RTR Sale reputation exceeding predictions
Dennis Ryan - Raceform • November 8th, 2025 9:00 AM • 3 min read
There may have been an element of daring when, several years ago, New Zealand Bloodstock labelled its annual Ready to Run Sale as “the best of its type in the world”.
The confidence behind that slogan was justified at the time and has well and truly been surpassed since as graduates have continued to raise the bar with their success in the very best races in New Zealand and Australia and as far afield as Hong Kong and Malaysia.
Last season alone, sale graduates won 10 Group One races in Australia, headed by star performers Mr Brightside, Ceolwulf, Antino, War Machine, Gringotts and Feroce. Ceolwulf, who changed hands for $170,000 at the 2022 Ready to Run Sale, won the Epsom Handicap-King Charles Stakes double last spring and defended his King Charles crown with another prime performance at last month’s Everest meeting, with his victory over fellow NZ-breds Mr Brightside and Pier.
Mr Brightside, who could have been bought for $50,000 at the 2019 Ready to Run Sale, has been a phenomenal advertisement for the durability of the New Zealand-produced racehorse. His tally of 10 Group One wins ranges from the 2022 Doncaster Handicap to the Makybe Diva Stakes as an eight-year-old in September.
The longer list of graduate-achievers includes champion Hong Kong gallopers Golden Sixty and Lucky Sweynesse, while concise statistics over the past five years credit the NZB Ready to Run Sale with an incredible 34 Group One wins amongst more than 100 stakes races.
Results of that magnitude have made Karaka in November the go-to sale for the wide buyers’ bench who have come to recognise the Ready to Run Sale as the best available source on the breeze-up market.
Last year’s Ready to Run Sale reflected that with a massive outcome – a record price of $1.65 million, an aggregate of more than $38.5 million and the average a tick under $152,000.
Hopes are understandably high that this year’s edition scheduled for next Wednesday and Thursday, November 12 and 13, will prove another bonanza for vendors who have been such a part of the sale’s reputation.
“The success of this sale is testament to our pinhookers and vendors, who have such an understanding of the individuals sought by the buying bench,” said NZB’s bloodstock sales manager Kane Jones. “Judging by the horses we have inspected leading into the sale, the catalogue is again of the highest quality.
“Everything points to another successful sale. It’s a big, diverse catalogue with the full range of leading stallions represented, all expertly prepared, something for everybody, and we’re expecting
a strong buying bench from Australia, Malaysia, Mainland China and a huge Hong Kong contingent of trainers and owners.
“The record of sale graduates speaks for itself and alongside that we can also be proud of what a horse like Ka Ying Rising has achieved. From proving himself as a champion in Hong Kong and then heading to Sydney and winning The Everest like that – you couldn’t wish for a better example of just how good thoroughbreds from this part of the world really are.”
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