King of Karaka

The NZ Racing Desk made the following observations on Day 1 of the Karaka Premier Sale:

The “King of Karaka' was at it again in the early stages of the first day of selling at the 2014 New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sales series today.

Te Akau Stud principal David Ellis, who has been the leading buyer at the Karaka sale for near on a decade, made an immediate impact with the purchase of Lot 9, the Fastnet Rock colt from Festival Princess (Barathea) for $250,000.

He followed with a successful $370,000 bid for Pencarrow Stud's Lot 35, an O'Reilly colt from outstanding broodmare Grand Echezeaux, the dam of Group One performer Darci Brahma who is now making a huge impression at stud.

“Obviously it is a family that we know well having bought Darci Brahma, Burgundy and Saperavi from the mare,” noted Ellis.

“We also have her two-year-old Encosta De Lago filly that Sir Peter Vela gave us to train so naturally I was extremely keen to secure this colt as well.

“He is a typical O'Reilly in that he is a robust, athletic individual who looks like a real three-year-old type and I would expect to see him competing against the best in races like the 2000 Guineas during his racing career.”

From the draft of 2013 sale leading vendor Curraghmore Stud, the Fastnet Rock colt has been earmarked by Ellis as a potential sire prospect should his racetrack performance match his good looks.

“The purchase of this colt is just another part of our plan to strengthen our local breeding industry by purchasing quality colts from our local sales and giving them every opportunity to perform on the track and then after that at stud,” he said.

Ellis also secured a pair of Rip Van Winkle fillies from the Windsor Park Stud draft, Lots 3 and 5, for $60,000 and $50,000 respectively to signal his determination to retain the leading buyer crown again in 2014.