Clearance rate a key positive in challenging Karaka 2025
Richard Edmunds - Raceform • February 7th, 2025 3:30 PM
Challenging economic circumstances were always going to cause something of a downturn during Karaka 2025, but vendors’ willingness to meet the market meant at least one key indicator trended upwards.
At the conclusion of last week’s three-day Book 1 session and two days of Book 2, the overall clearance rate for Karaka 2025 settled at 79 percent. That represented an increase from 76 percent in 2024, 77 percent in 2023 and 75 percent in 2022.
There was an even more marked increase in Book 2, which has sometimes been a challenging sale for vendors. A total of 270 of the 354 yearlings offered last Wednesday and Thursday found new homes, which works out as a 76 percent clearance rate. That is a big step up from 70 percent in 2024, 71 percent in 2023 and 64 percent in 2022.
While a similar number of yearlings were offered during Book 2 this year compared to previous years, the second-tier sale was condensed from three days to two in 2025. Book 1 and Book 2 were also consolidated into a single catalogue instead of being in two separate books.
The overall figures for Karaka 2025 see an aggregate of $86,061,500, an average price of $115,986 and a median of $80,000. Those are all lower than last year’s figures of $91,842,000, $122,783 and $90,000 respectively.
“The figures don’t disguise the fact that there has been a softening in the market,” New Zealand Bloodstock’s managing director Andrew Seabrook said. “The positive to come out of this sale is the good increase in clearance rate.
“We have seen a reduction in the average and median compared with last year’s record sale, which I think can be directly attributed to the state of the economy. But it is not at all reflective of the positivity that’s in the racing industry at the moment and the great vibe that’s been around all week.”
One of the week’s biggest stars was Cambridge Stud’s first-season stallion Sword Of State. From an introductory service fee of $15,000, the Group One-winning son of Snitzel sold 29 of his 32 first-crop yearlings that went through the sale ring through the five days at Karaka. They fetched a total of more than $4.48 million, averaging $154,810 and with a top price of $540,000.
“It’s just amazing off a $15,000 service fee,” Cambridge Stud co-owner Brendan Lindsay said. “We couldn’t have wished for a better start. We’re a little bit dumbstruck, to be perfectly honest. We just really want to thank our New Zealand breeders that supported the horse when we put him to stud, and we’re very thankful that we’ve all managed to have a very good sale with him.”
The dominant sires in Book 2 were Windsor Park Stud’s Shamexpress and Rich Hill Stud star Satono Aladdin.
Shamexpress is riding a wave of popularity thanks to the deeds of his freakish son Ka Ying Rising, who has won his last nine starts including the Gr. 1 Hong Kong Sprint and Centenary Sprint Cup. The latter win was just a week before the start of the Karaka sale and saw him win by more than three lengths, breaking Sha Tin’s track record for 1200 metres without being extended in a time of 1:07.20.
Shamexpress was the leading sire by average in Book 2, finishing with $97,500 from four yearlings sold. He also had a colt sell for $170,000 in Book 1, meaning he had a total of five yearlings earn a total of $560,000 and an average price of $112,000. His service fee was $8,000 in the spring of 2024.
Satono Aladdin’s 10 individual stakes winners, headed by New Zealand-Australian Oaks heroine Pennyweka, have seen his service fee soar to $65,000, however this season’s yearlings were bred from a $12,500 fee.
In Book 1, 29 of Satono Aladdin’s progeny sold for a total of $4.95 million, averaging $170,690 with a top price of $525,000. That success continued into Book 2 with 11 yearlings selling for more than $1 million, averaging $93,182.
Satono Aladdin sired four of the top six highest-priced lots of Book 2, headed by the sale-topping $260,000 filly out of Sparkling Rose. A full-sister to this season’s Gr. 2 Eclipse Stakes winner Too Sweet, the Brighthill Farm-offered filly was bought by Te Akau Racing’s David Ellis, who signed for 27 yearlings across the Book 1 and Book 2, accruing a total spend of $4,757,500.
“The quality of the yearlings at Karaka this year has been very high,” Karaka’s perennial leading buyer said. “It’s been a competitive buying bench, but I’ve felt that I’ve been able to buy the horses I wanted at what I thought was good value.
“It’s just so exciting to go around the farm and look at some of these lovely young horses that we’ve bought. A lot of them will be racing in 12 months’ time, and I can’t wait.”
Westbury Stud finished as the leading Book 2 vendor by aggregate, with their 44 yearlings offered unreserved. They fetched a total of $1.174 million.
The leading Book 2 vendor by average was Ardsley Stud, who sold all four yearlings offered for an average price of $76,250. Milan Park finished second with an average of $68,889, while Curraghmore was third with $58,750.
That capped an outstanding week for the Gordon Cunningham-owned farm after topping the Book 1 session with an average price of $322,222. Curraghmore achieved a perfect clearance rate across its whole Karaka draft, selling every one of the 18 yearlings offered in Book 1 and all four in Book 2. Those receipts totalled more than $6 million at a combined average price of $274,318.
Picture at the Top of the Page: The top lot in Book 2 of Karaka 2025 was Brighthill Farm’s Satono Aladdin-Sparkling Rose filly, knocked down to leading buyer David Ellis for $260,000. Photo: Supplied
