International pedigrees come to the fore
Pencarrow Stud’s Sir Peter Vela, the owner of NZB, also received just reward for his investment at the high-end of the market, selling a Super Seth (Dundeel) colt with a “stallion’s pedigree” for $700,000 and a son of Juddmonte’s Kingman (Invincible Spirit) for $650,000.
The colts were bought by Patella Bloodstock’s Mike Kneebone and Boomer Bloodstock’s Craig Rounsefell on behalf of the Hong Kong Jockey Club respectively.
The first of the pair to sell was Lot 146, the Super Seth half-brother to the Cambridge Stud-owned Group 2-winning filly Zourion (Zoustar) and the black type-winning, Group 1-placed Pearl Of Alsace (Tavistock).
The colt is the fifth foal out of Irion (Danroad), a four-time winner who was twice stakes-placed, and he also hails from the family of the prolific producer Dopff (Tights), Pussy Willow (O’Reilly), Pussy O’Reilly (O’Reilly) and Valpolicella (Red Ransom).
Acting on behalf of Hong Kong clients, Kneebone was determined to secure the colt from the moment he saw him.
“We’re really excited as when I first got over to New Zealand last Saturday as soon as I saw him come out of the box I was very keen on him,” said Kneebone, who is also NZB’s business development manager and auctioneer.
“I thought he was going to be around that $400,000 to $500,000 mark, but my people were really strong on him and said, ‘if you like him, keep going’.”
Kneebone and the colt’s new owners will let the dust settle before making any decisions on his future.
“So, we’re not in any rush with him. We will send him out to the farm to be broken in and then decide on a trainer as we go forward,” he said.
“We haven’t really thought about that too much at this stage. We wanted to get a colt and we were looking for one who probably had a stallion’s pedigree.
“If you’re lucky enough to get one to win a Group 1 race or go on to be a very, very good racehorse, we felt he had that pedigree to go with the quality and as you can see, the mare produces a really nice type.”
Kneebone bought three horses for the same owners at last year’s NZB sale with a view to racing them in Australia, but his latest purchase could stay in New Zealand.
He said: “We thought that [Group 1 win] might be in Australia but since the announcements from Entain and all the positiveness in New Zealand, that’s all of a sudden a big possibility for us now and that’s one of the reasons why we’re not discounting New Zealand for his initial racing.”
Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) Super Seth, who stands at Waikato Stud, has sired two first crop two-year-old winners so far this season from five runners,
Meanwhile, Rounsefell believes Kingman, the sire of last season’s Ciaron Maher-trained JJ Atkins (Gr 1, 1600m) winner King Colorado and 75 stakes winners globally, has the credentials for his offspring to be a success in the cauldrons of Sha Tin and Happy Valley.
The Jockey Club’s purchase is the first foal out of Marsden Cross (Camelot), a placed half-sister to European Listed winner Many Colours (Green Desert), herself the dam of Group 1 winner Mother Earth (Zoffany) and Group winners Night Colours (Night Of Thunder) and Ocean Jewel (Sioux Nation).
“This horse had a great temperament and he is a rock-solid horse from a good farm,” Rounsefell said of the “smashing horse on type”.
“There’s some different families and different stallions over here that we’re looking at, and across a whole range of budgets.
“We’ve got a good shortlist after vetting, so we’ll see how we go. It’s been a fairly strong sale today, so it’s good to put that one on the board.”
The Jockey Club yearlings bought at Karaka this week will be sent to Tim Boland’s Limitless Lodge in New South Wales to be educated.
Pencarrow manager Leon Casey, whose stud grossed $2.995 million yesterday, said: “Sir Peter has added some new blood as he has a few mares in England. One is Marsden Cross whose family benefitted from a recent Group 1 update, Mother Earth, subsequent to his buying her.
“We knew he would sell well as there was strong interest. He made good money, more than we expected.
“The Super Seth colt has also had some black type injected since last year and was one of our most popular lots. His dam, who was raced by Sir Peter, is doing the job.”