With Southland’s yearling crop inspected Cran Dalgety has his homework completed and can’t wait for the National Yearling Sales to kick off at Karaka on Sunday.
The Kentuckiana Lodge trainer headed down south on Thursday to run his eye over dozens of yearlings across the province after already completing his inspections in the North Island and in Canterbury.
As always, the standard was high which meant the horses got more than just a casual glance from the trainer.
“It’s pretty well known that the standard down here is very high, it is horse heaven with the great grass and the good countryside the young stock grow up on," Cran Dalgety said.
“The yearlings were of a very high standard – that puts the pressure on us a little bit to critique them.”
“But I had a good look at them and went home with plenty of notes in my book.”
Having completed his inspections in Southland, Cran has seen almost all of the yearlings in the National Yearling Sales catalogue in the flesh.
That has helped him refine his list of potential purchases at Karaka and Christchurch down to a select few.
“We have done the miles and seen all but a handful of horses in the catalogue which we will inspect at the sales.”
“The homework is all done after months of studying the catalogue from back to front.”
“It is important to go into the sales prepared and knowing exactly what you want to bid on.”
“We won’t get every single horse on our list but we can go in with a bit of confidence that we will be taking home exactly the kind of yearlings we want – horses we can aim at Group One races in the next two seasons.”
Cran expects to be buying several horses from both the Auckland and Christchurch sales.
The trainer has had strong interest from existing owners looking to buy another racetrack stars to go alongside the ones they already have with Kentuckiana Lodge.
He has also had strong interest from new owners wanting to join the stable’s wave of success.
“We certainly plan to take home our fair share, we have loyal owners keen to get their hands on some more nice horses.”
“We also have had a lot of inquiries from new owners looking to get involved.”
“The way modern ownership has evolved, the days of one owner taking home one horse have passed.”
“We will be making our purchases available to our owners who want to take a third or a quarter share right down to 5% and below.”
“Certainly anyone interested in joining us is more than welcome to come on board.”
“We are buying horses to aim at the very best races and have had our share of success over the last couple of seasons.”
“If anyone would like to join the ride, they’re more than welcome.”
To find out more about being involved in ownership with Kentuckiana Lodge feel free to call Cran (027-436-0667) or Chrissie (027-278-9466).
Cran & Chrissie can also be reached via email at c.dalgety@xtra.co.nz .
