Moody makes play for $500,000 Exceed And Excel filly
Savabeel colt also fetches six-figure sum as vibrant Book 1 sale at Karaka comes to a close
Two $500,000 lots have brought the curtain down on what investors on both sides of the fence deemed to be a successful three-day Book 1 New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Yearling Sale.
The Exceed And Excel (Danehill) filly and a Savabeel (Zabeel) colt rounded out the session, which followed on from a Pierro (Lonhro) colt making $900,000 and another son of Savabeel fetching $875,000 earlier in the week to take top honours.
Melbourne-based Peter Moody, who has signalled his intent to reapply for his trainer’s licence in the near future, was the one to sign for the first of the session-topping horses to go through the ring yesterday, securing the daughter of Exceed And Excel for Ron and Judy Wanless.
The prominent Queensland-based owners have been long-time supporters of Moody, providing him with 2001 Victoria Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) winner Amalfi (Carnegie), the trainer’s first of 56 victories at the highest level.
“She’s a lovely filly who had great quality about her,” Moody said.
“Trelawney Stud is an unbelievable nursery and a farm that I’ve had a lot of success with personally and with clients of mine as well.
“She is just a bloody nice filly with good quality.
“She’s got to make her own pedigree as she is a little bit light in the first dam, but she looks like she has the quality to do it.
“You know the family is going to be bred up around her as Trelawney are such great breeders, but let’s hope she can stamp her own authority without worrying about family members carrying the flag for her.”
The filly is the second foal out of the unraced mare Gallwitz (Bernardini), who is a half-sister to joint top Australasian three-year-old of 2010-11, the dual Group 3 winner and Group 1-placed Retrieve (Rahy), as well as stakes winners Reparations (Exceed And Excel) and Abduction (Street Cry). Her second dam, Hold To Ransom (Red Ransom), was also successful in obtaining black-type, scoring in a Listed race at Royal Ascot. She was catalogued as Lot 614.
Moody confirmed on Saturday that he intends to reapply for his trainer’s licence after a four-year absence from the Victorian ranks, but yesterday stopped short of saying whether he would prepare his latest acquisition.
“We’ll have a chat about that later as there’s no reason to rush into that as I’m not even a licensed racehorse trainer at the moment,” he said.
“There wouldn’t be a licensed trainer in the land that wouldn’t like to see that filly walk through their gate.”
The filly continued a stellar sale for vendor Trelawney Stud, who sold 11 yearlings at the Book 1 auction to be the leading consignor by average at $314,545.
Gallwitz was purchased by agent Bruce Perry at the 2017 Magic Millions Gold Coast National Broodmare Sale for AU$320,000.
“I bought the mare from Darley when she was in foal to Medaglia d’Oro,” Trelawney Stud’s Brent Taylor said.
“I loved the family but I had one or two doubts about Bernadini. However, I have since been ‘put right’ by a few people. His mares have produced something like ten Group winners.
“I planned the mating with Exceed And Excel and she is a truly beautiful filly. The mare has a filly foal at foot by Savabeel and is back in foal to him.”
Taylor added: “Our staff have been fantastic and I am very proud of them because we have had an outstanding sale. I’m not sure if it is a record, but an outstanding sale.”
New client to race Savabeel colt with Te Akau
Te Akau’s David Ellis admitted on Monday that he was used to buying “everything on spec” and then on-selling the yearlings to current and new owners, but yesterday’s $500,000 equal session-topping Savabeel colt already has an owner lined up.
“I bought him for a brand new client of Te Akau’s who wanted a really nice colt,” Ellis said.
“We trained a full-sister to the colt that we won the Matamata Breeders’ Stakes with, Gold Fever.
“She was a real two-year-old and I thought this colt was very precocious from a precocious family and he will race in the tangerine.
“It is a nick with Savabeel that has been really successful.”
The Waikato Stud-consigned colt, who was catalogued as Lot 626, is a son of blue hen and Group 2 winner Gold Rocks (Oratorio), who has already produced three stakes winners from four foals to race.
They include Gold Fever (Savabeel), the Lance O’Sullivan-trained Gold Rush (So You Think) and ATC Gimcrack Stakes (Listed, 1000m) winner Calaverite (Lonhro).
The sale of the Savabeel colt capped a strong auction for Waikato Stud and owner Mark Chittick, whose operation claimed the leading vendor title (by aggregate) for the eighth year in succession.
Chittick paid tribute to his staff by leading the last Waikato Stud-consigned yearling through the ring, a Sacred Falls (O’Reilly) filly, who made $32,500.
“It’s all over for another year although the work starts again tomorrow,” Chittick said.
