Ellis Scores Full Sibling to Group 1 Winner Unforgotten

David Ellis has bought some of the best horses to race by champion Australian stallion Fastnet Rock , none more so than nine-time group 1-winning mare Avantage, but March 8 the Te Akau boss labeled an NZ$850,000 (US$583,537) daughter by Coolmore's flagbearer as possibly the best filly he had laid eyes on at Karaka.

The youngster to give cause to Ellis' effusive praise on Day 2 of the New Zealand Bloodstock Yearling Sale was the sister to James Boags Premium Australian Oaks (G1) winner Unforgotten and such was his admiration for the filly that he was prepared to take her home "at any cost."

The session's top lot at NZ$850,000, second only to the Savabeel  brother (Lot 161) to dual group 1-winning entire Mo'unga who made NZ$1 million ($684,913) on Day 1, the Fastnet Rock filly helped this year's Karaka sale maintain its improved year-on-year trade.

As of Tuesday, 281 horses had been sold for a combined NZ$41,142,500 ($28,244,902), up 19% year-on-year, while the average was also up by 17% to NZ$146,415 ($100,516). The Day 1 clearance rate increased 4% to 74% from its Day 1 figure and, as a result, it brought down the Day 1 average and median.

The median was NZ$100,000 ($68,651) after two days, the same mark which was achieved at the same stage of the 2021 sale.

"The two important statistics for us today are the clearance rising and an additional NZ$6 million ($4,119,084) being added to the aggregate year-on-year, so those two things have been very, very pleasing for us," NZB director of sales Danny Rolston said Tuesday evening. 

"Of course, the average is good, but seeing that aggregate going up and the clearance rising means that everyone is getting their fair share. 

"If you look at the top ten lots today, they were from ten different vendors, so the funds are getting spread around."

Day 2 belonged to Te Akau's Ellis, who came away with two of the three highest-priced yearlings of the second session, and Unforgotten's sister, a filly who is by a stallion he knows so well, was always going to be on the radar. 

Not only has Ellis been associated with Avantage, but he has also bought top-class Fastnet Rock progeny such as group 1 winners Rock 'N' Pop, Heroic Valour, Age of Fire, and European group 1-performed Torcedor , and the Te Akau chief is confident his latest purchase by the stallion can live up to his expectations.

"I have been coming and buying yearlings here since 1988 and definitely in the last five to ten years I haven't seen a filly of more quality or athleticism and we were just determined to buy her at any cost," Ellis said.

"This is a stallion that leaves serious horses and this is one of the nicest fillies I have seen at Karaka in a long time.

"It is interesting that there are a lot of pedigree updates that are about to come on the page and we're just so excited to have her in our Four Fillies syndicate."

Bred by Coolmore and consigned by Curraghmore's Gordon Cunningham, just as Unforgotten was at the 2016 sale when bought by Guy Mulcaster and Chris Waller for NZ$360,000 ($232,344), the Fastnet Rock filly will join Te Akau Racing under the tutelage of trainer Mark Walker later this year.

She is the seventh foal out of the Galileo  mare Memories of You who also produced the stakes-placed Special Memories and the promising Chris Waller-trained gelding Yiyi (by No Nay Never ). She was cataloged as Lot 410.

The Fastnet Rock-Galileo cross has produced nine of the rising 21-year-old stallion's 42 individual group 1 winners and the cross has an excellent 20% stakes winners-to-runners strike rate.

"No one does a better job than Gordon Cunningham. He is a big supporter of Te Akau Racing and he is just a champion guy. His son, Liam, is a senior part of our stable and works in the colt barn looking after horses like Dynastic," Ellis said.

"We have had a great association with Coolmore. They bought Avantage for NZ$4.1 million (approx. $2,814,707) last year once she retired from racing with nine group 1 wins. They are very good friends of mine and great supporters of Te Akau Racing."

Curraghmore's Cunningham said: "The filly is equally as nice as Unforgotten. She has lots of similarities but a little bit more mature at the same stage.

"She was very popular from when inspections began in January and always presented like a top filly, much like her sister.

"I hope she will go on to be as successful and congratulations to Te Akau for securing a filly of the future." 

Unforgotten was sold for AU$2.75 million ($1,950,818) to Yulong at the conclusion of her racing career as the winner of six races and AU$1.56 million ($1,183,057) in prize-money and since joining Yuesheng Zhang's enviable broodmare band in 2020, she has produced an I Am Invincible  weanling filly and she was covered by Yulong's first-season sire Lucky Vega  last year.

"I think this filly is a Sires' Produce filly, she will come a bit earlier," Ellis suggested of his high-priced addition. 

"But she is a real One Thousand Guineas-Oaks filly, just an absolute crackerjack."

