Kiwi Prevails in Trans Tasman War

The Waikato Times' Tim Ryan reports:

A trans-Tasman battle for the Karaka Premier top lot ended with a knockout blow by Te Akau's David Ellis.

A classic sales ring duel between New Zealand's David Ellis and Australia's David Hayes developed late on the second day of Karaka's Premier Sale.

The object of their desire was Lot 429 a beautifully bred, magnificently conformed, athletic Fastnet Rock filly which captured the imagination of a sizeable crowd still at the complex to witness the battle.

It was an enthralling battle of the two Davids but Ellis blew the Australian away with a final bid of $50,000.

To that point the bidding had been creeping up in $25,000 increments and appeared to be stalling around the $400,000 mark before bursting back into life.

"I'll sell her to that famous wink again," auctioneer Michael Kneebone said.

"We didn't have a Plan B if we didn't get her," Ellis said. "We waited all sale to buy her. It's always nerve-racking when the one you want is right at the end of a sale. If you don't get it, all the others have already been sold.

"But I was always going to buy her, and I was willing to go to $1 million to do it. It's very rewarding to end up with her."

Offered by Cambridge's Lyndhurst Farm, the daughter of  Il Quello Veloce is from a superb family and had the looks to match.

"I've been buying here since 1998," Ellis said. "And I can't remember a filly with as much class as this filly."

The Te Akau boss already had a plan in his mind for her racing career.

"She looks like a Matamata Breeders' Stakes type of filly who can go on to the Sires' Produce and we really want to take her to Australia.

"I'm really keen to get involved in this family and I bought her for a syndicate with five of the ten shares already sold and the others will sell quickly."

Ellis purchased 22 horses for $3,570,000 over the two days to, once again, be the leading buyer at the sale.

Lyndhurst Farm principal Mark Treweek was happy to reflect on the achievement of providing the top priced lot at the premier sale for a second time.

He and his wife, Shelley, received $800,000 for an Encosta de Lago colt at the 2009 sale and matched that figure yesterday.

"We are only a small operation and to achieve what we did in 2009 and repeat that again this year is just amazing," he said.

"I can't thank Henry Field from Newgate Stud enough as he sent us this filly about five months ago to prepare for the sale. He felt Karaka would be the best option for her and he has been proven dead right.

"The improvement she has shown in the final few weeks before today has been amazing and the interest in her has been phenomenal. She was heavily sought after to parade the minute she got here and I think that showed during the time she was in the ring as there appeared to be plenty of buyers keen on her."

The average price over the two days finished at a healthy $150,881, increasing 4 per cent from last year's figure of $144,548. The median also rose, finishing at $120,000, an increase of 9 per cent.

With 26 fewer horses catalogued this year, the aggregate finished at $44,962,500 (last year $47,122,500) with a clearance rate of 75 per cent.

"It was pleasing to see the Premier Sale finish strongly," NZB co-managing director Petrea Vela said. "As is often the case, the second day was overall a stronger day of selling, and to post figures ahead of last year's sale is a very pleasing result.

"Yesterday was a very special day with Sir Patrick leading through the last yearling to be sold at auction by the great Zabeel, which has no doubt made this year's sale more memorable.

"It was great to see David Ellis again to the fore, together with a notable increase in strength from the Australian bench, with its overall spend increasing from last year. It is testament to the quality of horses produced in New Zealand that we see buyers coming back to Karaka to purchase them."

Defending the leading vendor title was Waikato Stud, selling the most yearlings of any vendor - with 40 - for a total of $6,860,000.

The Chittick family claimed their first leading vendor title last year and this year achieved their highest individual price ever when Lot 340 sold for $600,000.

"Since Karaka 2014 our stallions have had some massive results on the track and it just makes getting this sort of result so much easier with our stallions performing so well," Mark Chittick said.

"Clearance rate is our primary focus but this is rewarding for the team who put a huge amount of effort into getting these horses to the sale."