Waikato Stud has been the leading vendor at New Zealand Bloodstock’s National Yearling Sale since 2014, but the Matamata farm has also been a regular and successful vendor across Australia.
It will again be strongly-represented at Karaka with 37 lots to sell, in addition to 10 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, and seven apiece at the Inglis Classic and Melbourne Premier Sales. The Waikato brand will also be proudly on display at the Inglis Australian Easter Sale where numbers are yet to be confirmed.
“We have put massive investment into stallions over the last 15 years and off the back of that we’ve enjoyed great success throughout Australasia, particularly in Australia,” Mark Chittick said.
“It is very important that we have as many of our product in Australia as possible to keep that success flowing.”
Mark Chittick
Keeping the Waikato Stud brand at the fore is paramount, but staffing issues during the current, travel-restricted times also played a role in spreading its yearlings across several venues.
“We’re selling at Magics under Waikato Stud, Classic under Glenn Lee Thoroughbreds, Melbourne under Stonehouse Thoroughbreds and Sydney Easter is to be confirmed – we’d like to do it ourselves,” Chittick said.
“The last two years, when we’ve sold in New Zealand only, have been the exception to the norm. We have probably sold in Australia for 26 out of the last 30 years.
“The last two years, when we’ve sold in New Zealand only, have been the exception to the norm.” – Mark Chittick
“We typically do sell around Australasia and one of the main reasons we’re going back is that it’s very difficult to get a team together. We rely so heavily on offshore participation in our yearling preparations.
“We couldn’t get a team together to prepare such a large number – twice as many as what we are doing for Karaka in total.”
Chittick and his team worked overtime to ensure their yearlings were all placed to the best advantage on a maturity, pedigree and type basis.
Charlotte Chittick
“We’ve certainly put a lot of thought and homework into every horse that will go to the sales next year,” he said.
“We started off with probably 120 or 130 foals of our own and we’ll offer for sale about 70. We’ve kept a few fillies and the rest have been sold as weanlings. We really want to concentrate on selling every yearling across the board.
“With the first lot that will be sold at the Gold Coast, and they went over a couple of weeks ago, we were meticulous in their selection on pedigree and type and all the hoops they have to jump through as far as x-rays and scoping goes.
“We’ve got 37 Savabeels in this crop, so it’s nice to be taking them to various sales. We’ve got 23 going to Karaka, which is a large number, so it’s good to spread them around.
“We’ve got a really strong draft of yearlings, that over the last 12 months has been trimmed down to a quality bunch of horses, to be sold across five sales throughout Australasia. There will be horses there for everyone.”
All bound for Australia
Tony Rider’s Milan Park will be sending its entire yearling draft to Australia to be sold across Magic Millions, the Classic and Premier Sales, Inglis Easter and at the Gold Coast in June.
“We’ve got 12 going over with one to Magic Millions in January, three to Sydney Classic, four to Melbourne, two to Inglis Easter and a couple of later-maturing fillies to the Gold Coast in June,” General Manager, Grant Bennett, said.
“We prep them here right through until three weeks before they sell. They fly over to Mike Fleming at Bhima for on-farm parades before they go to the various complexes.
“We prep them here right through until three weeks before they sell. They fly over to Mike Fleming at Bhima for on-farm parades before they go to the various complexes." - Grant Bennett
Milan Park will sell five yearlings by Savabeel, three by Almanzor (Fr), a pair by Ocean Park (NZ) and youngsters by Pierro and Sacred Falls (NZ).
“We’ve got two colts going to Inglis Easter, they are two of the best we’ve bred. One is by Pierro out of Danex so a half-brother to Oceanex, Miss Aotearoa and Amexed and they are all stakes performers so he’s obviously a stallion prospect,” Bennett said.
Milan Park will offer the half-brother to Oceanex (NZ)
“The second colt is by Savabeel out of The Diamond One, a multiple Group-winning mare from that fantastic family of the Dennis brothers. They are two stand-out horses.
“We’re taking three Savabeel fillies to be sold over there, including a sister to Shezzacatch who has had two starts for two wins and a stakes race on debut and she’s going to Melbourne Premier.
“We’ve got a couple of nice Almanzor colts and two cracking colts by Ocean Park - what that sire has done in the last 12 months is unbelievable. One goes to the Classic and one to Melbourne.
“We’ve got a really nice Sacred Falls filly and with Almanzor, it would be quite hard competing with Cambridge Stud at Karaka, so we put one at the Gold Coast in June, one in Melbourne and one in Sydney.
