Yearling selections have commenced

Posted on Posted in News, Ownership

We thoroughly enjoyed our annual November visit to New Zealand, grateful for the welcoming we received. We are also thankful for the opportunity to inspect yearlings ahead of their offering at the 2018 NZ Bloodstock National Yearling Sale at Karaka, in late January.

Time prevents a visit to each farm, stud and vendor. But we did manage to visit 18 different farms and inspect well over 400 yearlings.

Inspecting these yearlings at this early stage in their preparation before their auction, greatly assists Nigel in three ways.

Firstly, Nigel gets to see the colts and geldings closer to their “raw state”, before the additional workload and feed to have them in top condition at the sale. He loves to assess their development in the weeks leading up to the sale, including their physical makeup, attitude and behaviour.

Secondly, Nigel can eliminate some from the list to re-inspect in January, solely due to conformation. He doesn’t like doing this too much at this stage however. Type, size, strength and attitude can change significantly in a matter of weeks, requiring a more forgiving nature at this early stage of the selection process. But Nigel is less forgiving on some conformation faults.

Lastly, this process helps us engage you – our clients and prospective clients. Nigel has invested the time and energy to find the next crop of quality racehorses. With added research into pedigrees over coming weeks, we hope to involve you as much as possible in setting budgets and criteria upon which Nigel can base his selections and purchases.

We hope you are keen to join Blackiston Racing in the search for your next racehorse. Plans are being made to repeat this process ahead of Australian yearling sales, so please REGISTER YOUR INTEREST.