AUCKLAND THOROUGHBRED YEARLING SALE.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1391, 21 December 1916, Page 24

AUCKLAND THOROUGHBRED YEARLING SALE.

The annual sale of thoroughbred yearlings is to be held at the Auckland Show Grounds, Epsom, this year on December 30th, to suit the convenience of a majority of visiting sportsmen, and so that the sale will not clash with the racing on the same day at Alexandra Park adjoining, the time fixed for the sale to start is 9 a.m. With fifty lots to get through, the auctioneer, Mr. IH. O. Nolan, who officiates for the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, will have quite a presentable menu for the delectation of his audience when they come into the ring. All the vendors are well-known breeders, having been previously represented, most of them from well-established studs. A careful perusal of the catalogue will satisfy those who have acquaintance with stud book history and the records of past racing, which are inseparably bound when it comes to the selecting of racing material, that there should be some very choice lots in the market for selection. Would-be purchasers do not need to be reminded how the stakes have been increased from year to year, until they have reached a value which places the owner in a better position than he has previously been since racing became so largely dependent upon the receipts from the totalisator. If the well-bred, well-reared racehorse in embryo does not sell for its fair value under such favourable conditions, then breeders must look for some other reason for the cause. We can see no reason why the yearlings should not sell exceptionally well this year. There is no lack of money, and the cost of keeping a racehorse has not materially increased. If it costs a little more for fodder and training, there has been full conpensation in the lower cost of entrance fees and the increased value of the prizes, for

which, however, there is an increase in the number of competing horses. The fifty lots to be sold comprise eleven from the stud of Mr. G. P. Donnelly, ten of them by the imported horse Demosthenes, for which it can be claimed that in his first year he

has left the most brilliant colt this season bred in the Dominion in Simon ides, who, after winning the Taita Nursery at Trentham, won the Welcome Stakes at Riccarton in brilliant style, as also did Sweet Tipperary, who has a half-sister in the list.

Simonides made the top price, 500gns., at the sale last year, and has justified his purchase. Formative, Mr. Donnelly’s other sire, has a good one to represent him this season in Form Up. The Waikanae Stud comes next on the list w’th nine lots, Bezonian,

Birkenhead, Achilles, Martian and Menschikoff being the sires represented, and each has been proved. Martian is and has been at the head of the list of winner getters in New Zealand for some years. Birkenhead has a splendid average, only beaten

for so long a period by Soult’s returns. Achilles was higher up the winning list last year than previously, and Menschikoff, whose chances were not so good as any of those mentioned, has nevertheless left some good ones, Armlet being his best. As for Bezonian, he has been doing better, and it

is pretty well certain that Bisogne is the best four-year-old colt in the Dominion to-day. We have no hesitation in expressing that view. Mr. H. R. McKenzie has seven lots, all by Soult’s good son Elysian, five of them being colts. A full-sister to Sutala, a full-brother to Koesian, a half-brother to Lady Penury, a halfsister to Tenacious, and. colts from Cyirma, Hamadryad and Delania being included. The Ascot Stud lot should be in request, as Elysian is working his way into prominence. Lady Elysian, one of his gets, won seven races last season at two years old in Australia.

Mr. W. Waters has four lots, each by imported Marble Aich, who has been doing good service through his progeny. Gwent, one of his sons, this season Avon so brilliantly at Avondale and Ellerslie that he was claimed to be the fastest of his age seen out at Ellerslie for a long time. An unfortunate accident terminated his life within half an hour of his last brilliant success. Mullingar is one of his good advertisements, and a full-brother is included in the lots, and a half-brother to General Latour, who was a good one.

Mr. W. Dunn has three lots by the same sire and one by General Latour. There is a colt from Monella, who is by Monoform, who represents the Pulchra —Formosa —Eller branch of the eighteen family, while Monella herself descends from the Flora McIvor branch of the same line, and there is even more doubling up of the same branches in Arch Lassie, a filly, and less in Statuette, who is from

Seatonella, who is from the same granddam, Amorelle. Mr. Geo. Currie, of Wanganui;, has two colts and a filly by King Rufus, son of William Rufus, and a filly by Harrow from Fairy Tale, and each are come well on their dam’s side. The colt from the Soult mare Coridamine goes back to imported Mermaid, the colt from Fairy Tale is half-bro-ther to a lot of winners, the filly from Marsala traces back to Queen Mary, and the filly from Carmania comes of the I'ne that gave us Chester, Solution, Merry Roe, Miss Delaval, and Master Delaval. r;

Mr. T. H. Lowry has a brace of geldings by Finland, who stands well up in the sire’s list again. One is from the Birkenhead mare Trebelli, who is from the Goldsbrough mare Cantatrice, dam of Downfall, and the other is from the Stepniak mare Misinform, who comes of the same line as many good performers, including Menschikoff, First Lord, etc.

There are two other lots bred in New Zealand. Mr. A. Batch has a filly by Birkenhead from Lady Hume, the well-remembered daughter of Cuirassier, and Mr. F. C. Caulton has a filly by Carl Rosa (sire of Waiuta) from Mottle, a sister to Tortulla, a New Zealand Cup winner.

Mr. W. Paterson, of Mot ti, will have two well-grown colts by Monoform. They are respectively from Postscore, who comes of the same family as Merganser, Brigand, Teksum and Depredation, and from Quiltette, half-sister by the Dreadnought horse Te Hapuka to Prince Merriwee, and a descendant of the Waterwitch—Mermaid family, so well known in the Dominion;

New Zealanders are less familiar with the breeding of Mr. Ewen W. Alison’s (jnr.) lots, four of which are from mares imported from the Old Land to Australia, the other lot, however, being Kallary, by Bobadil from the ex-New Zealand mare Ilium, by Albany. The sires represented are Poseidon, a great racehorse in Australia, who got this filly and the one from imported Forfar Gal, who is very dissimilar in contour and a commanding filly. The other three lots are by The Nut (1), brother to Lally, by Amphion (12), a great winner and sire of Sundridge. The first is from the Aurum mare Dainty Lady, by Surefoot, tracing back to Paradigm, of the famous Paraffin —Illuminata Gas fam ly; the next is from Pleasant Surprise by Orme, and is full of Galopin blood, tracing back to Alice Hawthorn. The colt is from Dudu (3). a daughter of Wolf Craig, from Cythera (imp.), by Cyllene from Stolen Love, by Buccaneer from True Love, by Sterling from Carmine, by Stockwell. This colt has plenty of sire blood. Mr. Alison’s yearlings were purchased in Australia as foals in order to introduce new blood. They are located at Takapuna, where they can be inspected. The whole of the lots will be on view a few days before the sale, and at the studs where they are bred.