Savabeel On Top—Book 1 Opening Day at NZB Karaka Sale

A colt by Savabeel  stood tall on Day One of the New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Yearling Sale, while the champion stallion's Waikato Stud roster mate Super Seth was anointed as a possible future sire of racetrack stars, given his appeal during what was widely deemed to be a successful first session of the country's premier offering for 2023.

While things have changed, and for the better, with the reopening of the border and international buyers back in force for the first time since 2020, other aspects of Karaka stay the same, and so it was the case with Te Akau's David Ellis once again leading the way on the buying front.

The biggest buyer for the past 17 years, Ellis—as expected—made his mark by going to a session-topping NZ$625,000 (US$405,594) for a son of Savabeel, the most expensive of ten lots to sell for more than NZ$300,000 (US$194,685) yesterday. Three of the top five sellers were by Waikato Stud's Savabeel.

As the rain pelted down outside the newly named Sir Patrick Hogan auditorium at Karaka, Ellis maintained his traditional position seated to the right of the rostrum and he was able to win the bidding duel against Lindsay Park's Ben Hayes, stable bloodstock manager Josh Rix, and agent Dean Hawthorne for the impressive Windsor Park Stud-consigned colt.

The Lot 59-cataloged colt, who will be trained at Te Akau's Matamata stable by Mark Walker, is a brother to the Melbourne listed-winning filly Hindaam, who was trained firstly by Lindsay Park's David and Ben Hayes and Tom Dabernig, prior to her retirement in 2021.

Hindaam was purchased through the Shadwell dispersal at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale in 2021 for AU$1 million (US$775,260) by Melbourne-based agent Suman Hedge.

The latest sales ring star is the fifth foal out of Bayrock, a sister to group 1 winner Merchant Navy , group 2 winner and group 1-placed Jolie Bay and listed winner Setanta.

Te Akau has enjoyed enormous success with New Zealand's champion sire, with Ellis purchasing nine individual group 1 winners by Savabeel: Embellish , Noverre, Probabeel, Sword of Osman, Amarelinha, Prise de Fer, Hall of Fame, Cool Aza Beel, and The Perfect Pink.

"He's a ripper of a colt, by our champion sire Savabeel, out of a Fastnet Rock mare, and reared on one of the best farms in the world at Windsor Park," Ellis reasoned.

"I think this is the best colt that the filly has left and one of my picks of the sale, definitely one of the top two or three colts in the sale.

"He'll head home to Te Akau stud, have a good spell, be broken in, and we'll get him going at the stables in Matamata."

Windsor Park's Rodney Schick declared the colt's price as a fantastic result.

"He is a beautiful animal and DC (Ellis) is a fantastic judge. I am really excited about his racing future," Schick said.

"It is a beautiful page and Savabeel does such a great job, I am sure he is going to be well-represented on the racetrack with this colt."

Ellis also weighed in on the most talked about subject, the weather.

"We have never seen rain like this before at the sale," Ellis said. 

"It is just getting heavier and heavier. I am a farmer, so I like the rain in January, you just can't beat it. New Zealand is one big farm and we do it well.

"It probably keeps everyone in the auditorium where it's nice and warm and dry. It looks like it's a pretty strong sale at this stage and let's hope it continues."

Forsman Strikes for Savabeel Filly 

Te Akau's Ellis also made a high-stakes play for an Elsdon Park-bred daughter of Savabeel, but Cambridge trainer Andrew Forsman and agents Andrew Williams and Bevan Smith ensured they landed on an even number in order to secure the filly from the family of Members Joy and Pure Elation.

With the protagonists going back and forth, Ellis held the call at NZ$560,000 (US$363,412) with bidding going up in NZ$20,000 (US$12,979) amounts before the trainer and agent triumvirate made a calculated judgment to jump straight to NZ$600,000 (US$389,370). It proved to be a winning move as Ellis remained silent as the gavel came down.

One of just 11 fillies by Savabeel offered at this week's Karaka sale, which is a reflection on breeders' recognition of the champion sire and their willingness to retain his daughters to race, the Lib and Katrina Petagna-bred filly is the first foal out of the 1,200-meter winner Chiaretta, a half sister to listed winner Members Joy, herself the dam of Sir Owen Glenn's group 2 winner Pure Elation. She was cataloged as Lot 97.

The Petagnas, who also bred this season's exciting Forsman-trained stakes-winning 2-year-old—the Karaka Million runner-up Ethereal Star—bought Valachi Downs at Matamata last year and, having rebranded the property as Elsdon Park, are consigning yearlings at Karaka as a new entity for the first time in 2023.

"It is brilliant, I am very happy with that," an elated Lib Petagna said. 

"We only brought our best stock. The good fillies are here and they make their money when you bring your best stock.

"We made a big investment on the farm and have 35 foals on the ground. This is our first time selling under our own brand and we want to be seen as genuine vendors.

"Usually people see me as a buyer of racing stock, so the market needs to know they can buy good stock from us and selling Ethereal Star (last year) really helped."

Forsman was rapt to have added another quality filly to his Cambridge stable.

"She was a very neat type and very athletic. She looks to have that real Savabeel class about her and probably the sharpness of the mother as well. She was quite a good racehorse and hopefully that shows through in her progeny," Forsman said.

"Lib and Bruce (Perry, racing manager) have been great supporters of me and my career. 

"We bought a very nice filly (Ethereal Star) last year from them and we think a lot of her. She has probably done enough to hold her value and we are hoping we can do similar things with this filly."

Bourbon Lane Team Back at Karaka 

The first-crop yearlings by Waikato Stud's Caulfield Guineas (G1) Super Seth, who found favor in small numbers at the recent Magic Millions sale on the Gold Coast, were also popular on day one.

The highest-priced of eight lots to sell by the young sire, a half brother to dual group 1 winner Mo'unga, was bought by Cambridge trainer Stephen Marsh, in partnership with U.S. investors Jamie Hill, Michael McMahon, and Ken Smole, and Bourbon Lane's Dennis Foster, for NZ$380,000 (US$246,301).

Kiwi agent Dylan Johnson also signed the docket for the sixth live foal out of the stakes-placed Chandelier, the dam of three winners from as many to race, headed by the Annabel Neasham-trained Winx Stakes (G1) and Rosehill Guineas (G1) winner Mo'unga.

"We always look at type first, but it is always nice when you are a half to a great group 1 winner like Mo'unga. It makes it a lot easier," Marsh said of his reasoning in buying the eye-catching colt.

"They (Super Seths) sold remarkably well on the Gold Coast, they are very popular. He was a great racehorse and we were always going to try and buy this one."

Marsh, who trained Mazzolino to win the Jan. 28 Desert Gold Stakes (G3) at Trentham, has enjoyed a strong alliance with the Bourbon Lane team.

"We teamed up (with Foster) three or four years ago," Marsh said. 

"They are right behind us, whatever we buy at the sales, they like to take a share in a majority of them. This one was earmarked as one of our bigger colts that they would take a big chunk in.

"It is great to have them on board and it is always nice to come to Karaka with the confidence that you have got a bit of backing behind you."

Super Seth, who stood for an opening service fee of NZ$35,000 (US$22,713), is averaging NZ$220,000 (US$142,769) so far.

Overseas Buyers Back in Force 

The importance of international buyers to the New Zealand industry was illustrated by the opening session with their collective on-complex return paying dividends.

Sixteen of the first 20 Lots sold inside the first hour were bought by connections of Australian and Hong Kong owners, agents and trainers; a theme which continued throughout the 220-Lot session. 

With bloodstock manager Will Bourne at Karaka, leading Victorian trainers Ciaron Maher and David Eustace made their presence felt Jan. 29, purchasing six yearlings including three in the first 35 Lots.

Sydney trainer John O'Shea and agent Suman Hedge; David Vandyke; Victoria's Tom Dabernig in conjunction with agent Dave Mee; Mick Price and Mick Kent Jr.; Anthony and Sam Freedman with agent Julian Blaxland, and Proven Thoroughbreds' Jamie Walter, were among those who made multiple purchases on Day One.   

The average closed at NZ$160,143 (US$103,925), the median was at NZ$147,500 (US$95,720) while the aggregate was NZ$22.42 million (US$14,549,459) after 140 yearlings were sold on Day One at a clearance rate of 73%. These markers were understandably all up on 2022's sale, which was conducted in March and with only a few expatriate New Zealanders able to return for the Karaka sale.

NZB's Kane Jones was satisfied with the opening day of trade.

"Firstly, I think it was a really nice touch to honor the late Sir Patrick Hogan by naming the auditorium in his honor, but following that (ceremony), we saw a really strong day of selling," Jones said. 

"It was great to have all the internationals back and I am really heartened by the fact that the local Kiwi buyers were also really strong. We saw Te Akau, we saw Stephen Marsh, and we saw Andrew Forsman all feature prominently in the top lots list, which was great. 

"The average of NZ$162,000 and the median of NZ$147,500 are both well up on previous years and we know that clearance rate of 73% will be heading upwards as we speak."

Jones agrees with the sales ground consensus that today's and tomorrow's catalogs appear stronger.

"That's the general vibe and having seen all of these horses multiple times, there are some heavy hitters and some fireworks to be expected in the next few days, so we are looking forward to Day Two and certainly Day Three," he said. 

"We expect the sale to gain momentum and be pretty strong as we go along."

Day Two will begin at 11:00 a.m. NZ time Jan. 31.