Ellis earlier bought a Zoustar filly possessing a pedigree littered with stakes winners to add to New Zealand's runaway leading stable in Te Akau.

The Te Akau principal and his team of incoming trainer Walker and the Hong Kong-bound Jamie Richards, as well as Joe Walls and Marcus Corban, bought the Pencarrow Stud-bred filly for NZ$475,000 ($326,094) as Lot 325.   

Residual value gets cited often when a filly is sold, but it's hard to argue that the daughter of Widden Stud's Zoustar, the third foal out of the four-time winner and dual group-placed mare Irion, won't carry considerable currency as a broodmare when her racing career is over.  

The filly's dam Irion is a half sister to the stakes-placed Octapussy, herself the mother of stakes winners Pussy Willow, Pussy O'Reilly, and Inside Agent, as well as Riesling, the dam of group 3 winner and three-time stakes producer Valpolicella, and Elusive Dreams (Elusive City) and Pineau, who each have also produced stakes winners. 

Ellis has so far purchased 26 yearlings for a total spend of NZ$6,365,000 ($4,369,662) at an average of NZ$244,808 ($168,064), maintaining his position at the top of the leading buyer by aggregate table for a 17th straight year, while syndicator Go Racing has bought ten yearlings for a total of NZ$1,625,000 ($1,115,585).

Kelt Backs Perry's Judgment

New Zealand Derby (G1)-winning owner Sam Kelt has reaffirmed his love for racing and is reinvesting heavily in the sport more than a decade after the banker was brought to his knees following the collapse of his financial business.  

Kelt celebrated group 1 success with his 3-year-old Asterix at Ellerslie March 5 and Tuesday, under the owner's instruction, agent Bruce Perry purchased a colt (Lot 333) by exciting young stallion Almanzor  for NZ$675,000 ($463,397).

"He is just a lovely athletic horse, a good pedigree with a bit of speed and he has a beautiful temperament," said Perry, who also selected NZ$450,000 ($311,544) purchase Asterix at the 2020 NZB Ready to Run Sale for Kelt. 

"We're pretty exposed to the Almanzors and we're very happy with where we are at, so we were confident to go again, and we thought he was one of the nicest horses, one of the top two or three colts in the sale."

Kelt was not at Karaka when the colt went through the ring, but he had given Perry his tick of approval.

"This is the horse I said he should have a look at and he fell in love with him," the agent said.

Offered as Lot 333 by Cambridge Stud, where Almanzor shuttles, the colt is the second foal out of the twice-winning Its Our Showtime, herself a half sister to Western Australian owner Bob Peters' group 1-winning mare Inspirational Girl, the winner of last Saturday's Tab Blamey Stakes (G2) at Flemington.

As well as having a number of Almanzor 2-year-olds under management, Perry was also familiar with the colt's dam side, having bought Its Our Showtime for AU$150,000 ($103,845) at the 2019 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale.

"I actually bought the dam for David Redvers to go to Roaring Lion , then Brendan and Jo bought half, and with the unfortunate passing of Roaring Lion, David sold out to Brendan and Jo," Perry revealed.

"They (Almanzors) are taking time, as we expected, but we've got a lovely horse in (the Stephen Marsh-trained) Andalus who has had a group 2 and a group 3 placing in two starts, and he will make a lovely older horse."

Its Our Showtime's first foal, a filly by So You Think , was bought by Trent Busuttin, Natalie Young, and agent Jim Clarke at last year's Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale for AU$220,000 (169,580).

"Bruce (Perry) has really thrown his weight behind the stallion (Almanzor) and has promoted him almost as strongly as we have," Cambridge Stud's Henry Plumptre said.

"He must have bought eight or ten over the last couple of years, and I must say, it is really great to see Sam Kelt back in the industry. 

"That is a good sign as we need more Kiwis to back the industry."

While Lance O'Sullivan and Andrew Scott train Asterix for Kelt, no decision has been made about who will prepare the son of Almanzor for the owner.

Perry said the market had been "reasonably strong" and admitted to being outbid on four or five horses early in yesterday's session.

"They're just focusing on those top lots, as they do, but when you are reflecting back you think, 'gee, that was a cheap horse'," the agent said. 

"The depth is there to an extent, but you'd love to see more Australians here. However, that's no one's fault."

Meanwhile, Waikato Stud heads the leading vendor table, so far selling 27 yearlings for a total of NZ$4,785,000 ($3,284,969), with Cambridge Stud in second, parting with 24 yearlings for an aggregate of NZ$4,045,000 ($2,776,949).

Milan Park leads the vendor by average table, selling seven yearlings for an average of NZ$230,714 ($158,388), while Trelawney Stud has also sold seven yearlings for an average of NZ$222,143 ($152,504).

The final session of the Book 1 Karaka Sale starts March 9 at 11 a.m. local time.