Regal Farm principal Shane Crawford was an active participant during the first three days of the National Yearling sale at Karaka and on Thursday he was at it again on the first day of the Book 2 sale.

Crawford, along with Bond Li of Legend Bloodstock and Ross Lao and Andy Lau of Upper Bloodstock, combined to secure Lot 686, the colt by Inglewood Stud-based sire War Decree out of Savabeel mare Word Savvy for $150,000 from the Ralph Thoroughbreds draft.

The colt comes from a family dear to the heart of the Ralph family with multiple Group One winner The Message and stakes winner Keep The Message appearing on the catalogue page.

“We knew he was going to sell well, there were some big boys, good judges on him and there was lots of vetting,” Dylan Ralph said.

“The colt is easy to work with and loves his work. He never turned a hair since got here and paraded really well.

“We bought his dam with him at foot. Poppa, my grandfather, John Ralph, raced a number of horses from this family and this mare is the only mare left from this line. I felt it was important for us to involved again with the family.”

Crawford was pleased to secure the colt who he considered a standout at the sale.

“We liked the War Decrees and they sold well at the Ready To Run sale last year,” Crawford said.

“This colt was a standout today and we were pretty firm on him. 

“Being out of a Savabeel mare, he ticked a few boxes for us.

“I saw him here for the first time and he jumped out at us as a cracking type.

“We’ll leave him here and let him grow out and then he could come back for the Ready To Run sale or maybe even go to Australia.”

Crawford, who secured a Darci Brahma colt from the Wentwood Grange draft for $90,000 and a Pierro colt from the Milan Park draft for $160,000 during the Book 1 sale is keen to purchase several more youngsters over the last two days of the Book 2 sale.

“We got two on the first three days of the sale and we would like a few more from this one,” he said.

“We have our eyes on two of three tomorrow (Friday) and we will see what happens on Saturday as well.

“We are trying to pinhook and turn them over so we’re just trying to get a bit of value for money.”