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Sport Nation
Live sport on SN this weekendAuction room to the Racetrack: A century of Yearling Sales
Sport Nation • January 23rd, 2026 11:33 am
Lot 345, the Savabeel full-sister to Orchestral, sold for $2.4 million at New Zealand Bloodstock's National Yearling Sale | Photo: Kirstin Ledington
The 100th National Yearling Sale takes place at Karaka in South Auckland from Sunday, where tens of millions of dollars will be spent on thoroughbreds.
Because of the proven reputation of the New Zealand nursery for horses, there will be buyers from across the world, opening their cheque books, and some of these juveniles will go on to stardom in the biggest races on the global stage.
The sales are run by New Zealand Bloodstock and it’s Managing Director, Andrew Seabrook, spoke to Sport Nation’s Millsy and Guy about the sales that have been running continuously for 100 years.
According to Seabrook, “not even World War II, COVID or the floods three years ago when the airports were closed, could stop the sale going ahead.”
The sales were originally run at Trentham, alongside the Wellington Cup Carnival, but moved to Karaka in 1988.
Over the years, some of the superstars sold at the sales have included New Zealand’s greatest racehorse Phar Lap, racing megastar So You Think, and more recently, 14 x Group One winner Melody Belle.
Seabrook recounted being in the auditorium when Don Eduardo sold for over $3.5 million.
“You couldn't hear a pin drop for like five minutes and it just went from $100,000 to $3,600,000 and everyone could see the one bidder on the one side of the ring and the other bidder on the other side. It was like a tennis match.”
The star of last year’s sale was a full sister to New Zealand Group One winning horse Orchestral, which sold for $2.4 million to New Zealand businessman Glenn Ritchie.
Horses that are sold at Karaka are eligible to compete in future years for the Karaka Millions 2YO and the Karaka Millions 3YO race, to compete for million dollar purses.
Both of these races for are part of Ellerslie’s most glamourous meeting of the year on Saturday evening and this is the perfect entrée to the Yearling Sales.
Seabrook noted that the only way to get into the Karaka Millions races is by buying a horse at Karaka.
The meeting has been running for 19 years and has gone from strength to strength, and off track, the night is a fixture of Auckland’s social calendar.
On track the racing has an international cast with both leading jockeys and horses coming from across the Tasman aiming to plunder New Zealand riches.
Listen to Andrew Seabook’s full interview below:
