Excellent Art colt tops final session of NZ Select Yearling Sale

Excellent Art colt tops final session of NZ Select Yearling

Sale

A son of first season sire Excellent Art (GB) topped the final session of New

Zealand Bloodstock's Select Yearling Sale in Karaka on Friday. Lot No. 1009, a

half-brother to Rich Hill Mile (NZ-G2) hero Fears Nothing (Faltaat), was scooped

up by Coolmore's Tom Magnier and BBA Ireland's Adrian Nicoll for NZ$250,000. The

colt was offered by Pencarrow Stud and is out of the unraced Magical Moment

(Sadler's Wells).

"He's a fantastic yearling that has all the makings of a super racehorse and

we are delighted to have bought him," Magnier said. "He is certainly a credit to

the team at Pencarrow. This sale has served as a great endorsement of what an

exciting young sire Excellent Art is. He had another colt (Lot 551) make

NZ$170,000 here on Wednesday and they have been selling very well in Australia

also."

"He is an outstanding colt that has everything," Coolmore advisor Demi

O'Byrne added. "He's probably the best looking yearling I've seen in Australasia

so far this year."

Excellent Art's day three topper helped put him atop all sires by average

during the Select sale, with three of his representatives realizing an average

of NZ$155,000. Iffraaj led all stallions by aggregate. A total of 34 yearlings

by the young sire brought NZ$2,620,500 for an average of NZ$77,074. Ifraaj also

sired the toppers on day one and two.

The most active buyer was Magnus Equine of Hong Kong, which bought seven

yearlings during the session for a total of NZ$755,000. Magnus also purchased

two yearlings during the Premier session.

Yesterday's big buy put Peter and Philip Vela's Pencarrow Stud at the top of

all vendors by average. Their four colts sold for NZ$348,000 -- about NZ$87,000

each. Ron and Mark Chitty's Haunui Farm led vendors by aggregate, as they

offered 11 of the Iffraajs. Their 29 sold yearlings from 36 offered yielded

NZ$1,614,000.

For the three-day Select session, 418 of the 627 cataloged lots were sold for

a total of NZ$19,107,000 with average of NZ$45,711. The NZ$39,000 median fell

2.5 percent, just short of last year's NZ$40,000 median, with a final clearance

rate of 73 percent. The gross and average dropped by 16.7 percent and 12.7

percent, respectively, over last year's numbers of NZ$22,927,500 and NZ$52,346.

Last year's Select session showed high increases over the previous year, with

a 35-percent rise in clearance, 40-percent in average and 33-percent in median.

Despite the drops this time around, all three of the 2011 figures were still

higher than 2009's numbers. In that context, NZB Co-Managing Director Petrea

Vela was pleased with this year's results.

"Given the strength of last year's Select Sale, to be within striking

distance of those figures is a good result," said Vela. "One of the most

pleasing aspects has been the median holding up well against last year

reflecting the solid demand that was still very evident on quality horses.

The clearance rate has strengthened over the three days but is still a bit

disappointing which unfortunately seems to reflect the confidence lacking from

our domestic market. Still our local buyers have been far more active here than

we saw at the Premier Sale, and with two days of selling still to go hopefully

they will be back in action at the Festival Sale."

The two-day Festival sale begins Sunday. For complete results and catalog

visit www.nzb.co.nz.