Field of dreams as Entain enters fillies market with Newgate
Henry Field has formed an alliance with international wagering giant Entain to race a group of fillies using the colts syndicate model employed by the Newgate Farm principal over the past decade.
The potent China Horse Club-Newgate partnership has netted Russian Revolution (Snitzel) and Wild Ruler (Snitzel) as valuable stallions on the roster of the Hunter Valley stud with three-time Group 1 winner Militarize (Dundeel) also set to join the ranks in the near future.
Field hopes to replicate that success buying fillies in conjunction with Entain, which operates betting brands Ladbrokes and Neds in Australia and was named as New Zealand TAB’s wagering partner last year in a 25-year deal that has injected hundreds of millions of dollars into the Kiwi racing industry.
“We’ve had a very successful colts structure for the past ten years, but we haven’t been much in the fillies’ market and they [Entain] thought there was an opportunity to work with us on the fillies’ side. I just love the fact these guys are throwing people into racing,” Field said.
“If we’re going to do it, we’re going to do it properly by trying to buy the best horses we can, so we felt it was worth putting the time into this project because these guys are doing such a good job of broadening the sport and increasing the ownership base.”
Early yesterday, Field and Entain’s Dan Cobby bought the Ardrossan (Redoute’s Choice) sister to the former Mike Moroney and Pam Gerard-trained stakes-placed Rezeki for $390,000.
Consigned by Elsdon Park, the filly is the fourth foal out of the unraced O’Misty (O’Reilly) who is a half-sister to Group 2-winning two-year-old Aotea Lad (Savabeel) and the Group 2-placed Safura (Almanzor). Three-year-old gelding Rezeki has recently been sold to Hong Kong-based trainer David Hall after four starts in New Zealand.
Field and Entain also paid $150,000 for a Proisir filly later in the session to go with a $230,000 Blue Point (Shamardal) filly out of the stakes-placed Le Castile (Dalghar) they bought on day one from the Riversley Park draft.
Newgate Bloodstock also signed for four fillies at the Magic Millions earlier this month to add to the Ladbrokes Racing Club and TAB Racing Club cohort.
“We’re going to break them up amongst trainers and certainly we’ll send them back to Australia, break them in [at Matt Vella’s at Hawkesbury] using that same system as our colts and we’ll manage them exactly the same way, then we’ll identify some trainers after they’re broken in,” Field said.
“That filly could easily come back here. She’s a real Karaka Millions sort of filly.”
They could race under either the Ladbrokes Racing Club or Entain’s New Zealand-affiliated TAB Racing Club and be retraded at the end of their racing careers through the Newgate Consignment at the various broodmare sales.
“We’ll take a patient approach with those fillies. We’ll have them educated and see where they fit best,” Entain’s general manager of ownership and participation Ryan Stanaway told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“The broodmare market has been extremely strong in recent years and for us it fulfils our objectives in terms of having some high-quality fillies and high-quality stock racing for the club, so there’s mutual benefit in it for both of us.”
Separately, Entain has also been buying yearlings at Karaka with various New Zealand-based trainers, including Te Akau’s Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson, Tony Pike and Roger James and Robert Wellwood, under the TAB Racing Club banner.
“We’re had the Ladbrokes Racing Club up and running for the best part of eight months and we’ve got close to 20,000 customers who are engaging with the club and getting them more engaged in racing,” Stanaway said.
“It’s part of our total business approach to doubling down our investment into racing and the industry and that’s being replicated here in New Zealand with the TAB Racing Club which we’ll launch more formally later this year.
“The kick–off point is purchasing some nice yearlings here at Karaka and our intention is to have representation from the very top to the very bottom of New Zealand with trainers in all regions.”
Entain has already partnered with Arrowfield Stud to race a number of horses under the company’s Ladbrokes Racing Club banner, the highest-profile recruit being talented sprinter Remarque (Snitzel).
Assessing trade so far at Karaka, Field said: “I have never really worked this market before, so it was interesting to really put the hours into this sale. I think it’s been like every sale, and similar to the Magic Millions, there’s a real focus on quality.
“It’s a bit sticky if you’ve got one that’s off the pace, but overall, decent-to-nice horses are selling very well and … I think it’s a very healthy market.”
Haunui Farm’s Mark Chitty held similar sentiments to Field on this week’s market.
“It is very pleasing to see our local trainers and syndicators competing with the international buyers,” he said.
“It is as strong as ever at the top, but buyers have choices and we are seeing fashion at play. Right now is an interesting point in time.”
The third and final Book 1 session starts at 10am.
Sale statistics – Days One and Two
2024 2023
Catalogued 480 440 Offered 430 395
Sold 331 (77%) 301 (76%)
Aggregate $58,745,500 (+27) $46,425,000
Average $177,479 (+15%) $154,236
Median $140,000 (3.7%) $135,000
Top Lot $1.6 million $750,000