The upcoming New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Yearling Sales Series offers buyers the first opportunity to secure a yearling prospect by Stoney Bridge's first season sire Royal Gem.

Royal Gem entered stud at Stoney Bridge in 2007, following his smart racing career in America. A son of the renowned sire Royal Academy, Royal Gem was trained by the late Bobby Frankel in California and proved himself a tough, consistent performer over five seasons of racing on turf.

Unraced at two, Royal Gem debuted early as a three-year-old. He made his first appearance a winning one at Santa Anita in February 2002, triumphing over 1300m in a maiden special weight.

He returned to action a month later at the same venue, scoring over 1600m in stakes company before running a good third in April at Keeneland on the other side of the country.

The last three months of 2002 saw Royal Gem hit a rich vein of form, first with victory in the Grade 3 Bay Meadows Derby over 1800m and then a close-up third in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby to the top-class Johar.

Although Royal Gem didn't return to the winners' enclosure until October 2005 he ran with credit in several contests in California at distances up to 1800m.

A visit to Chicago's Hawthorne racetrack saw Royal Gem resume winning ways, triumphing over 1650m, and he was placed once more before retiring for a record of four victories and six placings from 21 starts.

Royal Gem is out of the Effervescing mare Tiffany's Gem who won five of her 21 starts, including a Listed contest. Tiffany's Gem has also produced the Grade 3 Bewitch Stakes winner The Seven Seas who was also Grade 1 placed.

Royal Gem covered a reported 79 mares in his first season at Stoney Bridge for 52 living foals, and 12 of those foals will come under the hammer as yearlings at Karaka next month.

Two of those will be offered during the Select section of the sales series. First into the ring is a black or grey filly out of the Fiesta Star mare Instant Divorce (lot 1066). This filly, offered by Seaton Park Ltd, is royally bred, being a half-sister to the 2009 Group 2 Wellington Cup victor Megapins from the family of the Group 2 winners Pay My Bail and Shifnal Prince.

Royal Gem's other Select sale entry is the final lot into the ring during the Select section (lot 1101). This chestnut colt is half-brother to the multiple winner Dylan (Cape Cross) who was Listed placed at three, and hails from a family of high-class performers in the US, including the Grade 1 Travers Stakes hero Corporate Report.

During the Festival portion of the sale, ten of Royal Gem's yearlings will go through the ring. These include a bay filly from Tuxedo Lodge (lot 1150), from the family of such top Australian performers Free At Last, Catchmeifyoucan, and Fair Sir.

From the south island comes a bay or brown colt (lot 1387), the first foal out of the Volksraad mare Volksetta who is out of a sister to the Group 1-placed and multiple winner Kaapstad Way.

Twin Pines offers a pair of Royal Gem fillies, starting with a daughter of the winning Straight Strike mare Agulira (lot 1412) from a family that has raced with great success in Australasia. Also catalogued is a filly out of the Grosvenor mare Dance The Dance, a three-parts sister to the triple Group 1 winner (Our) Westminster, and already the dam of three winners (lot 1499).

Lot 1462, a brown colt offered by Sebas Farm, is from one of the most outstanding families in the New Zealand studbook, that of the great mare Eight Carat. The colt is out of a Tale of The Cat mare, who is herself a half-sister to three winners.

Woodridge Farm offers two by Royal Gem, both bay colts. First up is a son of the Postponed mare Marbella. Marbella is a half-sister to the very promising sprinter Attackum, from the family of the Group 1 Australian Oaks heroine Coco Cobanna.

Also from Woodridge is lot 1469, out of the Woodman mare Chatham Miss, from the excellent family of the prolific US Grade 1 winner Bold 'N Determined.

Lot 1544, a bay colt offered by Te Runga Stud, hails from the great Bloomsbury Stud family that was founded in both hemispheres by the blue hen matriarch Mrs. Moss. Out of the winning Generous mare First Night, the colt is a half-brother to one winner from one runner, and his dam is out of a half-sister to the high-class Soviet Flash.

M.R Beange and P A Aird offer a colt out of the Dehere mare Golden Diva (lot 1558). A winner herself as a two-year-old, Golden Diva is already the dam of a dual winner in New Zealand and Singapore, as well as two placed runners, and is from an immediate family that has performed well in Australia.

Poplar Lodge consigns a very well-bred colt out of the Woodman mare Hayizah (lot 1569). The colt is a half-brother to Six Star, placed in the Group 3 Wellington Stakes prior to injury, from the family of such outstanding performers as Lake Champlain, Theatrical, Paradise Creek, and Taiki Blizzard.