Yesterday we did a review of how all the harness racing sires fared at the two day sale at Christchurch this week.

Now we turn our attention to Auckland and as expected the Australasian Classic was the success everybody thought it would be with a catalogue as strong as anything ever presented at Auckland.

The one huge plus at this years sale was that the champion sire Bettors Delight ended up with with 35% of all horses sold at the sale.

Between them Bettor's Delight, Art Major, Mach Three and American Ideal provided nearly two thirds of all the horses sold at Auckland which is such a help when it comes to averages overall.

Bettors Delight

Number Sold – 40

Overall average – $55,512

Colt average – $62,820

Filly average – $43,330

Just the backbone of the sale and his colt average for 25 sold of $62, 820 is outstanding for any standardbred sale worldwide let alone in New Zealand.

Surprisingly for us his fillies averaged nearly $20,000 less than the colts which for a sire who is the best filly sire on the planet is a bit of a mystery to us.

Art Major

Number sold – 14

Overall average – $48,000

Colt average – $64,100

Filly average – $39,055

Compared to how he fared in Christchurch, Art Major had a stunning sale in Auckland.

He has the highest colt average at $64,100 and his fillies brought money more in line with how they are performing on the track.

The issue in New Zealand for Art Major has always been one of numbers in the sale due to him never breeding huge numbers of mares in this country.

That changed this season when he served a book of 170 mares in New Zealand and therefore he should have a much bigger presence at the sales in the near future.

Mach Three

Numbers sold – 6

Overall average – $38,333

Colt average – $40,000

Filly average – $30,000

Those figures are a good indication of where Mach Three sits in the overall scheme of things. 

Right up there with the big boys but commercially just a touch behind the other two sires above.

Continues to have fluctuations in his numbers for sale due to foal numbers but does have bigger crops coming through so may have bigger representation in the future.

American Ideal

Numbers sold – 11

Overall average – $33,863

Colt average – $40,714

Filly average – $19,375

His numbers at Auckland were a lot better than they were at Christchurch but that was due entirely to one lot who made $150,000.

We are still at a loss to explain the lack of demand for American Ideal fillies which have been his flag bearers in New Zealand.

Hard to pinpoint what the problem is here with buyers overlooking his stock in favour of stock by sires he is matching on the track.

It may just be the lag effect between racetrack performance and sale ring success but we will be watching closely next year for the uplift in prices his performance deserves.

Somebeachsomewhere

Numbers sold – 4

Overall average – $36,625

Colt average – $42,500

Filly average – $34,333

As in Christchurch the SBSW were great types and were keenly sought after.

The only Somebeachsomewhere colt in this sale went to the All Stars barn who have had some success with stock from his very small New Zealand crops to date.

His biggest New Zealand crop are now foals on the ground and with the success at this years sales you would anticipate a much bigger representation at next years round of sales.

Christian Cullen

Number sold – 5

Overall average – $28,900

Colt average – $36,500

Filly average – $22,500 

A bit surprising to see Christian Cullen struggle as much as he did in Auckland.

Still in the frame as a commercial stallion as he proved at the two days in Christchurch but apart from one lot he was not wanted at this sale.

His fillies in particular were marked down which considering their success over the years was a minor surprise.

Rocknroll Hanover

Number sold – 7

Overall average – $32,714

Colt average – $36,500

Filly average – $30,000

We didn't include Rocknroll Hanover in our Christchurch review as we took the view that being deceased meant he had a limited future impact on New Zealand sales.

But having sold seven at Auckland and having such healthy figures persuaded us that we should include him in the Auckland review.

A lot of breeders have used him over their Artsplace mares and horses bred on this cross are highly sought after world wide as this cross has produced six of Rocknroll Hanover's eight millionaires.

Muscles Yankee

Number sold – 3

Overall average – $42,333

Colt average – $43,500

Filly average – $40,000 

Muscles Yankee only had the three lots in the whole sale but they all made over $40,000 so their is a real demand still for his stock.

The maternal families of all three lots were top class which may have helped the overall result.

Majestic Son

Numbers sold – 3

Overall average – $34,500

Colt average – $52.500

Filly average – $25,500

The small number in the sale is due to the fact that Majestic Son only has eight yearlings on the ground in New Zealand

Should have a much bigger representation next year as he served 161 mares in 2014 on the back of his earlier small crops performing so well.

Overview 

This sale is the best promotional tool that harness racing has in New Zealand but it has the potential to be so much better in our opinion

By natural attrition of smaller breeders in the North, the sale has few lots by sires who are not in the elite group as the above statistics show.

We firmly believe that the Australasian Sale could reach far greater heights if the following changes were implemented.

*Limit the sale to 125 lots

* Make it a select sale

* Have a set number of places set aside for southern breeders.

The whole point of the changes is to turn the Australasian Sale into an elite sale that dominates the top end market in Australasia.

The thoroughbred breeders do it very successfully with K1 at Karaka and while we will never reach those heights we can close the huge gap a wee bit.

Breeders in the north who don't get accepted for the Australasian Classic have a ready made alternative these days with the all age sale in May which has gone from strength to strength in the last few years.

Last year it hit a five figure average for the first time and the bench of buyers included most of the regulars on the New Zealand sales scene.

We have a chance to position our industry in the best possible light with a smaller select sale at Auckland and it is something that we would hope would be considered by PGG Wrightson and The North Island Breeders Association..

Harnesslink Media