“It just might be a bit easier and we’ve got more of a chance over there than competing against 30 or so at Karaka."
Bennett said the decision had been made before the impact of the pandemic was known, with the allocations based on a horse-by-horse basis.
“We decided prior to COVID-19 that we wanted to take our quality yearlings to Australia to sell. Last year we prepped 26 yearlings and the majority in Book 2 and we were a little bit disappointed with the results.
“We had a nice draft on type so we made the call post-Karaka to devise a plan of what we wanted to achieve. It was purely a business decision and think the way New Zealand racing is at the moment it’s hard to expect a New Zealand trainer to pay NZ$50,000 or NZ$60,000 for a good colt.
“That doesn’t mean we are shutting New Zealand Bloodstock out in the future, far from it. We’ve selected certain horses for certain sales.”
Continuing a trend
Little Avondale Stud has been a regular vendor at Australian sales and will also sell at the Gold Coast, along with the Classic and Premier Sales.
“Lime Country has a So You Think colt for us at Magics and we’ve got a very precocious Time Test filly at the Classic Sale and a Deep Field colt,” Sam Williams said.
“We’ve also got three colts with Sledmere Stud, an Almanzor and Per Incanto and a Time Test and will have another three Time Test fillies and a Per Incanto colt for Melbourne.”
Sam Williams (right)
Time Test’s (GB) first yearlings will go to the buying benches for the first time next year and Williams took a similar Australian approach with the first crop of Per Incanto (USA) in 2014.
“We’ve been selling in Australia for a long time and been going to Inglis Easter for as long as I can remember,” Williams said. “We took some of the first crop of Per Incanto there and he ended up as the second leading sire by average at the Classic Sale to Not A Single Doubt.
“We’ve been selling in Australia for a long time and been going to Inglis Easter for as long as I can remember.” - Sam Williams
“We have to get them into the biggest racing jurisdiction to establish a brand and a stallion. You have to take them to the buying bench.”
All Little Avondale’s yearlings are already in Australia with staffing levels in New Zealand another factor for selling offshore.
“In years past, 60 per cent of our sales staff are from overseas and obviously we can’t do that now. I had four staff coming from England from the National Stud who couldn’t come out,” Williams said.
“It’s another factor and if you can’t get good staff the horses end up being average.”
Williams is also upbeat about the January Sale at Karaka – “the Ready to Run Sale was unbelievable and we’ve got some really nice horses going to Karaka,” he said.
Australian appeal
Blandford Lodge will offer the majority of its yearling draft at Karaka, but will also sell four in Australia with two apiece at the Gold Coast and Classic through Valiant Stud’s draft.
“We obviously take over what we think will appeal to the Australian market and a bit more forward types,” Graham Bax said. “We usually take about four over every year and we mate a few mares in Australia so it helps to pay the service fees. We try to spread the risk a bit by spreading them around.”
Graham and Helen-Gaye Bax
At the Gold Coast, Blandford will offer a Savabeel colt out of the stakes winner Fairygem (NZ) (Viscount), a half-sister to G1 Captain Cook S. winner Penny Gem (NZ) (Pentire {GB}), and a Savabeel sister to the G1 Champagne S. winner Pasadena Girl (NZ).
“They went over a month ago and I usually take a few Savabeels to the Gold Coast. I’ve had a bit of success there and it’s hard to compete with Waikato Stud here in New Zealand.”
A son of Impending out of a half-sister to Pasadena Girl and an Ocean Park (NZ) colt out of Ravenna (Redoute’s Choice), a half-sister to G2 Magic Night S. winner Downhill Racer (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) will head to the Classic Sale.
“They will go over to Valiant Stud straight after Magics,” Bax said.
Classic draft
Joe Smithies, of Monovale Farm, recently dispatched three youngsters to be sold through Riversdale’s draft at the Inglis Classic Sale with their remaining yearlings to all go under the hammer at Karaka.
They include a son of Epaulette from the family of multiple Group 1 winner Riverdale (NZ) (Riverton {Fr}), an Ocean Park colt whose half-brothers Fame And Fortune (Street Boss {USA}) and Fireworks (NZ) (Ekraar {USA}) are winners in Hong Kong and Singapore respectively, and an Astern colt who is a grandson of stakes winner and Group 1 performer Kay’s Awake (NZ) (Towkay).
“They are three nice types and we had a couple by Epaulette so we were keen to split them as well. They are horses that would sell well in either sale and we just wanted to spread the risk a bit. They flew out the Friday before last,” Smithies said.
