Baker goes back to Little Avondale well
Earlier in the afternoon, Sam Williams has compared his and wife Catriona’s Savabeel colt, who was bought by Bjorn Baker and Jim Clarke for $525,000, to another Little Avondale-bred stakes winner by the same sire in Addictive Nature.
The colt is the second foal out of two-time winner Alam Mo Na (High Chaparral), herself a daughter of Group 3 winner Queen Of The Hill (Danehill).
Also a stakes-winning two-year-old, Queen Of The Hill is a half-sister to the influential sire Northern Meteor (Encosta De Lago).
It was a stroke of good fortune that Alam Mo Na ended up under the Williams’ ownership.
“I was at the Magic Millions broodmare sale and I was sitting at the table with Kris Lees who said to Bruce Perry: ‘I’ve got this mare for sale who just won by five lengths yesterday. Do you know anyone who would be interested?’,” Sam Williams recalled.
“Bruce looked at me and I looked at him. Kris showed us the page, so we went down to his [Gold Coast] stables, took one look at her and I said, ‘I’ll take her’.”
The first foal is a Too Darn Hot (Dubawi) two-year-old who will be trained in Hong Kong by Jamie Richards with the trainer having teamed up with Andrew Williams to buy the youngster for $200,000 at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale last year. Yesterday’s colt is second foal out of the mare and one described by Williams as “the best Savabeel we’ve bred since Addictive Nature”.
Tony Fung Investments, which raced Group 1-winning stallion prospect Mo’Unga (Savabeel), was the underbidder on the colt.
Baker trained Addictive Nature to win two of his first seven starts, including achieving black-type success in the 2017 Ming Dynasty Quality (Gr 3, 1400m), and he agreed with Williams’ assessment of his new recruit.
“Savabeel is one of the great stallions and he’s had a strong sale again,” said Baker. “They’re great horses and they win races. The more Savabeels I get, the more I’ll be able to stay competitive in Sydney, and that’s what it’s about.
“I was lucky enough to get a good Savabeel off Little Avondale a few years back, called Addictive Nature, and this guy reminded me a lot of him. He’s a good-looking horse, plenty of quality, and I can’t wait to get him into the stable.”
Baker added: “We’ll try and get him underway relatively quickly, and we’ll definitely sign up for the Karaka Millions – if not that, maybe we can get him back here for The [NZB] Kiwi when it’s a $4.5 million race.”
Baker also trained the Little Avondale-raced Group 3-winning mare Belluci Babe (Per Incanto) to win six races before being retired to stud. She has a Zoustar (Northern Meteor) colt at foot and was covered by Russian Revolution (Snitzel) in October.
Meanwhile, Kaha Nui’s Nick and Nicky White’s hard work at the weanling sales last year paid off yesterday, turning a $255,000 Deep Field (Northern Meteor) weanling into a $500,000 yearling.
Second season Hong Kong trainer Jamie Richards and agent Andrew Williams snapped up the colt, their sixth Book 1 purchase this week which are headed by a $725,000 Zoustar (Northern Meteor) colt they bought on day one.
The pinhooked colt bought out of the Middlebrook Valley Lodge draft at the Inglis Australian Weanling Sale is the fourth foal out of 900-metre winner Californiasurprise (I Am Invincible). His second dam Camporella (Exceed And Excel) won three stakes races in Perth as two-year-old.
“Deep Field has a real affinity with Hong Kong, and they’re not making any more of them. But first and foremost, he’s a beautiful colt – great colour and a lot of quality to him,” Richards said.
“He’s going to end up being a medium-sized horse, but he’s very athletic. I’m not sure when he’ll go up, but he’ll just go back to the farm and we’ll get him broken in and get him educated.”
The pensioned Deep Field, a champion sire in the Asian racing jurisdiction, has had 39 individual winners in Hong Kong, headed by Group 1-winning pair Sky Field and Voyage Bubble.
The first of three Book 2 sessions – a sale which has previously produced Group 1 winners Legarto (Proisir) and Sharp ‘N’ Smart (Redwood) – will start at 11am today.