After celebrating a landmark Ready to Run Sale result in 2017, Sam Beatson's Riversley Park will return to Karaka this month with another strong draft.
Riversley topped the vendors' list by aggregate last year, selling 22 horses for a total of NZ$3.425 million. Their average price was NZ$155,682, and a colt by I Am Invincible was among the five highest prices of the sale at NZ$370,000.
It was a remarkable result for a vendor whose Ready to Run Sale debut came only two years earlier.
"It was a very good result last year, topping the vendors' list and selling horses at a really good clearance rate as well," Beatson said. "We were very happy.
"We'd been selling
at the Ready to Run Sale for a few years under the name of Beatson Stables, but
it was only the third year for Riversley. To get Riversley up to that sort of
level so quickly was great."
The Ohaupo farm will be represented this year by another bumper draft of 29 two-year-olds. In addition to quantity, Beatson believes that the Riversley Park draft also offers quality and variety.
"I'm happy with how it's shaping up," he said. "We've got some pretty good-quality horses, and I really like the range of stallions – first season sires, proven sires and everything in between.
"We're selling some horses who look like real two-year-old types, plus some who look like they'll be good milers, and even some stayers. It's a good mix and we're hoping the buyers will find plenty to like."
The young sires in Riversley's draft include The Brothers War, Declaration Of War, Deep Field and Sidestep, who sit alongside familiar names such as Savabeel, Per Incanto, Written Tycoon, Tavistock, More Than Ready, Exceed And Excel, Sebring,Swiss Ace and Stratum, who is the sire of this lovely chestnut colt from Adria (Lot 345), a half-sister to Golden Slipper winner and leading sire Sebring . – The Informant
