Cover image courtesy of New Zealand Bloodstock

Sale topper will pinhook through Newgate Farm

Newgate Farm’s Jim Carey purchased the sale topping Per Incanto (USA) colt, Lot 13, for NZ$190,000.

“I couldn’t make the sale but an astute judge James Mitchell inspected him for me and thought he was the pick of the sale. We bought him because he’s by Per Incanto out of a Shamexpress mare. Per Incanto needs no introduction and it’s the reverse cross of Ka Ying Rising,” said Jim Carey.

Hong Kong’s super sprinter Ka Ying Rising (NZ) (Shamexpress {NZ}) is currently the top rated horse on the World Thoroughbred Rankings on turf, and second overall. He is out of Per Incanto (USA) mare Missy Moo (NZ). Shamexpress (NZ), whose fertility issues have led to smaller book sizes, has only eight runners out of his broodmares to date, with five winners. As a sire, he has 14 stakes winners from 232 runners, with two Group 1 winners.

“We will set him for a major sale here next year. He’ll come back to Newgate in the coming days. I’m told he was a beautiful, good moving colt, and the two underbidders are people we respect greatly.”

The sale topping colt is out of Listed winner London Express (NZ) (Shamexpress {NZ}) who won seven of her 30 starts including the Listed Castletown Stakes at two. This colt is her second foal, and her first is a yearling filly by Tivaci. Aside from London Express, the pedigree is light on immediate black type, however, London Express is out of a mare who won four races and the family includes Group 2 winner Pay My Bail (NZ) (Justice Prevails), the dam of Group 2 winner White Moss (Mossman) and Listed winner White Sage (Reset).

“We’ve put together a syndicate to buy a few colts to be traded at yearling sales next season, and I thought this was the nicest colt here and my pick of the sale,” added Mitchell.

“He’s by a stallion I love, Per Incanto, who’s just going from strength to strength, and he’s out of a running mare. Being a November foal, he’s only going to continue to develop. I see him as a real Hong Kong type of horse. He’ll have a lot of appeal with that market. Per Incanto has sired a lot of winners there, and being out of a Shamexpress mare, he’s a reverse of the cross that produced Ka Ying Rising.”

Pinhookers lead the buyers charts

Well renowned pinhookers Kaha Nui Farm were the leading buyer, spending NZ$300,000 on three weanlings including the second and third top lots.

“It has been a really good sale and we have given it a nudge on a number of lots, and we are pretty happy with the ones that we have managed to secure,” proprietor Nicky White said.

“We will take them home, turn them around and bring them back next year. With it being NZB’s 100th year, it is exciting. I think if we can have a good draft and turn them into what we want to, it will be fun.”

A Super Seth colt, Lot 139, cost NZ$130,000 from the draft of Waikato Stud and he’s the fourth foal of three-race winning mare Queen Leonora (NZ) (Savabeel) who has an unraced 3-year-old filly Oceans (NZ) (Ocean Park {NZ}), 2-year-old filly La Reina (NZ) (Tivaci) and a yearling colt by Tivaci. This is the family of Listed winner Synchronise (NZ) (Savabeel) and Group 1 winners Legs (NZ) (Pins), Guyno (NZ) (O’Reilly {NZ}) and Tiptronic (NZ) (O’Reilly {NZ}).

“The stallion (Super Seth) is going really well at the moment. I like the fillies as well, but we had our eye on him from the start. We went out to the farm and had a look at him and liked him again when he was here (Karaka). I thought he would go too strong, and we were getting a bit wobbly, but he is a really nice, athletic horse. I think he will be a really neat yearling.”

The equal third-top lot, Sword Of State colt, Lot 129, cost NZ$120,000 which was the same price that Noble Bloodstock / Prima Park / Bevan Smith Bloodstock went to for a Satono Aladdin (Jpn) filly.

