With their progeny starting to light up racetracks across Australasia and further afield, the 2021 New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale at Karaka in November gives buyers the perfect opportunity to get on board with the early crops of exciting up-and-coming stallion talent.
Ever since he first set foot on New Zealand soil at the beginning of the 2018 breeding season, all eyes have been on Almanzor.
Cambridge Stud’s headline shuttle stallion retired to stud with an outstanding race record behind him – winning eight of his 11 starts, including the Group One Prix du Jockey Club (2100m), Irish Champion Stakes (2000m) and British Champion Stakes (2000m) against stellar fields.
Interest and anticipation have only grown since then, and Almanzor’s first crop of yearlings performed outstandingly well at Karaka earlier this year – earning a total of $8.13 million for 42 yearlings sold, with an average price of $193,571 that ranked second only behind champion sire Savabeel.
Almanzor’s first northern hemisphere two-year-olds have enjoyed immediate success, with five early winners across France, the USA and the UK.
His first New Zealand runner, Gibraltar Rising (NZ), also caught the eye in the opening two-year-old race of the season at Wanganui in September. After losing almost 10 lengths coming extremely wide around the home turn, he charged home to finish a remarkably close third.
There are seven two-year-olds by Almanzor in the 2021 Ready to Run Sale catalogue, including:
- Lot 283, who is a half-brother to the Listed Castletown Stakes (1200m) winner Stella Di Paco (NZ) (Paco Boy).
- Lot 285, the first foal out of Savvy Dreams (NZ) (Savabeel), who placed in the Group One New Zealand Oaks (2400m) and Group Three Lowland Stakes (2100m). Savvy Dreams is also a three-quarter-sister to Shezzacatch (NZ) (Savabeel), who won last season’s Listed El Roca Trophy (1200m). This is also the family of Group One performer Octapussy (Octagonal), who is the dam of the high-class mares Pussy Willow (NZ) (O’Reilly) and Pussy O’Reilly (NZ) (O’Reilly), while another relative is the top-quality racehorse and broodmare Valpolicella (NZ) (Red Ransom).
