
She is the third foal of a winning daughter of Group II winner Te Akau Rose from the family of Group I winner and promising sire Brutal and the Savabeel x Flying Spur nick runs at 22% SW to runners with five stakes-winners bred this way headed by Group I winners Shillelagh and The Chosen One.
A sire with widespread appeal, Deep Field has five colts in this sale and one of them is bred on one of his best nicks with Cambridge Stud offering Lot 624, the third foal of Commands mare Vinorules, a placed sibling to Group winners Vavasour, Catalonia and Celebrity Dream.
Deep Field runs at 18% SW to runner with daughters of Commands and three stakes-winners are bred this way in Group winners Cosmic Force, Sky Command and stakes-winner Razeta.
There are just three fillies in the sale by Written Tycoon and Lot 641 from Te Awamutu is bred on a nick that has produced seven winners from nine runners including brilliant Group winning filly Enthaar and stakes-winner Tycoonist so has 22% SW to runner.
She is the first foal of With Certainty a winning half-sister by Not a Single Doubt to US stakes-winner Running Bobcats, the dam of 2013 Champion Japanese 2YO Colt Asia Express.
Only two colts in the sale by Shamus Award and one of them is Lot 576 from Grangewilliam Stud and he’s bred from a daughter of More Than Ready (USA) with that nick achieving 100% success with five winners from five runners headed by Group I winner Media Award, Group III winner Mimi’s Award and Group placed Need New Friends.
This colt is the first foal of Tahlio, a placed daughter of Group II winner The Minniver Rose.
Only one filly by champion sire Fastnet Rock in the sale and she is offered by Curraghmore as Lot 586 and is the second foal of stakes-placed Testa Rossa mare Test the World from the family of Group II winner Glory Girl.
She is bred on the same cross as brilliant Group II winning filly Anaheed, whose first foal (a yearling colt) just sold recently for $2.7million in Australia. The Fastnet Rock x Testa Rossa nick has produced eight winners from 10 runners and as well as Anaheed, Group I winner Prince Fawaz is also bred this way, so the nick has 20% SW to runner.
All yearlings purchased at Karaka are eligible for the lucrative Karaka Million Series with two $1 million races available for graduates as two and three-year-olds, plus the $120,000 CollinsonForex Karaka Cup for the duration of their career.
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