Singapore prize-money cut threatens to affect Ready To Run Sale

Bosses at New Zealand Bloodstock (NZB) are hopeful the Singapore Turf Club's decision to slash prize-money in 2019 will not have a negative impact when their Ready To Run Sale kicks off on Wednesday.

Staged at Karaka, south of Auckland, the Ready To Run Sale is the southern hemisphere's most prolific source of breeze-up success, with a roll of honour boasting 17 Group 1 winners and 117 stakes successes overall.

Buyers from Singapore have long made the journey south hoping to source top talent to race at Kranji and while NZB officials are expecting many of the usual visitors to return this week, there is some trepidation that a reduction in purses in the city-state from January 1 could have a knock on effect.

Speaking to ANZ Bloodstock News on Monday, NZB director of business development Mike Kneebone said: "The Singapore Turf Club's decision to reduce some stake monies is not what we wanted to hear but it may turn out to be not so important. We will just have to wait and see."

On the outlook for the sale overall, he added: "As is often the case, the top lots will sort themselves out. Buyers know what they want. The signs are good however."

Discussing the development last week, NZB managing director Andrew Seabrook said: "Obviously we would rather see stakes money going up in our jurisdictions and Singapore is a very important market for us. It is not beautiful news, but hopefully it won’t impact us."

It has not all been bad news in the build-up to the two-day auction though, with a former graduate, Te Akau Shark, doing his bit to boost the sale's fortunes in recent weeks.

The four-year-old built on a Group 3 win last month to land the Group 2 Coupland Bakeries Mile in fine style and is now likely to head to Australia to chase Group 1 honours in the new year.

A total of 437 lots have been catalogued for this week's sale.

For complete coverage of racing and bloodstock in Australia and New Zealand, download ANZ Bloodstock News every day