It was beer o'clock early on both days of the NZB Standardbred Yearling Sale, but the bids kept flying and horses kept selling right to the last lot in the catalogue!
Is it entrenched “she’ll‑be‑right” deviance normalisation, or is the coffee and hot‑ham‑and‑coleslaw queue always this sluggish at Karaka? It happens in Christchurch too, but either way, the familiar slow burn marked the opening half‑hour in Auckland — vendors loaded with early lots watching buyers wander in at their usual unhurried pace.
Team Bond from Western Australia broke the stalemate first, off the mark like a baggy‑green opener with $60k for Lot 3. Meanwhile, the freshly minted Pacemakers syndicate barely drew a bid for their well‑presented early offerings as buyers were still settling into seats and leaners. But around Lot 14, the tempo changed.
A proper bidding stoush erupted between two heavyweights — Robert Dunn for Diamond Racing and Stonewall’s Steve Stockman — with Stockman landing the decisive blow at $115k for a sharp Sweet Lou colt. It felt like the opening round of a week‑long bout for the best‑bred colts and fillies.
Barely had the ink dried when Paul Kenny and Charles Joseph Ltd came out swinging, out‑punching Stockman to secure Lot 16, a Sweet Lou filly, for $190k after a hefty exchange.
From there, Karaka settled into its familiar groove. The venue’s purpose‑built set‑up and select catalogue of well‑credentialled Kiwi Standardbreds delivered the usual mix of profits, banter, and everything in between — including bargains.
Pre‑sale predictions of strong interest in globally bred trotters proved bang‑on, although some simply couldn’t be bought at any price. Yabby Dabby Farm met the (lucrative) market, letting a beautiful Walner filly go to Barry Purdon and Scott Phelan, who held off Taranaki breeding giants the Whitelocks for a sale‑topping $220k.
A few lots earlier, even $250k wasn’t enough to pry loose the Ready Cash colt everyone wanted.
At the other end of the ledger, the sales again proved you can still buy a perfectly well‑bred, four‑legged, one‑head‑one‑tail harness racer for $2,500 at a premier yearling sale in 2026. Good luck to Fernco Lodge with your Lather Up filly — and to James Stormont, who nabbed a Sweet Lou filly for $3,000 a few lots later. Proof that if you can outlast the ham‑sanger hunger and caffeine cravings, you might walk away with a bargain for about your food budget for sales week.
Elsewhere, buyers clearly haven’t fallen out of love with the great Bettor’s Delight. The old master still gets the big players fizzing. A prime example: a colt heading to Queensland with Kevin Seymour for $200k, a brother to Sires’ Stakes champion Freeze Frame, giving him visions of his next Leap To Fame.
And is John Street of Lincoln Farms winding the clock back to his King Of Swing era? Purchasing the day’s “best presented” for $140k — a son of the King — certainly hints at a revival of fresh colonial‑bred blood into the stallion ranks down under.
Speaking of stallions, did Sweet Lou finally arrive as a sales‑ring sire? Rising into the top three on the Auckland averages (behind only Captaintreacherous and Bettor’s Delight), he’s now matching his global racetrack stats — which have him sitting at number one overall in North America.
NZ Sires’ Stakes executive Martin Pierson, on the grounds at Karaka, was struck first by the trotters’ quality.
“Those global‑bred horses gave the impression you could hitch a cart on them and take them to the track next week — they were so developed and mature.”
He added:
“Overall, if you wanted to buy a horse on Monday, you could — which isn’t always the case in Auckland given the quality‑and‑quantity equation up here.”
The average and median were both more affordable than last year’s record‑smasher, and the clearance rate held steady — improving further as deals were done after Cam Bray and his energetic NZB Standardbred crew put the gavel away.
A welcome lay day between sales gives everyone a chance to breathe before boarding the plane for the real business barometer: Day Two in Christchurch.
There was a hint of what might unfold at the Christchurch Agricultural Park on Wednesday when Hayden Cullen quietly suggested on the preview show that it could be tough to buy all the yearlings he and Amanda liked.
“Stonewall sat back a little in Auckland, and the feeling is Steve (Stockman) might let loose today… so we’ll see how we go,” he told host Greg O’Connor.
He wasn’t wrong.
Soon enough Cullen had his catalogue clenched between his teeth, locked in bidding battles with Stonewall (often), Kentuckiana (sometimes), Diamond Racing (just as often), and Mick Boots for good measure.
By day’s end, the scoreboard read:
Cullen Racing – 4
Stonewall – 13
Diamond Racing – 7
Kentuckiana – 6
Peter Lagan for Mick Boots – 4
Those numbers told a story — perhaps the story — of Day Two at the NZB Standardbred Yearling Sales: it was hard work trying to contain Steve Stockman on any horse he liked… especially if you liked it too.
Selling started slower than Karaka, but Christchurch’s open‑plan layout meant bidders could strike from anywhere. Buyers were tuned in from every table, whether close to the ring or parked out the back.
A flurry of action on the globally bred trotters early in the session sparked the momentum shift that quickly built into a strong swell of buying and selling.
Countless bidding battles between the brand stables — and a bank of Australians — pushed the numbers upward by the hour. Kentuckiana collected plenty of cattle for their sold‑out open day ahead, Diamond Racing had to play from the rough occasionally but finished about par, and Cullen Racing was still paddling hard right until the end, paying $140k for the second‑to‑last lot of the day.
You could almost feel the fist pump at the end of a long week grinding against the other big stables.
So, what was everyone really after?
Anything from Taffy Ltd was like horse candy — premium ingredients wrapped and presented by the Nadia Lim of racehorse preparation, Laura Smith. Everything you need arrives in the box; you just take it home and make it.
Globally bred trotters were hot, hot, hot, culminating in an all‑time record‑breaking Christchurch sales topper:
A Walner filly that triggered the biggest “Stonewall Steve” smackdown of the day at $290k.
Her vendor, Pat O’Driscoll, had taken a bold swing bringing his Yabby Dam Farms draft of Walners, Ready Cashes, Timokos and other world‑class bloodlines. The result? An “over‑the‑moon success.”
Everyone wanted one, but only Barry, Cran, Boots and Steve could realistically afford them.
To celebrate, Pat picked up a filly from a French‑bred Volstead mare for $5k late in the day to bolster his broodmare band for when he comes back. Oh no — did the Aussies catch us napping again?
It was great to see our friends from across the Tasman reinvesting some — actually, a lot — of the stake money they’ve been winning in New Zealand lately. Aside from Mick Boots giving back a slice of Swayzee’s NZ Cup cash, Jim Connelly joined the party twice on those hot‑brand trotters thanks to Kyvalley Ray cleaning up the Sires’ Stakes last spring.
Yearling Sales are always a bit of a fashion show. The best‑presented horse was a chestnut trotter that fetched six figures, but there were substantial five‑figure sums paid for progeny of new pacing sires Pebble Beach and the world’s fastest ever harness racer, Bulldog Hanover.
As in Auckland, King Of Swing made his presence felt again, with one of his just two colts here selling for $82.5k — to Stonewall Steve, of course.
By 3pm it was beer o’clock, but the bids kept flying and the horses kept selling.
For all the big spenders, there seemed to be plenty of smaller players ready to mop up the far‑from‑shabby leftovers for often better‑than‑fair prices.
The early start to celebrations felt like a fitting end to a great day — a great week — for most (never all).
Even the weather came to the party, turning fine after days of flooding.
A well‑earned finish for all involved, with cash and confidence overflowing in the New Zealand harness racing business and community.