“He was a very late foal so we forgave him for being on the lighter side than what I would normally look at, but he is just a baby, and he will furnish pretty well, I hope.” Lot 129, offered by Curraghmore, is a half-brother to G3 MRC Easter Cup winner Torranzino (NZ) (Tarzino {NZ}) who ran second in the 2025 Listed Warrnambool Cup last start. Their dam, Goldilicious (NZ) (Helmet) has an unraced 2-year-old gelding Kandinsky (NZ) (Time Test {GB}). Goldilicious is half-sister to Group 3 winner Showbeel (NZ) (Savabeel).

Their other purchase was Lot 127, a Bivouac filly who cost NZ$50,000. “I missed out on going to the farm, but I had my A-team go and have a look. She just had speed written all over her. She looks a very fast, early type, and I think she will be fun as well.” This filly, sold by Curraghmore, is out of unraced mare Forte (Sepoy) who is a half-sister to Group 1 winner Nechita (Fastnet Rock), dam of Group 3 winners Forebearance (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and full brother Harpo Marx (Ire).

The second leading buyer was Lord of Wingrove Ltd, a company which is registered to HP Yeung.

Profondo is leading first season sire

Third overall on average behind proven sires Per Incanto (USA) and Satono Aladdin (Jpn), first season sire Profondo was the leading first season sire by average with four weanlings selling for an average of NZ$62,500. He stood his first season at Windsor Park Stud at a fee of NZ$17,500 plus GST.

“He’s left a lovely line of horses. We had a beautiful colt who made $85,000 and was well found by Paul Pertab, and Seaton Park sold a nice colt for the same price to Gary Mudgway. They were really well received, and he’s producing the type of horses the market is looking for,” said Windsor Park’s marketing manager Michael Moran.

“He’s been a dream horse to market. His first year he got 177 mares and 173 in his second season. He already has 125 mares booked to him this year. He’s pretty special, a perfect sized horse at 16 and a half hands, and is all class. He’s got a lot of quality. Obviously he’s out of a Redoute’s Choice mare who was a $720,000 yearling and I think her first three foals all sold over a million. He just ticks every box.”

Profondo topped the 2020 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale when selling to his racing owner Ottavio Galletta for $1.9 million from the draft of Arrowfield Stud and went on to win the G1 Spring Champion Stakes at just his third start, having won on debut. Profondo returned as a 4-year-old to finish third behind champion racehorse Anamoe and Group 1 winner Fangirl (Sebring) in the G1 Winx Stakes at Royal Randwick.

By Deep Impact (Jpn), Profondo’s dam is Group 3 winner Honesty Prevails (Redoute’s Choice) whose second foal is stakes placed Custodian (Shalaa {Ire}).

Profondo’s two top colts, who both made NZ$85,000, were Lots 59 and 97. Lot 59, sold by Windsor Park Stud is the third foal of winning mare Shamani (NZ) (Shamexpress {NZ}), a half-sister to Listed Port Adelaide Guineas winner Grand Chancellor (NZ) (Savabeel). Lot 97, sold by Seaton Park, is the second foal of Auntie Condor (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) from the family of proven sire Staphanos.

Pacemakers top the Standardbred session

Pacemakers, the Thoroughbred group who are pinhooking Standardbreds for a challenge, ended up being the leading buyers at the New Zealand Bloodstock Standardbred Weanling Sale on Thursday with 11 horses purchased.

“We had about 20 but some guys dropped off and got a bit scared, but there is still 11 or 12 of us that are having a good crack. We just ended up buying Lot 84 there who was a lovely colt, the colt of the sale and we all chipped in to buy him for our draft,” said Woburn Farm’s Adrian Stanley who has organised the Pacemakers challenge.

“We are being professional about it. We are here to make money and are here to buy nice horses. We’ll name them correctly and hopefully some Group 1 winners come out of it.”

Top lots at 2025 NZB National Weanling Sale

Top buyers by gross

Top vendors by gross

Sires by gross

Sires by average (2 or more sold)

Cover image courtesy of Yulong Investments

Yulong Investments have spent the better part of a decade building an empire of mares; with their stallion roster growing to 11 in 2025, Yuesheng Zhang and his team have yet again been major players on the buying bench at this year’s mare sales, and three of those purchases will start for the bottle green and white colours in this Saturday’s G1 Tattersall’s Tiara.

