Lonhro popular at Karaka

$580,000 colt changes hands in New Zealand as his sire flies high in the second-crop stallion table

Darley sires enjoyed a great sale at Karaka with the very few representatives that they had in New Zealand’s premier auction. Unsurprisingly Lonhro and Street Cry, who are both on the crest of a wave just now, featured among the sires of the most popular Australian-bred yearlings.

The only Street Cry in the sale made $400,000 to the bid of astute South Australian horseman Les Samba – making this son of the Dream Well mare Dream Lass the most expensive Street Cry yearling ever sold in the southern hemisphere – while Lonhro fared even better, his son of the Group One-winning Sea Road mare Camino Rose, consigned by Rich Hill Thoroughbreds, fetching $580,000 to the bid of Michael Stedman Bloodstock (NSW).  This colt is very closely related to the promising Peter Snowden-trained Lonhro juvenile Red Pixie, who went into many notebooks on 3rd January when finishing a very promising second on debut at Randwick.

 It is no surprise that Lonhro’s stock should be proving so popular just now, because the young stallion is riding high in Australia’s second-season sires’ table, along with fellow Darley sires Reset and Exceed And Excel.  Reset is leading the financial table courtesy of Rebel Raider’s great victory in the Victoria Derby, but the order is different when viewed by number of winners: Exceed And Excel leads that table with 29 winners, followed by Lonhro (19) and Reset (18) in an all-Darley trifecta.

These great results bode very well for Darley-sired yearlings at future sales, with Lonhro’s representation of 14 sons and daughters in the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale being something particularly to look forward to.