Too Darn Hot for Cooke at Karaka Day Two

Cameron Cooke is hoping history can repeat itself after going to NZ$750,000 (US$486,713) for a colt by Too Darn Hot , from the family of the Victorian agent's pin-up group 1 Karaka purchase Grunt, on Day Two of the New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale.

The Melbourian signed for one of the most talked about yearlings on offer this week, and he had to compete against domestic and international buyers to ensure his pick of the 2023 New Zealand sale heads across the Tasman to start his racing career.

The Trelawney Stud-consigned colt (Lot 294) now holds the honor of being the sale's most expensive yearling so far, having surpassed the NZ$625,000 ($405,594) Savabeel  colt purchased by Te Akau on Day One.

He sits atop the results table after the second day of trade, which also saw the half sister to 14-time group 1 winner Melody Belle  fetch NZ$500,000 ($324,475) and a half brother to I Wish I Win make NZ$375,000 ($243,356).

Colts by Per Incanto  also sold for NZ$400,000 ($259,580), NZ$360,000 ($233,622), and NZ$325,000 ($210,909) and an Extreme Choice filly was knocked down for NZ$380,000 ($246,601) yesterday.

The Cooke-purchased, session-topping Too Darn Hot half brother to the Cambridge Stud-owned group 2-winning mare Excelida, is the fourth living foal out of Lady Sayyida, a three-time winner who is a half sister to Cox Plate (G1) winner Ocean Park and Ruqqaya, the dam of Australian Guineas (G1) and Makybe Diva Stakes (G1) winner Grunt.

Coolmore's Tom Magnier and Lindsay Park were strong on the colt as were Cambridge trainers Roger James and Robert Wellwood, who went to NZ$625,000, their hopes forlorn when "new blood" entered at NZ$650,000.

Cooke signed for the colt on behalf of Melbourne clients, who will send the colt to Ciaron Maher and David Eustace to be trained.

"He is a lovely colt. He was obviously the standout and there was plenty of interest in him," Cooke said.

"We had to fight pretty hard to get him. We met the market and paid a good dollar for him. I am so pleased to have him.

"He looks like a star athlete. He is a great mover. I have had good luck out of the family, I bought Grunt as a yearling and he appears in the second dam. 

"There are two stallions on the page and he is just an outstanding type. Hopefully, he can turn into a Grunt or Ocean Park, who are both on the pedigree page."

Trelawney Stud principals Brent and Cherry Taylor were thrilled to get the result with breeding partner John Struthers. 

"John bought Lady Sayyida as a yearling and Roger James trained her. We wanted to buy her when she retired from the track, but he would only sell half," Cherry Taylor said.

"John owned Avanti Cycles and is a lovely guy, and he enjoys his racing. He enjoys breeding with us, so I am thrilled for him that he got such a great result."

UK agent Johnny McKeever, who is at Karaka, also paid AU$1 million (US$696,785) for a filly by the Darley shuttler out of Blue Diamond Stakes (G1) runner-up Enbihaar at the Magic Millions sale earlier this month on behalf of Andrew Lloyd-Webber, the owner of Europe's champion 2- and 3-year-old colt in 2018 and 2019.

Sheikh Khalifa Buys Melody Belle's Half Sister 

The Pierro  half sister to New Zealand's champion mare Melody Belle drew the attention of international racing and breeding heavyweights Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al Maktoum and Yulong's Yuesheng Zhang to Karaka, who went head-to-head for the Haunui Farm-consigned filly (Lot 344).

But it was the former, acting through Sydney trainer Annabel Neasham's racing manager Rob Archibald, who now owns the well-bred filly after going to NZ$500,000 to buy her.

Zhang, who flew into Auckland for yesterday's session, was the underbidder—not something that's been written too often in recent years—although he can console himself with the fact he has Melody Belle and her filly foal by Written Tycoon  at his lavish Victorian stud farm.

"We were talking with (agent) Tim Stakemire, and his client Sheikh Khalifa, and he asked if there were any nice fillies in the sale," Archibald revealed.

"We went through a few numbers and we said we particularly liked this one. She is a half to a champion and he liked the look of her. We were on the phone and he decided that was the filly for him. We loved her and she was one of the fillies of the sale. 

"I thought she was a lovely mover, quite strong, but bred to take a little bit of time. She had good presence on the sale ground. I love her movement and think that will take her a long way.

"I think she is above average on what we have seen, just on a physical. She is one of the better physicals by Pierro that we have seen."

Bred by Marie Leicester, who has her mares and foals reside at the Chitty family's Haunui Farm near Karaka, the daughter of Pierro is the eighth foal out of Meleka Belle, the dam of Melody Belle as well as listed winner Tutukaka.

"We go all the way back to Annie Sarten, whose daughter Marie Leicester bred the filly. We have looked after their bloodstock for many years," Haunui Farm managing director Mark Chitty said.

"Melody Belle is going to be inducted into the New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame, it's been great. Mrs. Leicester has kept three fillies and Meleka Belle is back in foal to Savabeel.

"She has the 3-year-old filly Divici Belle, who won her first start (for Ken and Bev Kelso) and she has a Snitzel filly (trained by Mark Walker)… due to come to the track, so I expected that sort of money, but it's still got to happen.

"You've got to tick all the boxes. Not only on type, but scopes, x-rays, vetting, personal opinions, and all that sort of stuff."

While the overall sale figures remain above last year's and 2020, the most recent pre-pandemic Karaka sale, Chitty suggested the opening two days had proven challenging.

"It's a good sale, but also a challenging sale. You've got to get your values right. We've found (that we haven't received) a lot of overs, but that's just the market," Chitty said. "It's six days of selling, you've got to take it or leave it and it's all part of the game."

Neasham has bought eight yearlings so far at Karaka.

"We have come over here trying to find those middle-distance, staying type of fillies," Archibald said. "There are plenty of nice horses here and we are happy with what we have managed to pick up.

"We think we have found some reasonable value and look forward to getting them back and seeing what they can do in the next year or two."

After two sessions, almost NZ$46.5 million ($30,176,175) has been traded, just over half of which can be attributed to Australian buyers, with an overall 301 yearlings selling at an average of NZ$154,236 ($100,091) at a median price of NZ$135,000 ($87,608). The clearance rate improved to 76%.

While the overall figures were down slightly day-on-day, the 2023 metrics are still higher than past years and the brother to the former Grahame Begg-trained group 2 place-getter Butter Chicken, who will be offered by Pencarrow Stud as Lot 495 Tuesday is poised to be a strong seller in the final Book 1 session.

NZB's Kane Jones observed yesterday's action from the buying bench as an "interesting dynamic," with the international buyers showing their strength after the domestic investors had the upper hand on day one.

"All the buyers are here on site and they are identifying the horses that they like and the ones they like are often popular, so we're finding that there are multiple people on these horses and they are the ones exceeding reserves," Jones said.

"We've seen the clearance rate creep up from Sunday and through today and I know the team's working very hard in getting horses sold and moved. I absolutely think that the clearance rate will continue rising."

Day Three of the Book 1 sale starts at 11 a.m. NZ time.

"There's a really good solid line-up of horses with a few highlights," Jones said. 

"We've still got the Savabeel-Scintillula colt of Sir Peter Vela's at Pencarrow Stud to come through, so expect fireworks when he comes in."