“We’ve had a good, steady sale and I’m really proud of the homes these horses have found and they will get every opportunity from now on.
“At the end of the day, my leading that last lot through is a salute to my team who have worked so hard all the way through these horses lives, and especially in the last week or ten days.”
Waikato Stud’s draft has been underpinned by their champion stallion Savabeel, but Chittick also took satisfaction from the way the progeny of the farm’s first season sire Tivaci (High Chaparral) was received by the market.
“We’ve known all along that we’ve had really good types (by Tivaci) but we weren’t making too much noise about it,” he said.
“These guys (buyers) are the ones looking at them and they are the experts. They’ve sold really well and once again, gone to very good homes and will get every chance.
“I’m delighted to see those who have supported Tivaci do so well as when you secure a stallion like this it’s a pretty big job.
“Trelawney Stud, who sold one for $500,000 and another for $300,000, are amongst a bunch of really good supporters. For them to breed two such lovely horses and get those results is really satisfying.”
Coolmore Australia’s US Triple Crown-winning shuttler American Pharoah (Pioneerof The Nile) was the leading first season sire by average, with six lots selling at $265,833 apiece.
New Zealand’s Rich Hill Stud resident Vadamos (Monsun) was the leading local first season sire, with 21 yearlings selling at an average of $125,714.
Blueblood Snitzel filly makes $450,000
Earlier in the day, a filly from one of New Zealand’s best families by Australia’s champion sire Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) will remain in her home country after agent Phill Cataldo received an unexpected call to buy the valuable yearling on behalf of a new client.
The star filly hails from the family of stallions Darci Brahma (Danehill) and Burgundy (Redoute’s Choice) and she realised $460,000.
“She will stay in New Zealand for a new client of mine,” Cataldo said.
“They just rang out of the blue yesterday because they loved her pedigree.
“She is a lovely type and she vetted well and I would like to think we got her slightly under the odds, but I may have gone another bid or so as that is the beauty of the auction system.”
Bred and consigned by Sir Peter Vela’s Pencarrow Stud, the filly is the first foal out of the four-time winning, stakes-placed Encosta De Lago (Fairy King) mare Echezeaux, who is a half-sister to Darci Brahma and Burgundy and the stakes-placed Saperavi (Stravinsky).
Her second dam is the champion mare Grand Echezeaux (Zabeel), the 2000 Australasian Oaks (Gr 1, 2000m) winner who became a top-producing broodmare. She was catalogued as Lot 565.
Cataldo also revealed the new owner of the filly would take a long-term approach with her racing career.
“The plan would be to breed and race her, definitely. He has his own farm so she will go back there and give her a couple of months and then think about breaking her in,” he said.
“She doesn’t strike me as an early two-year-old. It sounded like he wanted to produce her as a late two-year-old, which is when the best racing is on, so I think we will just stick to that plan.
“It is so hard to buy into this family, especially being by Snitzel – that’s a real bonus.”
Pencarrow Stud’s Leon Casey said the filly met her reserve and that Sir Peter was excited by what was to come from the immediate family.
“We bred and raced the mare and she had some ability. She is a good size and the filly was a good size when she was born,” Casey said.
“Because Danehill and Redoute’s Choice crossed well with the family we thought Snitzel would be a good way to continue.
“We sent Echezeaux to U S Navy Flag this year and she has a colt by Tavistock at foot.”
Boys Get Paid…again
Little Avondale’s Savabeel (Zabeel) colt appeared to be a syndicator’s dream before he entered the sales ring mid-afternoon and so it proved, with Te Akau’s David Ellis and Go Racing’s Matt Allnutt going toe-to-toe at Karaka.
It was Go Racing who won the battle, securing Lot 557 for $270,000 to deliver a pinhooking windfall for the ever-growing Boys Get Paid punters club, who expanded their betting syndicate to the weanling market last year.
Allnutt admitted that Ellis was a formidable foe but was pleased to come out on top.
“To buy that horse, we are thrilled with it. He’s one we’ve had on our list right from the first time we looked at it and he was a bit of a must buy for us,” he said.
“It’s good to be supporting the vendors (Boys Get Paid) as they are fantastic for racing. What they did the other night at the Karaka Million was just outstanding.
“First and foremost, though, it was the horse we liked as we thought he was a real great mover and hopefully we can have a runner in the Karaka Million next year.”
A trainer for the colt is yet to be decided but Allnutt said expatriate Kiwi Chris Waller was a chance to handle the horse’s career in Australia.
Little Avondale Stud’s Sam Williams, who along with Michael Wallace bred the colt out of their mare Drappier (Pins), admitted his co-owners had led to him to “replenish the fridge a lot more frequently over the past week”.
