The man who ended Sir Patrick Hogan's 31 year stranglehold as king of the New Zealand sale ring says he's thankful to Sir Patrick for his support in getting his farm started.

Gordon Cunningham of Curraghmore Stud ended the long reign of Sir Patrick Hogan, who had earned more dollars than any other seller at the Premier Yearling Sale since 1982.

He did it with a number of quality horses, in particular 10 yearlings by the sale's leading sire Fastnet Rock.

Cunningham, 49, first came to New Zealand from Ireland in 1984. He established Curraghmore Stud near Hamilton in 1994 and first offered yearlings in 1998.

"I will always remember Patrick coming around to us that year and saying if there was anything he could do for us, don't hesitate to let me know, and he offered us horses to prepare for the sales.

"He's a great man for giving people a leg up and plenty of encouragement and support."

Sir Patrick was gracious at losing his title to Cunningham, saying he was "an asset to our industry", and also paid tribute to Sir Tristram and Zabeel, the stallions whose progeny helped keep him ahead in the sale ring.

"It hasn't been the fact that I've done anything great to achieve that result up to now, it's just that I've been fortunate enough to have the stallions that were able to make it for me."

In a Premier Sale catalogue which had 75 horses fewer than last year, the average was up from $NZ154,677 ($A124,855) last year to $NZ158,374 ($A127,839) and the median remained the same at $NZ120,000. ($A96,864)

The clearance rate was up from 74 per cent to 77 per cent.

The top price of the sale remained the $1.975 million ($A1.6 million) Fastnet Rock-Celebria colt sold by Curraghmore on Monday to Coolmore Stud, while the top filly was another Monday sale, the $800,000 paid by Alan Bell for a Zabeel half-sister to Fix.

Tuesday's best price was $775,000, paid by Peter Moody for a Pins half-brother to Cox Plate winner Ocean Park.

Moody, the underbidder on Monday's sale topping colt, said he was pleased to be able to secure Tuesday's highest priced yearling which was offered by Trelawney Stud.

"It's been a wonderful nursery for a number of years," Moody said after beating John O'Shea to the Pins-Sayyida colt.

"They bred my first Group One winner in Amalfi and I've trained a lot of winners off that farm since."

The leading individual buyer was Te Akau Racing's David Ellis. He bought 23 yearlings for a total of $3.81 million, led by a $620,000 High Chaparral-Our Echezeaux colt.