Te Akau's David Ellis has been the top buyer at the 2010 Karaka Select Sale which concluded today.

Friday, Feb 5, 2010 - New Zealand Bloodstock reports: 

The stellar week of selling at Karaka continued right to the end of New Zealand Bloodstock's three-day Select Sale today, with a host of new highlights recorded for this session.

The appeal of Karaka's burgeoning Select Sale - the source of nine individual Group 1 winners last year - was evident as final figures sailed past last year's results. In the final analysis, 438 yearlings were sold for $22,927,500, a massive 35% increase in turnover compared with $17,039,000 for 456 sold last year.

This brings the combined aggregate at this point in the Sales Series to $88,301,000, the second highest aggregate ever recorded at Karaka, with two days of selling still to go.

The most impressive increase was the final sale average, up 40% from $37,366 to $52,346. As with turnover, this is also in excess of the 2009 and 2007 result.

The sale median held steady today at $40,000, up 33% on $30,000 last year.

The final clearance rate settled at 78%, a healthy increase on last year's 74%. To add to that, the Premier Sale clearance rate has edged up to 80% since selling finished on Tuesday evening.

Demonstrating the increased strength at the top of the market, seven yearlings sold for $200,000 or more, compared with just one last year, and 21 yearlings sold for $150,000 or more compared with just five last year (and 26 at 2008's record sale).

The leading buyer of the Select Sale is prominent New Zealand buyer, David Ellis, with 14 yearlings bought for $792,500.  Ellis's total purchases for the week are 28 lots for $4,167,500

NZB Co-Managing Director Petrea Vela said the impetus from Karaka's spectacular Premier session has flowed through to the past three days.

"When we were selecting for the sale this year we saw a host of yearlings that in years past might have been in Premier now featuring in the Select session so we knew the strength was there. But it has been great to see the buyers still hard at battle for the lots they want."