For pinhookers and end users alike, this month’s NZB National Weanling Sale at Karaka is an affordable opportunity to secure progeny of some of New Zealand’s best and brightest stallions.
More than 40 sires are represented among the 143-lot catalogue, including established superstars and some of this country’s most exciting emerging talents.
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Per Incanto (USA)
As well as earning global fame as the broodmare sire of Hong Kong’s superstar sprinter and the world’s highest-rated racehorse Ka Ying Rising (NZ) (Shamexpress), Per Incanto is enjoying another incredible season with his progeny in Australia.
The Little Avondale Stud stallion sits in a career-best sixth place on the Australian sires’ premiership with 51 winners from 91 runners, four individual stakes winners and A$14.69m in total earnings. He is the only New Zealand-based sire in the top 20.
Overall, Per Incanto has been credited with 483 winners from 722 runners, with 37 stakes winners including Australian Group One stars Jimmysstar (NZ), Roch ‘N’ Horse (NZ), Gringotts (NZ) and Little Brose.
His Hong Kong statistics are extraordinary, with 51 winners from 75 runners.
Yearlings by Per Incanto have sold for up to $500,000 at Karaka, and his average across Karaka 2024, Karaka 2025 and Karaka 2026 is just under $160,000.
Per Incanto has five weanlings catalogued for the National Weanling Sale.
Proisir
The only sire not named Savabeel to be champion sire in New Zealand since the 2014-15 season, Rich Hill Stud’s Proisir claimed his first national title in 2022-23 with a $4m season that included Group One stars Legarto (NZ), Prowess (NZ), Levante (NZ), Pier (NZ) and Dark Destroyer (NZ).
Proisir heads the New Zealand sires’ premiership again in the current season with $4.16m, which puts him just ahead of his nemesis Savabeel on $3.95m.
Now serving elite books of mares at a service fee of $65,000, Proisir is the sire of 274 winners from 440 runners including 24 individual Group and Listed winners. Legarto recently retired as a five-time Group One winner and was sold as a broodmare prospect for A$2.8m. Another of his notable current progeny is Waitak (NZ), who completed a Group One double in the Howden Insurance Mile (1600m) and Livamol Classic (2040m) earlier in the season.
The racetrack results of Proisir’s progeny have been reflected in the Karaka sale ring, where he has had yearlings sell for $1.6m, $1.1m, $850,000 and $700,000 in recent years. Since Karaka 2024, his yearlings have averaged over $211,000.
There are three Proisir weanlings in the catalogue for the 2026 National Weanling Sale.
Savabeel
Already inducted into the New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame, Savabeel needs no introduction. The Waikato Stud superstar is a 10-time champion New Zealand sire and strongly in contention again this year, and he has also won 10 Dewar Awards for combined Australian and New Zealand progeny earnings and nine Centaine Awards for combined progeny earnings worldwide.
Overall, Arion Pedigrees statistics credit Savabeel with 1063 winners from 1449 runners. His 159 individual stakes winners include 36 at Group One level, the most recent of those being Belle Cheval (NZ) in the Vinery Stud Stakes (2000m) in Sydney in March. His under-rated son Von Hauke (NZ) finished third in the Group One Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) on June 13.
Savabeel’s progeny have starred over a range of distances, from sprinters like I Wish I Win (NZ) and National Weanling Sale graduate Jedibeel (NZ) to milers and middle-distance stars such as Atishu (NZ), Probabeel (NZ), Shillelagh (NZ), Orchestral (NZ) and Provence (NZ), up to two-mile feature winners Sangster (NZ) and Savaria (NZ).
Savabeel is synonymous with the Karaka sale ring, where four of his yearlings have broken the million-dollar barrier and have sold for up to $2.4m. His average price through Karaka 2024, Karaka 2025 and Karaka 2026 is in excess of $257,000.
Two Savabeel weanlings will be offered during the National Weanling Sale.
Super Seth
Global powerhouse Coolmore bought Super Seth from Waikato Stud earlier this year for a figure believed to be around $70m, and his service fee will soar from $75,000 to A$137,500 for his upcoming first season in the Hunter Valley. But the phenomenal young stallion’s influence will continue to be felt in New Zealand for years to come.
Super Seth is the sire of 78 winners from 138 runners, with 10 individual stakes winners. His first two crops have produced an extraordinary four Group One winners, three of them in Australia – Feroce (NZ) in the Australian Guineas (1600m), Linebacker (NZ) in the Randwick Guineas (1600m), Maison Louis (NZ) in the Queensland Derby (2400m), and in New Zealand, La Dorada (NZ) in the Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m).
Super Seth’s yearlings have been keenly sought after in the Karaka sale ring, selling for up to $700,000, and his average through Karaka 2024, Karaka 2025 and Karaka 2026 has been more than $140,000 (including an average of $189,500 in Book 1 of Karaka 2026). As his final New Zealand-conceived crops come through, that demand is only likely to increase.
The catalogue for the National Weanling Sale at Karaka features ten members of Super Seth’s second-to-last New Zealand crop.
Sword of State
Another young stallion who has made an incredible start to his stud career is Sword Of State, whose service fee at Cambridge Stud has risen to $50,000 for the upcoming season.
Himself a champion two-year-old who won the Group One Sistema Stakes (1200m), Sword Of State has passed that brilliance on to his first-crop progeny, with two Australian stakes winners – Warwoven in the Group Three Pago Pago Stakes (1200m) and Torture (NZ) in the Listed Debutant Stakes (1000m). Torture also ran third in the $1m Karaka Millions 2YO (1200m), while State Of Valour (NZ) filled the same placing in the Group One Sistema Stakes (1200m).
Buyers have wasted no time in jumping on board with Sword Of State. He sired the $1.1m sale-topper in Book 1 of Karaka 2026 earlier this year, and he has also had yearlings sell for $540,000, $475,000, $425,000, $420,000 and $400,000. His average price across Karaka 2025 and Karaka 2026 is $162,324.
There are 11 weanlings by Sword Of State catalogued for the National Weanling Sale at Karaka this month.
NZB's National Weanling Sale will take place at the Karaka Sales Centre on Thursday 25 June 2026 from 11am (NZT).
All weanlings offered are eligible to be nominated for NZB’s lucrative Karaka Millions Series featuring the TAB Karaka Millions 2YO (1200m) and the TAB Karaka Millions 3YO (1600m).
For more information about the Sale, contact NZB Bloodstock Sales Manager Kane Jones on +64 27 274 4985 or email Kane.Jones@nzb.co.nz.