“He was a neat horse. It was fortunate that Michael Wallace and I actually owned the mare. We bought her as a yearling and these boys were able to buy in and it was a great result,” Williams said.
“Also, well done to Micheal for having the foresight to put these boys into the Savabeel colt because ‘Savs’ are always going to sell.
“The colt having that publicity behind him is going to prove invaluable to any syndicator.”
Catalogued as Lot 557, he is the first foal for the placed mare Drappier, who is a sister to the Group 3 winner Crepe De Chine and Listed winner Glam Slam as well as a half-sister to Singapore’s 2006 champion older sprinter Arenti (O’Reilly).
Boys Get Paid ringleader Luke Kemeys, who orchestrated a $250,000 punters club at the Karaka Million meeting at Ellerslie on Saturday, said “I think that is the hardest my heart has been going all weekend – a bit more nervous than the punting”.
“We knew we had a good horse. It was just how well he matured and if the buyers were here, so happy days,” he said.
“The $270,000 is not bad. I think it is dearer than any house I have had.”
Kemeys detailed how the BGP syndicate created a successful pinhooking venture.
“We wanted to put together a syndicate to document the weanling to yearling process,” he said.
“I asked Michael Wallace if he could give us a hand to find something because I didn’t know what I was looking for.
“We were lucky enough to get the 50 per cent share of the Savabeel from Michael Wallace.
“I put the call out to the community to see who wanted to be involved and we had about 100 people say they would be interested in seeing how it all works.
“I think the best story was one of the lads saying ‘what the hell is a weanling?’ They wanted it explained to them what a weanling was and (once they understood) they ended up buying two shares.”
Strong Book 1 encouraging for New Zealand breeders
NZB managing director Andrew Seabrook said it was encouraging to see the 2020 sale finish slightly up on last year, despite a local racing industry that continues to be impeded by low and stagnant prize-money levels.
The Book 1 average of $138,698 was up marginally on 2019, while the median of $107,500 was up 7.5 per cent year on year. The clearance rate was at a healthy 79 per cent with Books 2 and 3 to go over the next three days.
“It was very encouraging to see the number of international and domestic buyers present over the past few days,” Seabrook said.
“The aggregate spend is on par with last year’s sale, with 21 less horses catalogued.
“We had a strong middle market generated by the Australians. We put a lot of effort into getting them here, so it’s great to see the vendors rewarded so well.”
Leading buyer Ellis, a title he has held for 15 consecutive years, was pleased that a significant number of Australian owners and trainers had embraced the NZB market.
“I think it has been a very good sale,” he said.
“There has been a lot of first season sires. We are desperate for new sires in New Zealand, so I am thrilled that the studs are giving it their best crack, and I thought the standard this year was very high and the sales series has been a huge success.
“I take my hat off to New Zealand Bloodstock, it is a company New Zealand should be very proud of.”
Ellis finished Book 1 with 28 new yearlings set to race under the Te Akau banner for a spend of $6.5 million.
“We bought yearlings from $15,000 through to $875,000, so we have horses at all price levels for all of our owners,” he said.
“The horses we are trying to buy are horses who can race at two. We like to see them out in the autumn, but the one proviso that we do have is they have to be able to train on at three, four, and five.
“Remarkably, all our Karaka Million horses all get better as they get older and last year Melody Belle, for example, won more Group 1 races than any other horse in the sale.”
Meanwhile, Black Caviar’s (Bel Esprit) trainer Peter Moody, who was the second leading buyer for the week having purchased nine yearlings, was pleased that many local vendors had been well rewarded in the sales ring.
“It is an unbelievably resilient industry where you can see fire, flood or famine in this part of the world and the industry has continued to grow,” he said.
“You have to respect that the breeders are a significant part of this industry and they race a lot of horses, so you can’t begrudge them getting their money in the sales ring.
“I’ve said it publicly that I think this (Karaka) is the best sales complex in the world and the New Zealand product has been consistently good for my entire career, so that’s why you continue to come back.
“Sadly, New Zealand needs to get their racing rejuvenated and part of their bloodstock, but the farms who breed winners continue to do it and that’s why I come back here.”
Local agent Phill Cataldo also commended the auction house and vendors for the stock brought to the sale.
“I think the sale is going really well and that’s really important for the vendors. We all know the hard times the industry is going through and the last thing we need is for the vendors to start hurting so I’m thrilled for them,” Cataldo said.
“New Zealand Bloodstock have done a fantastic job getting the buying bench they have and there are a lot of big-hitters here, including a lot of Australians, who are obviously the backbone of the sale and our industry to a point.
“I think there is a horse for everyone and every horse is finding it’s fair value.”
The Book 2 sale starts at 11am local time today.