Cambridge Stud to offer nine-strong weanling draft at Karaka

Fresh from Joliestar’s gallant placing in the Gr.1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes (1200m) at Royal Ascot overnight, Cambridge Stud has turned its attention to New Zealand Bloodstock’s National Weanling Sale this coming Thursday where they are set to offer a select draft.

Farm principals Sir Brendan and Lady Jo Lindsay are in England where they cheered home their multiple Group One-winning mare to her Royal Ascot placing, and while they aren’t going home with the desired result, they are proud of her performance.

“She tried her best and she wasn’t good enough on the day,” Sir Brendan Lindsay told Racing and Sports. “We came here full of hope, and we have left here pretty happy.

“James (McDonald, jockey) said she slipped coming down the hill and that might have been the difference, but at the line she was as strong as anything.

“We would have liked to have won. Are we disappointed? No. We have just had a life experience and lucky for Jo and I, we have met the King and the Queen. Life’s not too bad.”

Back in New Zealand, Cambridge Stud staff are putting the final touches on their nine weanlings ahead of Thursday’s sale, and the farm’s sales and nominations manager Scott Calder is pleased with the quality of their draft.

“We have nine in our draft and obviously have a good representation from our own stallions,” he said. “We have a five-strong cohort of Almanzors and a lot of them are out of black-type mares or out of young, well-credentialled mares.

“Almanzor is a proven horse, he has had five stakes winners again this year, and you can buy one with confidence that he does the job.

“Hello Youmzain comes into it on a bit of a roll. He has had a fantastic end to the autumn.

“I think they are horses that are going to offer people good opportunities.”

The farm will also offer a couple of weanlings by outside stallions, including a filly by Bivouac (lot 99), who has now produced two individual Group One winners following Fireball Miss’s Gr.1 Queensland Oaks (2200m) triumph earlier this month. The filly is out of stakes performed mare Dottie Dee, who is a half-sister to Group Three winner Fairy Dream.

“The timeliest one pedigree-wise is the filly by Bivouac, who is out of a stakes performed mare, and he has just added another Group One winner to his resume, so he is a stallion that is doing very well. To have a filly by him I think is good timing,” Calder said.

The farm will also offer a colt by Champion New Zealand sire Savabeel, who sadly passed away last week. The colt is one of only two weanlings by Waikato Stud’s former patriarch in the sale, and he will go through the ring as lot 137.

While not in their draft, the first New Zealand progeny of Cambridge Stud’s freshman sire Chaldean will go through the sales ring at Karaka on Thursday.

The Group One-winning son of Frankel’s first crop of weanlings have been well-received in Europe, averaging the equivalent of NZ$260,000 and selling up to NZ$580,000 at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale in England, while his first Southern Hemisphere youngster to be offered at a public sale was purchased at Inglis’ Great Southern Weanling Sale earlier this month for A$180,000.

Two of his progeny will be offered at Karaka on Thursday, including a colt (lot 3) through Haunui Farm’s draft, and a filly (lot 54) through Curraghmore’s draft.

“The first one was very well received over at the Great Southern Sale, she made A$180,000,” Calder said. “There was a lot of competition and a lot of really positive feedback about her. I think that is going to benefit the two that are in this sale.

“Particularly from a pinhooking point of view, I think a first crop horse is always appealing. From what we have seen with his first one through the ring, there is going to be a lot of demand for them.

“While we are not taking any of them to the sale, we have got a lot of really nice ones on the ground, and I think these two will be a good representation from him at the sale.

“I would imagine he is a stallion that is going to be on most people’s short lists when they go through the catalogue.”

New Zealand Bloodstock’s National Weanling Sale will take place at their Karaka sales complex this coming Thursday, with the first weanling set to go through the sales ring at 11am.