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Per Incanto colt bought by Foote for NZ$160,000.

A colt by Little Avondale-based stallion Per Incanto (Street Cry) will likely end up in Hong Kong after John Foote went to NZ$160,000 during Book 2 of the New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka 2020 Sale on Wednesday. 

Foote said the colt would be sent to Australia and if he is good enough he will then head to Hong Kong when he turns three. The Little Avondale Stud resident has accrued an impressive strike-rate of 72 per cent winners-to-runners in the Asian racing jurisdiction and that success led to plenty of interest from Asian buyers on Wednesday. 

"Per Incanto has done well in Asia and Hong Kong, he is an underrated stallion," Foote said. "I think Hong Kong were the underbidders. 

"I bought him for a Hong Kong client. He will go across to Australia and go through the system there where he will trial, if he trials well he will go to Hong Kong."

Catalogued as Lot 726, the colt is the second foal out of Makkura (Falkirk), who won at Listed level in Singapore, while Group 1-winner Westminster (Grosvenor) appears under the colts fourth dam and Foote is confident that given the exploits of the colts dam he will be well suited to Hong Kong. 

"He is one of the better colts here today, so we thought we would have to pay that," Foote said.

"The mother could run, they took her to Singapore and she did really well. 

Foote has enjoyed a lot of success purchasing out of New Zealand Bloodstock's sales and was pleased with his 19 purchases from the Book 1 session earlier in the week.

"We go to the South Island and go to all the sales and try to buy a bit of value, that is the key to it really," he said.

"We bought quite a few in Book 1 and I am happy with the prices. I think NZ$220,000 was the dearest we paid for two horses and the rest were under that. 

"It is pretty good really considering what the average was. We were under the average, so that was good." 

Meanwhile, Sam Williams of Little Avondale Stud said he was pleased to see the colt realise that price-tag and was not surprised to see the horses long term future lies in Hong Kong. 

"Per Incanto had five stakes performers last week and ten winners over an eight day period he is having a wonderful trot and he had those two three-year-olds the other day," said Williams. 

"You can't do much more than win on the track and hope that the results follow through into the sales ring. With a stallion like Per Incanto we are getting them sold and clients like buying off us. 

"He is going well in Hong Kong and he's getting a lot winners up there and I think he is running on 73 per cent and the average prize-money per runner is over NZ$400,000 per horse so they are getting a pretty good return on their investments on the Per Incantos and they do love them up there."

Little Avondale breed the mare in partnership with Constance Cheng and Williams said she was very happy with the result. 

"He's a gorgeous and his mare raced up there in Singapore and Nigel Blackinson has got the sister and he is rapt with her. Constance Cheng owns the horse and we've been breeding with her in partnership and she was tickled pink with the result. 

"She races a lot of horses in Singapore and she was quite keen that if he didn't make his reserve she was going to race him in Singapore. But he was pretty much on the market all the way so I was confident he was going to soar past his reserve."  

Williams said he was encouraged to see John Foote take the horse home and said he had been a massive supporter of the stud for a long time. 

"Footy is a great judge and he's been a great client of ours and returns every year to buy off us and clearly shows faith in the product we are producing and he is a good judge," said Williams. 

"It's great that he's here and he has been a great supporter in New Zealand stock and NZB."

Later on in the afternoon, Guy Mulcaster purchased a colt by Mapperley Stud resident Contributer (High Chaparral) for himself for NZ$130,000 from the Landsdowne Park draft - the second most expensive lot of the session. 

"We did buy a few (Contributers) last year, we are happy with them, they are going in the right direction," said Mulcaster.  "I just saw the horse this morning and I liked him, so I bought him for myself. 

"We will just take him a long and we might put a few people in to him and see how he goes."

Catalogued as Lot 775, the colt is out of winning Savabeel (Zabeel) mare Parvati, who is herself a sister to stakes-placed filly Yearn which Mulcaster said was one of the main attractions to the horse. 

"I liked the fact that he was out of a Savabeel mare and Yearn is quite a good horse."

Breeder Kieryn Tapper was extremely pleased with the outcome.

"It means a lot to me, my goal two years ago was to breed and sell a NZ$100,000 yearling.

"It's brilliant that Guy Mulcaster has picked him, he has excellent judgement and I look forward to following him in the future," said Tapper.

One further lot sold for six figures - the Darci Brahma (Danehill) colt out of Polynesia (High Chaparral) who was bought by John White Bloodstock for NZ$115,000 from the draft of Highview. 

Highview claimed the leading vendor title on the first day of Book 2, after selling 11 horses for a total of NZ$477,000.

The turnover reached NZ$3,113,500, representing an average of $34,594 for 90 horses sold. The median closed at NZ$27,500, with the clearance rate settling at 71 per cent. The average was down 13 per cent on the 2019 overall average of NZ$39,606 whilst the median also fell eight per cent from NZ$30,000 a year ago. 

The second day of Book 2 will commence tomorrow morning at 11am, with Lot 821 to 1040 going under the hammer.