Semana (Winning Rupert), Coco Sun (The Autumn Sun), and Grinzinger Belle (NZ) (Shamexpress {NZ}) were three of Yulong’s eight purchases at the Inglis Chairman’s Sale this year, totalling a $4.2 million spend between them.

Remaining with their original trainers - Ciaron Maher, Tony and Calvin McEvoy, and Danny O’Brien respectively - the trio were chosen with the final Group 1 of the season in mind, all under Yulong’s primary aim of amassing a truly elite broodmare band.

Eyes on the crown

General Manager Jun Zhang confirmed that purchasing mares with the potential to improve their record before they head to stud is a key tenet of the operation.

“It is one of our purposes when we buy them,” he told The Thoroughbred Report. “They can be potential runners for us for another season. They also have a very strong pedigree and a very good race record already.”

Yulong already owns several Tiara performers; in addition to Semana, who ran second last year to Bella Nipotina (Pride Of Dubai), their broodmare band features the 2021 winner Tofane (NZ) (Ocean Park {NZ}), fourth-placed in 2023 Chain Of Lightning (Fighting Sun), 2022 performers Snapdancer (Choisir) and Away Game (Snitzel), and 2017 placegetter In Her Time (Time Thief). Recent Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale purchase Atishu (NZ) (Savabeel) ran fourth in 2022.

Gallery: Yulong Investmentss Tattersall's Tiara performers

At last count, the herd contains over 60 Group 1 winners or Group 1-producing mares.

“This race is definitely a milestone in a mare’s record,” Zhang said. “These kinds of races can really increase a mare’s value, so it’s important to factor into the racing plan how to turn a race filly into a high value broodmare (prospect).

“This is the last big race of the season, so it’s important for us to target.”

The Tiara field reads as a who’s who of some of Australia’s best 1400-metre mares at the moment; Chris Waller will send the imposing trio of Konasana (Dundeel {NZ}), Olentia (Zoustar), and G2 Dane Ripper Stakes runner-up Fire Storm (NZ) (Satono Aladdin {Jpn}) in an attempt to win his third crown, and Tony Gollan's Floozie (Zoustar) is looking to collect her fifth win in a row.

“It’s the perfect time to get people’s eyes back on these top mares,” Zhang said.

Supporting the stallions

As the breeding season looms over the horizon, several new purchases - both in foal and straight from the track - will be settling into life at Yulong’s expansive Victorian operation. Yulong made 11 purchases at the Magic Millions sale for a total spend of $13.54 million, with $8.625 million spent at Inglis Chairman’s for eight mares. Several mares, such as G1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes winner Kimochi (Brave Smash {Jpn}), have been acquired privately.

“To be honest, we don’t have specific pedigree (features) in mind when buying mares,” Zhang said. “The stallions at Yulong has a lot of international blood - we have stallions from Japan, and More Than Looks brings an American pedigree (to Victoria). We will go to Europe and Japan to buy mares with good pedigrees and good racetrack performances to breed in Australia.”

High quality pregnancies, as well as high quality performances, have been a target; Call Di (Frankel {GB}), purchased for $2.1 million, was one of three mares acquired by Yulong on the Gold Coast in foal to Newgate Farm’s statistical freak Extreme Choice, and $1.25 million was spent in the same ring on her half-sister Miss Enfield (I Am Invincible), in foal to Coolmore’s Wootton Bassett (GB).

In 2024, it was announced that Yulong would begin to thin its broodmare band; when the top end of quality continues to grow, there comes a time to refine what lies beneath. The thinning has happened in earnest this year, with Yulong utilising online auction platforms to offer drafts of mares, many in foal to resident stallions.

Zhang also revealed the need to garner support for their stallions in the early stages of their careers - with Alabama Express, Pierata, and Grunt (NZ) continuing to kick goals, the focus shifts to the newest recruits and how to set them up for success.

“In the first couple of years, we had a strategy to increase our numbers, because finding those high quality mares all in one year to support a stallion is hard,” Zhang said. “It can be hard to get local support for some of our international stallions, so we have to have the mares to support them ourselves. The only way we can protect the stallion and our business is to get their numbers up as much as possible at first, then after a couple of years, we can reduce our numbers.

“We have been buying the top mares across the country in the last five to seven years, so now we have enough quality mares to give the right support (without needing to keep lesser mares).”

The new recruits

G1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Mile winner More Than Looks (USA) is the freshest shuttler to the Yulong roster, where he will be joined by locals Growing Empire and First Settler. The Growing Empire Syndicate signed the docket for three of Yulong’s Chairman’s purchases, including G1 Allan Robertson Championship victress Under Your Spell (SAf) (Capetown Noir {SAf}), who carries a positive pregnancy to I Am Invincible.

“We have a lot of confidence in all three, especially Growing Empire,” Zhang said. “He’s a local runner and he did very well on the track. First Settler doesn’t have as good a racetrack performance, but physically he is a very good looking stallion. I feel they will both be very popular.”

The More Than Ready (USA) sireline was one that the Yulong team were keen to secure; More Than Looks will be his only son standing in Victoria, and Zhang believes he has the kind of attractive performance record that will appeal to Australian breeders.

“You see a lot of good horses in Australia descending from More Than Ready,” he said. “And he (More Than Looks) has the racing performance over the right distances (for Australian breeders). He suits the racing well, as a more Classic type of horse.”

More Than Looks’ Breeders’ Cup victory came when beating G1 2000 Guineas winner Notable Speech (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) and dual Group 1 winner Geoglyph (Jpn) (Drefong {USA}), who was one of the international raiders on Australia this autumn. All of More Than Looks' best performances have been over the mile, including placing twice at Group 1 level behind new Ciaron Maher recruit Carl Spackler (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}).

“He’s a beautiful horse as well. You see most of the horses by More Than Ready, they’re lovely looking animals.”

More Than Looks is one of three stallions currently being considered for Kimochi, whose retirement was announced last week after suffering a tendon injury during trackwork.

“American lines over Japanese lines are very successful, I think this is a very good way to breed a superstar. Another option is Panthalassa, the bloodline is perfectly suited. We have also been looking at physical matches, and we are thinking Kimochi might need a smaller stallion, so Diatonic is another option. This might not suit her as well, as he’s a sprinting sire, but we haven’t made a final decision yet.”

There is the potential for all three Tiara-bound mares to race on, if they show they are ready for it come the spring. The same fate awaits G1 South Australian Derby winner Femminile (Dundeel {NZ}), who Yulong purchased at the Gold Coast for $1.5 million.

“We will put her back into work before the breeding season, and see if there is any positive feedback from the stable. If not, we may just retire her.”

Cover image courtesy of Australian Bloodstock

It is the season of reflection, and for Jamie Lovett of Australian Bloodstock, the 2024/25 racing season has been a year dominated by tightening belts and scaling back enterprises. The syndicator has spent much of the season streamlining the business in hopes of riding out the current turn of the financial tide.

That is not to say that Australian Bloodstock hasn’t had its fair share of success this year - the colours have been borne to success by Vauban (Fr) (Galiway {GB}) in the G3 Sky High Stakes, Herman Hesse (GB) (Frankel {GB}) in the G2 Herbert Power Stakes, and Infancy (Wandjina) in the G2 Sapphire Stakes.

But Lovett’s focus has been on trimming down the company’s investments and bracing themselves. Only 10 yearlings were bought this season, plus a handful of tried horses both locally and internationally.

“It’s more been about purposely looking to scale our numbers back, just from an affordability perspective,” Lovett said. “Our model, where we normally race a lot of horses, is flawed with the cost of having a horse in training these days. By virtue of restructuring our model, we’ve got a lot less horses racing for us, so we are purposely treating this year as a rebuild.”

Taking stock of the costs

Australian Bloodstock typically has around 150 horses at a time in training, by Lovett’s count, but that number is to be dialled back this year.

“If you want to be in the game long term and if you're forward planning, you've really got to take stock of the costs,” he said. “We’ve got to really screw it (our operation) right back to a point where it’s sustainable, because with those current numbers, it’s not. We’ve been lucky to see all our yearlings this year, but we’re not putting a heap of horses on the market (to sell shares in) at the moment for this reason.”

