Te Akau Season of Success - '25 Karaka Millions Double

Another remarkable highlight of Karaka Millions' night 2025 was celebrating not only Te Akau's 8th Karaka Millions 2YO winner with La Dorada, but then cheering Damask Rose home to again make it a stable double - claiming both "Millions'!

Lighting up Ellerslie with back-to-back feature wins, the beautifully bred Damask Rose (3 f Savabeel – Sombreuil, by Flying Spur) claimed her place among Te Akau’s elite with a commanding victory in the $1.5 million TAB Karaka Millions 3YO (Restricted Listed, 1600m) on 25 January.

Just one race after stablemate La Dorada (Super Seth) delivered a record-extending eighth win in the Karaka Millions 2YO (1200m) for the stable, Damask Rose and top Australian jockey Blake Shinn produced a performance of style, timing, and authority to complete a spectacular Te Akau double.

Despite a wide draw (12), Shinn got straight to work, positioning Damask Rose beautifully in midfield. Content to bide his time while seven lengths off the pace at the 600-metre mark, he angled her into daylight at the top of the straight. What followed was electric - she exploded through a perfectly timed gap and lengthened stride with sheer class, drawing clear to win by a decisive one length.

On a Soft5 track that had absorbed earlier rain, Damask Rose stopped the clock for the 1600 metres in 1:36.4 and returned $3.30 & $1.50 on the NZ TAB tote.

Her triumph added a new chapter to Te Akau’s extraordinary Karaka Millions legacy. The double echoed past glories - Cool Aza Beel and Probabeel in 2020, Dynastic and Pin Me Up in 2022 - with Probabeel still holding the unique distinction of winning both the 2YO and 3YO editions of the Karaka Millions.

A standout at the 2023 Karaka Book 1 Sale, Damask Rose was secured by David Ellis CNZM for $200,000 from the Milan Park draft. She is raced by the Te Akau Coming Up Roses Racing Partnership, managed by Karyn Fenton-Ellis MNZM.

Her pedigree is rich in performance and familiarity - by nine-time Champion Sire Savabeel (Zabeel), a Cox Plate winner himself, and out of a mare by Golden Slipper victor Flying Spur (Danehill). The family is one Te Akau knows inside out: her grand-dam Te Akau Rose (Thorn Park), also a David Ellis purchase, was a Group 2 winner for the stable in the Matamata Breeders’ Stakes and a prolific broodmare who left five individual winners.

This is the renowned Alberton family - a line brimming with black type and class. It’s produced Group 1-winning sires Brutal (O’Reilly) and Wyndspelle (Iffraaj), and Damask Rose continues the tradition, carrying the bloodlines of greats like Sir Ivor, Nureyev, and Northern Dancer.

Following her Karaka Millions' heroics, Damask Rose proved she was no one-hit wonder - going on to capture the inaugural edition of the $3.5 million NZB Kiwi, pushing her career earnings past an extraordinary $2.2 million. Her victory in the Kiwi, ensuring her a place in the A$10 million Golden Eagle in Sydney later this year. 

Now having transferred to Te Akau's Victorian stable, she’s scheduled to jump out at Cranbourne in late July as she works towards some Australian Millions' races.

All eyes will be on the rose that keeps on blooming.

Previous Te Akau winners of the Karaka Millions 3YO (1600m):

2022 – Pin Me Up (Pins)

2020 – Probabeel (Savabeel)

2014 – Spellbinder (O’Reilly)

2012 – Rock ‘N’ Pop (Fastnet Rock)