The first yearling sired by European Horse of the Year Frankel to be auctioned in the Southern Hemisphere was sold for NZ$1.3 million (US$843,232) during the Jan. 26 final day of the Karaka 2016 Premier Sale conducted by New Zealand Bloodstock.

On a day that saw significant gains to all key figures, the colt out of Our Echezeaux (Zabeel), cataloged as Lot 445, stole the show as Adrian Nicoll of BBA Ireland prevailed in a bidding duel with Peter Moody.

A syndicate of high-profile international identities combined to purchase the colt from Pencarrow Stud, including Nicoll, Tom Magnier of Coolmore Stud, Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum from Dubai, the Niarchos family from France, and Apollo Ng from Hong Kong.

"The two best Frankels I have seen have been this horse here and the filly at Goffs that sold for €1.7 million," Nicol said. "He's a lovely horse, he's got immense presence and we started trying to make this happen about three days ago."

Frankel, the son of Galileo who stands at Juddmonte's Banstead Manor Stud near Newmarket, was the leading sire by average for Book 1 of the Keeneland September yearling sale with two colts sold for an average of $650,000. He also was the leading sire by average at Arqana's August yearling sale, with six averaging €566,666 ($619,582).

With 316 horses sold, 18 more than last year, the aggregate for the two-day sale finished at NZ$55,687,500 ($36,121,100), an increase of 24% from last year and the highest figure for the sale since 2011.

The average price for the sale rose 17% to NZ$176,226 ($114,307), and the median price also increased by 17% to $140,000 ($90,810). All of these milestones were achieved at a clearance rate of 78%, better than last year's 75%.

"We are delighted with the results that have been achieved over the past two days," NZB's managing director Andrew Seabrook said in a statement. "An extremely diverse buying bench was active, leading to some great bidding spectacles in the ring.

"We achieved the best average since 2010 and the best aggregate and median since 2011 which shows the depth of the catalog. Credit must go to our vendors for putting together a catalog of great strength and for presenting their horses in immaculate condition."

David Ellis of Te Akau Racing was the leading buyer for a record 11th consecutive year at the Karaka Premier Sale, with 17 horses purchased for a total of $4,775,000 ($3,097,260).

The diverse buying bench was underpinned by 12 countries purchasing horses at the sale including Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Ireland, Japan, Macau, Netherlands, United Kingdom, USA, South Africa and Malaysia.

Featured in the top 10 individual buyers were China Horse Club and the Inner Mongolia Rider Horse Group (both China), Chris Waller and Ultra Thoroughbreds (Australia), the Hong Kong Jockey Club, and the international syndicate that purchased the top lot—along with kiwis David Ellis, Team Rogerson, Go Racing and Bruce Perry.

Australia was the leading country by spend, purchasing 135 horses for $22,870,000 ($14,834,400).

[www.bloodhorse.com]