Lovett’s approach at this season’s yearling sales was fairly conservative by his own admission; the team spent just over $1.4 million on yearlings, with a top spend of $475,000 for a Pinatubo (Ire) colt offered by Coolmore Stud at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale. For comparison's sake, in 2024, they spent over $2.7 million on yearlings and in excess of $4.5 million on yearlings in 2023.

“I've been in business a long time, and I’ve been watching the participation rates of what we all call your mum and dad type investors,” Lovett said. “Because of the cost of living here in Australia at this point in time, their participation is going right down. Racehorses are a trinket. People who used to buy five per cent can’t afford that any more.

“So I just said to (co-Director) Luke (Murrell), ‘I think we'll just be very conservative this year’. We're very fortunate to be in a good position where we don't need to take risks. At our stage in business, I'm adverse to risk.

“I look at some of the other syndicators and fair play to them for being brave and buying more, but Jesus, that’s a lot of unsold horses. We’re not going into July and all my yearlings have been broken in and are looking to go to the trials in September.

"The people still selling them worries me - if you’re still selling yearlings now, you’ve got to be a bit concerned because it’s getting to a point where you give them a squeeze to see if they’re any good, and you don’t want to be selling them to people if they’re no good.”

Feeling the pinch internationally

“On top of that, the fact that the exchange rate has tanked means importing horses has suddenly become very unaffordable. We are trying to buy a couple of big horses (in Europe), but there won’t be a dozen coming down this year.”

With a voracious appetite for importing quality stayers, Australian Bloodstock has had a lot of good fortune attacking Australia’s biggest middle distance races, but the contingent attempting to emulate Gold Trip (Fr) and Protectionist (Ger) in 2025 will be a lot smaller. Relentless Voyager (GB) (Ulysses {Ire}) and Royal Supremacy (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}) are the main standouts that have already landed on Australian soil.

It doesn’t help when your currency is, as Lovett puts it, “not worth a toaster”.

“I went to Deauville last month for the breeze-up sales and bought four horses with Ciaron Maher, but the market's so strong over there,” he said. “The buying bench in Europe and even America is just so much stronger than down here in Australia.

“Trying to buy them over there on top of the exchange rate and the cost to get them here, it's definitely going to be a challenging season for any of us trying to bring them across, because the traders over there and the vendors have just got so many other options. Saudi, Bahrain, the Americas, all of those are so strong at the moment.”

Lovett has had the feeling of being a little fish in an international-sized pond.

“And some of those bigger owners just have unlimited resources. You only have to look at Royal Ascot, where all the big players were winners. I think the days are gone where we can buy the big horse, because they're just going to be sold to those guys.”

Deserving of a chance

When they're not buying, Australian Bloodstock is engaged in the breeding realm with a sizable broodmare band. Although not running in their colours, Lovett has enjoyed watching promising juvenile Wootton Lass (Wootton Bassett {GB}), who he bred, snatch a city win in March and show glimpses of stakes quality potential. Laguna Partnership and John Sargent purchased the filly for $375,000 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast National Yearling Sale.

“She’s still got a bit to learn, but I’m hoping she can get into some stakes money next season,” Lovett said. “She’s the first foal from that mare, and I’ve got a good opinion of her.”

From a breeding perspective, Lovett has thrown his support behind Australian Bloodstock’s latest G1 Melbourne Cup winner Gold Trip in his first season at stud; the son of Outstrip (GB) was visited by 65 mares in the spring at Lovatsville in Victoria.

“I’ve sent him some really nice, commercial mares because I think he deserves that,” Lovett said. “I'll probably have to race them or race them with some partners - it’s always hard to be commercial with Melbourne Cup winners - but I’ve sent him some nice I Am Invincible and Snitzel mares, that will put a bit of speed into the pedigree.

“I'm just hopeful that he can leave horses that have got the toughness that he's got and obviously the ability, because you never know. You just got to give him a chance. If you just send rubbish mares to him, he’s got no chance at all.”

