NZ HARNESS NEWS
Trainer Greg Hope topped the New Zealand Trotting Sale when he could not resist the chance to purchase a yearling that he described as the spitting image of Monbet.
Hope helped the New Zealand Bloodstock sale crack a $1,200,000 aggregate when going to $105,000 to secure a close relation to his champion trotter.
The colt is by Monbet’s sire, Love You, and from Diedre’s Jewel – a Monarchy close relative to the multiple group 1 winner.
Hope said he simply had to have the trotter when he saw so much of Monbet in lot 192.
“He was the spitting image of Monbet at the same age and he is a three-quarter to him, so we really liked him.”
Hope was not just motivated by the yearling’s Monbet looks.
He has plenty more of the same family at home and they are showing him plenty of promise, so he was keen to snap up more of the same bloodlines.
“We have got a three-quarter blood sister to him that we really like.”
“She is by Love You from The Earth Moves, who is a full sister to the mother of this yearling and we really like her.”
Lot 105 was the only yearling to crack the 100k mark at Tuesday’s sale.
Hope said he did not expect to have to crack the six-figure barrier to secure the sales-topping colt.
“I wasn’t expecting to have to pay what we did to get him, but we are hoping it will all be worthwhile.”
Hope said he planed to syndicate the yearling.
Most of the shares in the striking colt have been snapped up.
Though, as of Tuesday night there were one or two left.
“We haven’t quite filled him yet, but we definitely will.”
Hope bought another yearling from the Monbet family earlier in the sale.
He outlaid $35,000 for a Love You colt from the Continentalman mare, Sunny Kash.
Monbet appears much further back in lot 180’s pedigree than Lot 192.
Winton breeder Michelle Caig’s Love You colt from Sun Mist looked the sale-topper until the yearling Hope stepped in to secure as lot 192.
The stock of Love You were the hottest property at Monday’s sale.
The French sire headed the sires table with a leading average of $40,350 and leading aggregate of $403,500.
Those strong results helped contribute to buyers outlaying more than $1.2million at New Zealand Bloodstock’s first trotters yearling sale on Tuesday.
40 lots sold at a clearance rate of 83% for a total of $1,203,500 at an average of $30,088 and median of $21,500.
That aggregate equated to a 26% lift in spending compared to last year’s trotting yearling sale.
Nevele R Stud stallion Father Patrick made a successful debut at the New Zealand sales with a strong average of $34,917.
Australian buyers were active at the sale as they were at Auckland on Monday.
They secured four of the top ten lots, comeback trainer Chris Lang going to $51,000 for an Orlando Vici half-brother to Stent.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
Driving The Future Of Harness Racing
