Photo: Angelique Bridson
Fresh from a pair of million-dollar successes at Ellerslie and another leading buyer title in Book 1, Te Akau Racing’s David Ellis remained in the headlines with some Book 2 fireworks at Karaka on Wednesday afternoon.
In the final hour of a solid opening day of trading in the Book 2 sale, Ellis secured the top-priced yearling of the day with his $260,000 purchase of Lot 855.
The filly by Satono Aladdin was offered by Brighthill Farm and is a full-sister to this month’s Gr.2 Eclipse Stakes (1200m) winner Too Sweet.
Ellis, who bid on the filly on the phone with bloodstock consultant Marcus Corban, has more than one reason to be familiar with this filly’s family.
Too Sweet has spent most of the last month at the Te Akau stable as part of a reciprocal agreement between trainer Roydon Bergerson and his son Sam, who trains for Te Akau alongside Mark Walker at Matamata. The Awapuni-based Too Sweet, who is also part-owned by Sam Bergerson, remained in the north between her Eclipse Stakes victory on New Year’s Day and an unplaced finish from a wide gate in Saturday’s Karaka Millions 2YO (1200m).
The sale-topping filly’s third dam Madame Echezeaux, meanwhile, is an unraced half-sister to the Group One performers and sires Darci Brahma and Burgundy, who were both purchased by Ellis for seven-figure prices as yearlings at Karaka.
“I was delighted to buy this filly today, and the demand that we’ve already had for shares in her just shows what a quality filly she is,” Ellis said. “She wouldn’t have been out of place in Book 1. We’ve already sold 80 percent of the shares in her.
“Having a classy two-year-old like Too Sweet as a full-sister is a tremendous advertisement for her, but I also thought she was just an outstanding individual in her own right. She stood out to me as a filly that would have every chance of making it to the Karaka Millions 2YO (1200m) this time next year.”
Ellis knows a thing or two about that race, having purchased eight of the last nine winners – Melody Belle, Avantage, Probabeel, Cool Aza Beel, On The Bubbles, Dynastic, Tokyo Tycoon and Saturday’s winner La Dorada. Damask Rose, who was runner-up in last year’s edition, returned on Saturday and went one better in the Karaka Millions 3YO (1600m).
“Another thing that stood out to me about this filly today is that she’s closely related to Darci Brahma and Burgundy,” Ellis said. “They both went on to successful careers on the racetrack and at stud, and I’ve always said that Burgundy is the fastest horse we’ve ever had at Te Akau. I wouldn’t be surprised if this filly had some of that brilliance as well.”
Lot 855 was the only purchase of the day for Ellis, who secured 26 yearlings from Book 1 for a total spend of $4,497,500.
“The quality of the yearlings at Karaka this year has been very high,” Ellis said. “It’s been a competitive buying bench, but I’ve felt that I’ve been able to buy the horses I wanted at what I thought was good value.
“It’s just so exciting to go around the farm today and look at some of these lovely young horses that we’ve bought. A lot of them will be racing in 12 moths’ time, and I can’t wait.”
The leading buyer on the opening day of Book 2 was respected bloodstock agent John Foote, who bought six colts for a total of $530,000 and an average price of $88,333. Five of his purchases are bound for Hong Kong, with the other set to head to Victoria.
“It’s been pretty good shopping today, really,” Foote said. “The horses have made their money, but not too high.
“You find some good opportunities when you stick around for Book 2 of the sale. There’s always nice horses here. We’ve bought some horses from this sale that have gone on to win good races in Hong Kong.
“When you buy from this second tier, you may have to give away a little bit in terms of pedigree, but I’ve never found that pedigree means too much when it comes to Hong Kong. You always try to buy as much pedigree as you can, but you’re really buying an athletic individual with a bit of size that looks like it can run.
“Stallion-wise, you don’t have to be too particular. There are winners by all sorts of stallions in Hong Kong, including some that do extremely well up there and don’t do so well here. You don’t have to be too fussy.”
Foote’s highest-priced purchase on Wednesday was Lot 686, a colt by first-season sire Noverre out of the Showcasing mare La Jolie Fille. A member of Ardsley Park’s draft, he was bought for $130,000.
“We didn’t buy any of Noverre’s progeny in the first book, but I was happy to buy one here because I thought he was the nicest one we saw,” Foote said.
Foote also made a pair of $100,000 purchases – a Hello Youmzain colt from the Kilgravin Lodge draft, and a Shocking colt from Rich Hill Stud.
“I said to Eion Kemp that I thought the Hello Youmzain colt should have been in the first book, and so did he,” Foote said. “I was pretty happy to get him today.
“Wrote is going very well in Hong Kong. I bought that colt for David Hall, who rang me up this afternoon and said he wanted to buy the horse.”
Foote also bought an Ardrossan colt for $80,000, a Reliable Man colt for $75,000 and a Shocking colt for $45,000.
“The Shocking will go to Victoria for a good client of mine who only buys stayers,” Foote said. “If they can’t run a mile and a half, he doesn’t want them. This horse fit the bill perfectly. He’s a lovely Shocking out of a Zabeel mare. There’s a lot of Zabeel in him and a lot of quality. For $45,000, he’s pretty good really.”
