Photo: Kenton Wright (Race Images)
Haunui Farm will head to Karaka next week with a 51-strong draft for New Zealand Bloodstock’s National Yearling Sales, led by a number of blueblood fillies in Book 1.
“We have got a very nice draft of Book 1 yearlings and we have got some pretty special fillies in that draft,” Haunui Farm managing director Mark Chitty said.
Lot 345, the Savabeel filly out of Group Three performer Symphonic is set to garner plenty of interest, being a full-sister to multiple Group One winner and last season’s New Zealand Champion three-year-old Orchestral, while this year’s standout three-year-old Savaglee also features close-up in the pedigree, being out of a full-sister to Symphonic.
Chitty is also excited about the prospects of two other Savabeel fillies in his draft – lot 255, the filly out of Group One performer Rondinella, and lot 450, the filly out of Arabian Night, an Oasis Dream half-sister to Group Two winner Olaya.
“We have got three Savabeel fillies. The full-sister to Orchestral is a lovely filly,” Chitty said.
“We have another one out of Rondinella, who we raced from our foundation family. I think she is the ninth generation from that family that hails all the way back to a mare called Foxona, who we bought off Trelawney back in the mid-fifties, so there is a lot of history there.”
Chitty is also upbeat about the fillies by Little Avondale Stud stallion Per Incanto.
“We have a couple of nice Per Incanto fillies, including lot 123, out of Moet Belle,” he said. “She is a really nice, athletic filly. We also have a filly out of Black Mascara (lot 489), who was a handy race mare and a full-sister to a handy horse called Mascarinto.”
Haunui are also well represented by their colts in the Book 1 session, and they hope to kick their sale off positively when lot 18, the Proisir colt out of Group Two winner Irish Colleen, goes through the ring.
The colt is a half-brother to Group One performer Crosshaven and Group Three winner Killarney, and is a half-brother to the dam of Group One winner Crocetti.
“He is a really nice horse,” Chitty said.
Haunui’s draft has plenty of variety to offer prospective buyers, with a large number of stallions represented in their Karaka offering.
“Of the 50 yearlings we have got, 22 stallions are represented,” Chitty said. “That is one of the things we are tailored towards with a larger draft, which is a wide variety of stallions.”
Heading into the Book 2 session, Haunui’s shuttle stallion Ribchester is represented by half a dozen yearlings, while buyers also get one of their last chances to secure progeny of Haunui’s former stallion Belardo.
“We have got a couple of really nice yearlings by Ribchester,” Chitty said. “The filly out of Broadway Express (lot 984) is arguably pretty close to a Book 1 pedigree. She is a really nice, athletic filly.
“He also has a colt out of Tokyo Lil (lot 898), and a nice half-brother (lot 1057) to Whisky ‘N Roses, who performed well earlier in his three-year-old year.
“Belardo is a top five stallion in New Zealand at the moment, and we have got three yearling colts by him.
“There are no other Belardos, the only Belardo you are going to get is through Haunui. They are well worth looking at.”
Chitty is heading into the sale cautiously optimistic, but said Haunui is prepared to meet the market.
“The very good horses will sell well, but it will be a buyers market,” he said.
“Thankfully racing is where it is at at the moment in New Zealand, which is certainly a lot better than it was three or four years ago with stake money and opportunities.
“It will have its challenges, but we go there with a really nice crop of horses and we are there to meet the market.”