Lovett is hoping that a few good sized books will help Gold Trip on the way to making his mark on Australian racing, but understands it’s an uphill battle. Australian Bloodstock’s other Melbourne Cup winner Protectionist, who died in 2023, suffered from small books when he returned to stand in his native Germany. His son Lazy Griff (Ger) ran second in this year’s G1 Epsom Derby, the significance of which isn’t lost on Lovett.

“If he (Protectionist) had stood at Coolmore and gotten 150 good mares, he would have been a superstar,” he said. “He has left a lot of good horses from very, very small foal crops. These (kinds of) horses just never get a chance, because you just didn't have the big foal crops behind him.”

They just don’t breed them any more

Lovett laments the lowering commercial desire for proper middle-distance horses across both hemispheres.

“They just don’t breed them any more," he said. "They don’t want them, even in the UK, they’re trying to shorten everything. Everyone only wants to buy a horse that can win at a mile. Derby winners, they’re looking to geld them now, they don't bother standing them.”

So You Think (NZ) looms back into view as a sufferer of the trend in the Southern Hemisphere, and Lovett agrees. Australian Bloodstock-raced middle-distance stallions like Mawingo (Ger) and Lucas Cranach (Ger) have both also suffered from widespread disinterest in their offspring; Melbourne Cup-placed, Group-winning Lucas Cranach left just 310 foals from eight crops, and G1 Doomben Cup winner Mawingo has 110 foals on the ground from 10 seasons at stud.

“He’s (So You Think) an incredible stallion, there’s not a week that goes by where he’s not scoring winners,” Lovett said. “And yet you struggle to sell his offspring. Every trainer should just buy three of them, because they’re going for a third of what they should. He should be sitting up there at the top of the fees, when you look realistically at what he's done and what he's still doing.”

The same adage echoes true for So You Think as Lovett has seen time and again with staying stallions across the world; nobody wants to wait.

“There’s no appetite for patience. It's such a shame. Some of those beautiful staying horses that come down from Coolmore (Ireland), they struggle to get mares, so they’ve got no chance to succeed. They’re royally bred, so if you could get them in the gene pool, it would be amazing, but they don’t get the foal crops to warrant it.”

Lovett pointed to Sioux Nation (USA), who visited Australia for one season and left just 39 foals behind, as a prime example. The stallion’s reception has been completely different in the north, but he has still managed to make an impact down south from a miniscule crop, producing G1 Queensland Oaks winner Socks Nation.

“He would have had no hope down here, but he’s going gangbusters up there (in Europe),” Lovett said. “It’s really frustrating. I doubt it will ever change in my time, because it seems like it’s going the other way, where everyone just wants to buy fast American mares and put them to horses who won at two but didn’t train on.

“Unfortunately the market dictates the trend, and then the trends just continue to go that way, because you’ve got to make money out of breeding. It's so expensive. If you don't follow the trends, you go broke.”

The colour of money

Is there any way we can meaningfully move the needle?

“The racing programming is not conducive to staying horses either, particularly for the 2-year-olds and 3-year-olds,” Lovett said. “(At this time of year) you struggle to find a race beyond a mile for the 2-year-olds.”

Lovett strongly believes more incentive is required to get breeders to sit up and pay attention to the middle-distance ranks again. In a breeding economy currently geared around the world’s richest juvenile race, the only currency that means anything is money.

“I would actively incentivise it,” Lovett said. “I'd make three lead-up races into the ATC Derby, three lead-ups into the VRC Derby, the same for the Queensland Derby. I'd make them all worth two and a half million dollars.

"You’re racing for that money knowing it’s going to be quite weak until the gene pool strengthens up again, but with that kind of incentive, someone like me can say, ‘let’s go and buy five of these types, and give ourselves a chance of winning a Derby’.

“Right now, there’s no program for it. There’s lead-ups worth three or four hundred thousand, but let’s make them ridiculous, like they have done with the Everest and the Golden Eagle. That might change people’s thinking when they go to a yearling sale. Syndicators and buyers can't refuse the opportunity to race for ludicrous money.”

Program it and they will come.