Commanding result at New Zealand Premier

With no yearlings catalogued on day one of the Premier portion of the 2013 New Zealand Bloodstock yearling sale, Australia’s leading sire Commands had three colts go through the ring on the second day of the sale.

The first through the ring was the Kendayla Park Ltd-consigned lot 262, a colt out of the Stakes placed Summer Squall mare Momentous that went to the final bid of Mr DT O'Donnell of Hong Kong for NZ$160,000.

A handful of lots later, the Ascot Farm-consigned lot 275 paraded through the ring and was admired by many.

Out of the Stakes placed Bluebird mare Oh So Discreet, this colt is a half-relation to G2 winner Maybe Discreet (Shamardal) and the Stakes placed Exceed And Excel filly Always Discreet. Knocked down for NZ$425,000 to the Hong Kong Jockey Club, the colt is from an extensive Black type family that includes Be Discreet, She’s Discreet, I’m Discreet and Very Discreet.

The final Commands yearling to sell during the Premier session was lot 441 from the draft of Pencarrow Stud. Knocked down for NZ$320,000 to Queensland-based buyer LDM Ltd, the colt is out of the Zabeel mare Zygadene, making this colt bred on the successful cross that has produced dual G1 winner Purple and this season’s G1 Thousand Guineas winner Commanding Jewel.

Another Darley-sired yearling to sell well was lot 318 from the draft of Cambridge Stud. By Street Cry, the colt is out Rose Of Tralee, making him a half-brother to the three-time G1-winning mare Serenade Rose. Knocked down to DGR Thoroughbreds Services for NZ$360,000, the colt will head to the stable of Bart Cummings.

Commands ended the sale as the second leading sire on averages, while Street Cry finished in third. This was an extremely significant result for both stallions considering they both only had three yearlings sell each, while the leading sire on averages had much larger representation with 14 yearlings selling.

Darley's first-season sire Denman ended the sale with an average of NZ$135,000, only marginally behind the leading-first season sire of the sale, the locally-based Tavistock.