The buying power of major Australian-based players has been an almost unstoppable force in securing well-bred and stakes-performed New Zealand mares in recent seasons, but May's Premium Broodmare Sale on Gavelhouse Plus bucked that trend.
Five mares were offered on the online platform on Wednesday night and all five have been sold for a total of $1.73 million and an average price of $346,000. Four of the five mares were snapped up by New Zealand buyers.
The two top lots were black-type performers Rondinella and Sudbina, who were offered to dissolve the long-standing breeding partnership between Haunui Farm and Frantic Bloodstock. The quality duo are both in foal to the former Waikato Stud and now Coolmore stallion Super Seth, and they were bought for $600,000 and $575,000 respectively and are set to remain at Haunui Farm.
“It’s the end of a very successful partnership between Cathy Franich and ourselves,” Haunui’s managing director Mark Chitty said. “We bred some really nice horses together over a number of years, both on the racetrack and through the sale ring, but it’s come to an end now.
“I was delighted to have some new partners that wanted to come on board and continue our involvement with both Rondinella and Sudbina. They’re good people from within the industry, one an Australian client and one a New Zealand client, and I’m looking forward to working with them and continuing to breed from these lovely mares.
“We had to deal with some strong competition to buy both of them. When you’re going into an open market, you never really know what you’re opening yourself up for, and especially with high-quality mares from prolific families. Rondinella, of course, comes from our foundation family, while Sudbina is from a mare Paul Moroney bought for us out of Europe and has a great pedigree behind her as well. We thought the best way forward was to offer them for sale and let the market decide their value, and I’m thrilled that we managed to buy them both.
“The two mares know nothing about all of this going on, apart from the fact that they’ve been paraded a few extra times! So we’ll let them stay in their paddocks, eat grass and develop a couple of Super Seth foals that we’re really looking forward to, and then we’ll make other plans from there.”
The other mare offered by Haunui and Frantic Bloodstock was Tinnelly, an unraced half-sister to Sudbina, who was bought by Elsdon Park for $50,000.
“We wish them all the best with Tinnelly,” Chitty said. “I think her daughter Chilling Out is quite special. She’s a rising four-year-old mare who’s currently spelling here on the farm and looks super. She’ll go back into work in a fortnight and there’s a lot more ahead for her.
“Tinnelly is a half-sister to Sudbina and it was just a case of us not needing to have them both. I also think it’s always good when other New Zealand breeders get parts of the family, because they can do different things and take the families in new directions.
“For New Zealand buyers to come away with four of the five mares sold on Wednesday night was a great result for our industry.”
Glamour Tycoon, the dual stakes-winning daughter of Australian super sire Written Tycoon, was offered off the track by Marsh Racing and was purchased by Greg Tomlinson’s Nearco Stud for $375,000.
“She’s a very exciting addition to the Nearco broodmare band,” Tomlinson’s bloodstock consultant Patrick Cunningham said.
“One of the things that stands out to me about her is that she’s a lovely, sharp mover. She’s by an elite sire and is a type to match, as well as being a two-time stakes winner. We’re sure she’ll produce some lovely foals in time and we’re very excited.
“We thought she was good buying, and we’re thrilled not only to purchase her for Nearco, but also to keep her in New Zealand and as part of our gene pool here.
“I also think she was exceptional value given the current exchange rate. If you were trying to buy a stakes-winning mare by a champion sire off the track in Australia at the moment, you’d be hard-pressed to do it for anything like that amount, so it’s a very pleasing result.”
The Nearco team will take their time to make a decision on Glamour Tycoon’s first mating.
“Nearco has shares in a number of stallions that we can utilise, so we’re keeping our options open for now,” Cunningham said. “Written Tycoon is emerging as a fantastic broodmare sire, and he nicks well with the Redoute’s Choice line and Danehill line, so we’ll have a number of options to choose from.”
Group Two winner Hitabell was the only mare sold across the Tasman, secured by William Johnson Bloodstock for $130,000.
Gavelhouse Plus will offer another opportunity for breeders to bolster their broodmare bands with the 2026 NZB National Online Breeding Stock Sale in July. Entries for the sale will close on 16 June, with the catalogue online on Gavelhouse Plus on 26 June, bidding open from 5 July and bidding closing from 6pm (NZT) on Wednesday 8 July.
