Per Incanto and Profondo headline National Weanling Sale
Richard Edmunds - Raceform • July 4th, 2025 11:02 AM • 4 min read
Last week’s National Weanling Sale at Karaka shone a spotlight on a pair of stallions – one having the best season of his illustrious career, and the other a Group One-winning racehorse taking his first steps in a new role.
Per Incanto has added to the rich history of Little Avondale Stud in his 14 seasons at the Wairarapa farm, siring nine Group One victors among his 432 winners and 61 at black-type level.
But this season stands above his previous successes, moving into a career-best 15th place on the Australian premiership and leading the Centaine Award standings on worldwide progeny earnings for New Zealand sires. He has hit Group One highs in Australia this year with Jimmysstar in the Oakleigh Plate and All Aged Stakes, plus Gringotts in the George Ryder Stakes.
The National Weanling Sale catalogue featured just one colt by Per Incanto. Presented by Seaton Park as Lot 13, the colt is the second foal out of London Express – a Shamexpress mare who won seven races including the Listed Castletown Stakes.
The colt fetched a sale-topping $190,000 and was bought by Australian bloodstock agent James Mitchell.
“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,” Mitchell said.
“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.”
That was the second-highest price paid for a weanling at Karaka in the last 15 years – beaten only by a $360,000 purchase during the Valachi Downs dispersal in 2022.
Another point of interest in the National Weanling Sale was the sale-ring debut of Profondo. The son of Japanese super-sire Deep Impact cost A$1.9 million as a yearling and won the Gr. 1 Spring Champion Stakes in Sydney before retiring to Windsor Park Stud, where he has served books of 177 and 173 mares in his first two seasons.
The National Weanling Sale featured four weanlings from Profondo’s first crop, bred from a $17,500 service fee. They sold for a total of $250,000, topping the sale with an average of $62,500.
Curraghmore retained their title of leading vendor, selling all of their eight weanlings for a total of $465,000 and an average of $58,125. The leading buyer was Kaha Nui Farm, who made three purchases for a total of $300,000 – a Super Seth colt for $130,000, a Sword Of State colt for $120,000 and a Bivouac filly for $50,000.
Overall, the sale achieved an aggregate of $2,410,000, with an average price of $28,690 and a median of $15,000. Those figures represented a slight drop on last year’s $2,485,000 aggregate, $32,273 average and $18,000 median, although the clearance rate rose notably from 58 to 73 percent.
Last week marked the first dual-code weanling sale at Karaka, with the standardbred section achieving notable gains. The aggregate rose from $806,500 to $941,000, the average from $9,165 to $12,553, and the median from $6,500 to $10,000.
Cross-code interest was strong, as illustrated by the standardbred sale’s leading buyers Pacemakers. Made up of 20 thoroughbred preparers and headed by Woburn Farm’s Adrian Stanley, the group purchased 11 lots for a total of $136,000.
“It’s been very interesting learning about the standardbreds,” Stanley said. “We’re looking forward to returning to Karaka with them as yearlings to sell back in February, with a challenge between the group to see who comes out on top.
“We’re taking it very seriously, we are here to pinhook nice horses, and make good money, but also have some fun in the meantime.”
