Photo: supplied
During more than a decade as a vendor at the annual NZB Ready to Run Sale, Prima Park has risen through the ranks to become one of the go-to sources at the Karaka two-year-old auction.
The Matamata prep farm was amongst the headlines at last year’s Ready to Run Sale with second place on the aggregates table after selling 18 lots for a total of $3.66 million. The Prima Park draft was led by the second top lot, a Written Tycoon colt at $775,000, while an average price of just over $200,000 was fifth best on that table.
At the 2024 sale all 13 lots offered found new owners for a total return of $1.76 million and a top price of $370,000, while the two previous sales both saw receipts total more than $1 million.
Prima Park’s Ready to Run Sale ascendancy has coincided with operations becoming centralised on a property just north of Matamata purchased by the Van Dyk family nearly five years ago. Beginning with a blank canvas, they developed the 50-acre block as fit for purpose for Prima Park’s core activities centred on sales preparation, breaking and pre-training, complemented by a small racing string.
Right now it’s a hive of activity as the finishing touches are applied to another Ready to Run draft featuring immense depth in pedigree, type and potential. Additionally buoyed by some impressive statistics from the pre-sale breeze-ups, farm principal Kelly Van Dyk has every reason to be looking forward to presenting her class of 2026 at Karaka on November 18 and 19.
Photo credit: Trish Dunell
Leading the charge for Prima Park at the Te Rapa breeze-ups were Lots 35 and 206, sons of Tassort and Zousain who were paired up to run their final 200m in 10.19 and 10.24 seconds respectively – the two fastest times in this year’s catalogue. Little inferior was Lot 165, a colt by Lord Tanagloa, who recorded 10.39.
“It’s not just the time they run but how they do it, and I was happy to see all of ours step up and get through their breeze-ups so well,” Van Dyk observed. “Tassort and Zousain are two young stallions leaving plenty of winners, including up in Hong Kong. The Tassort is out of a mare by Hinchinbrook, who was the sire of one of our early Ready to Run graduates, the champion Hong Kong sprinter Beat The Clock.”
Another to impress in his 10.59 breeze-up was Lot 223, a colt by Written Tycoon from the multiple Group-winning Sebring mare Daisies, and an individual that Van Dyk has a lot of time for.
Photo: supplied
“The Written Tycoon colt that topped our draft last year was owned by Yulong and so is this one, so we’re very lucky to be able to offer horses of that calibre,” she said. “He’s a specimen of a horse – athletic, strong, handles himself well and really looks the part.
“Last year’s Written Tycoon, who’s now named Ace Tycoon, had three trials for Mark Forbes and won the last two impressively before being sent to James Cummings up in Hong Kong. Talking to James in Sydney the other week, he told me he had just trialed at Sha Tin and was very impressive with Zac (Purton) in the saddle.”
Van Dyk isn’t short of material when detailing various members of her draft, with the progeny of leading stallions Exceed And Excel, Frankel, Too Darn Hot, Proisir, Sword Of State, Ace High and Grunt others in the mix.
“We’ve got three by the sire of the moment Sword Of State – a colt from Miss Selby (Lot 388), who was a very good galloper and is already the dam of four winners, a gelding (Lot 460) whose granddam was a Group One winner, and Lot 135, who’s the only filly in our draft but deserves to be there as she’s a really good sort.
“The Miss Selby colt is a neat, sharp type and the way he breezed he’s very obvious in this market. Our third Sword Of State is the last lot in the catalogue, but he’s also a lovely type, he breezed well and will be worth waiting for at the end of day two.”
Others that Van Dyk reverses special mention for are Lot 253, the Proisir colt from the well-related Street Cry mare Fiendish, and Lot 27, a colt by Satono Aladdin from the winning Redoute’s Choice mare Sinaloa.
“You wouldn’t find a better type than the Proisir colt, and he looked the part in his breeze-up. The Satono Aladdin colt is all quality, a lovely horse so typical of his sire’s best progeny.”
Van Dyk is confident that her draft will stand scrutiny, and just as importantly she believes that market indicators bode well for another strong auction in the tradition of the best-recognised and most successful sale of its type.
“There’s no reason why this shouldn’t be another successful Ready to Run Sale,” she commented. “The signs at lead-up sales over in Aussie have been good and buyers have so much faith in what NZB along with their vendors bring to the table.
“I haven’t looked much beyond our own draft, but I’m very happy with how it’s all coming together. As well as my staff and everyone else involved in the day-to-day stuff, a lot of the credit has to go to Bevan Smith, a bloodstock agent who has been an integral part of Prima Park’s journey working closely with us to source and select quality bloodstock.
Photo: supplied
“Bevan brings a wealth of knowledge, making him a vital part of our team. Our successful partnership has seen us select and develop some exceptional horses, including Group One winner Warmonger. We value Bevan’s expertise, friendship and shared passion for identifying the next generation of racing talent.”
For herself and her greatest supporters, parents Leighton and Louise, Van Dyk takes immense satisfaction from developing horses to Ready to Run Sale level, something that she sees as Prima Park’s specialist market.
“I find it more challenging to compete in the yearling market with the big stud operations, but with our set-up we’ve been able to take educating and developing horses to another level.
“Up until four or five years ago we had to outsource our horses for their breeze-up education and only have them for the final few weeks of their sales preparation. But now we’ve got everything here, most of them from the time they arrive from the yearling sales, breaking them in and taking them through the next steps.
“It’s the best thing we ever did for our business, buying this property and setting it up from scratch. Now we’re a one-stop shop, it’s only seven or eight minutes to the (Matamata) racecourse where our horses are exposed to a well-run training and racing environment.
“We’ve found that to be a perfect formula and buyers can take great confidence from that when it comes to considering our horses in their plans.”
