Te Akau Sydney Sale Update

David writes:

It's been a most interesting week in Sydney starting with the races at Royal Randwick on Monday. What has become very apparent to me is that when it comes to the big races in New Zealand and Australia you generally need a well bred horse that exudes class.

After the races Karyn and I went down to The Rocks for Chinese with our Racing Manager Jamie Richards and you wouldn't believe who was sitting at the next door table but John Key and his wife Bronagh. What a wonderfully friendly, capable guy our Prime Minister is - and he has the great talent of having a wonderful recall for people's names - for example asking how our daughter Lydia was getting on in London.

The sales have been fascinating and I just love looking at the yearlings of which Sydney at Easter presents the crème de la crème. The first day represented fantastic buying and I'm sure that the sale will get much stronger today and tomorrow. We bought three yearlings, two fillies and a colt and hand on heart, I am just so excited to think that we have these three stunning yearlings from Sydney at Easter for our Te Akau Racing owners to take shares in and race this coming season.

The yearlings will go straight home to Te Akau Stud and will begin to be being broken in.

The Smart Missile filly (Lot 94) that we bought has a beautiful pedigree. Smart Missile has been Fastnet Rock's most precocious son, and you may remember when he was a $3 favourite for the Golden Slipper only to be scratched at the barrier. He was unbeaten as a two year old (in a season when he won both a Group 2 and Listed race) and still remains the only horse to beat Sepoy as a two year old.

This filly's female family is mouth-watering with her grand-dam being a Storm Cat mare who was a multiple Group 1 winner in France and she goes back to the Nijinsky mare Sky Love.  Our fill'y' dam Panorama Ridge had a Redoute's Choice colt last year that sold for $440,000 to John Warren.

This colt is now called King's Choice and is in training with Team Hawkes in Sydney who have a big opinion of the horse. He is raced by a partnership that includes both the China Horse Club and Arrowfield Stud. The mare has a Redoute's Choice colt that is now a weanling and she is currently in foal to Snitzel.

This filly (also the main picture) stood out to Jamie and me as a real two year old type who will get up and run early - her family is full of juvenile performers.  I was thrilled to have her knocked down to me for A$150,000. As we did from Sydney last year - THE COST OF YOUR SHARE WILL BE ALL INCLUSIVE until 31 March 2016 - yes no more payments required for almost a year!

The share price will include purchase, insurance, travel to New Zealand, sale costs eg veterinary inspections, breaking in, training, domestic transport, farrier, gear etc and Pearl Series' nomination - all costs.  Stakes won however will certainly be paid out monthly.

A 20% share with no further costs until 31 March 2016 is $45,000 plus GST

A 10% share with no further costs until 31 March 2016 is $22,500 plus GST

A 5% share with no further costs until 31 March 2016 is $11,250 plus GST 

If you want to be involved in this filly that could well be running in Group 1 races in the next twelve months you will need to be very quick so please get in touch with us now - email Karyn without delay - [email protected].

The colt I bought was Lot 145, an O'Reilly colt out of the stakes' winning Zabeel mare Royal Era who won five times in her career. A great buy at A$135,000, this colt goes back to Elabama who is one of the best mares that I have ever seen.

Elabama was of course the mother of Champion 2YO Tudor Light who won 16 races in her illustrious career, including three as a 2YO.  She is one of my all time favourite race mares. She used to be ridden by Grenville Hughes, again one of my favourite jockeys, and included in her 16 victories was the Group 1 Railway Handicap.

The O'Reilly/Zabeel cross has been very successful and includes Silent Achiever, last year's Champion Stayer and O'Marilyn, winner of the Group 1 Manawatu Sires' Produce Stakes among others.  If ever I have seen a colt that could win a Group 1 2000 Guineas or a Group 1 Derby this is him.

So if you want to win a Derby with a colt that could go on and win a Caulfield Cup as a four year old, this is a colt you should be involved in.

Again his costs are all taken care of until 31 March 2016 as with the filly above - therefore

A 20% share with no further costs until 31 March 2016 is $41,500 plus GST

A 10% share with no further costs until 31 March 2016 is $20,750 plus GST

A 5% share with no further costs until 31 March 2016 is $10,375 plus GST 

The third yearling we bought yesterday was Lot 161 a Redoute's Choice filly out of Scarlett Lady (pictured below) who I bought for A$240,000. Scarlett Lady is of course a Savabeel mare that won eight races, two of those at the highest level and in two countries - the Group 1 New Zealand Stakes and the Group 1 Queensland Oaks. She also won the Group 2 Travis Stakes at Te Rapa, Group 3 Doomben Roses and the Listed Manawatu Breeders' Stakes. This is a stunning filly that we were really excited to buy.

The Redoute's Choice/Zabeel cross is an extremely successful one with a winners to runners' strike rate of 74% and a stakes' winners to runners strike rate of 13%, led by three time Group 1 winner Samantha Miss.  Savabeel, the 13YO sire who stands at Waikato Stud, has only had five runners to date as a broodmare sire but he already looks like he will be every bit as successful as his sire (Zabeel) in this regard, with his daughters producing three winners and two place-getters from just five runners to date!

Our filly is bred on the reverse Savabeel/Redoute's Choice cross that has already produced Group 3 winning juvenile filly Pasadena Girl.  So this cross has seen one filly to race and she has already won - so a 100% winners/runners ratio.

Champion jockey James McDonald of course was closely associated with Scarlett Lady, the dam of our filly - I spoke to him last night and he said:

"David, Scarlett Lady was one my best and favourite racehorses going around at the time.  She had a great turn of foot and had the ability to race as a younger horse against the older fillies and mares. She was favourite for the Caulfield Cup at one point after winning the Group 1 Queensland Oaks which was my first Group 1 in Australia but due to injury she never got there. She was a very special filly to me and really helped me build a profile in Australia. I thought this filly by Redoute's, her first foal was quite stunning.”

These comments are from my very special friend James McDonald who used to be stable rider at Te Akau Racing. This filly has such a presence about her - she is confident and strong - just a gorgeous specimen.  If you are interested in her or any of these three yearlings please email Karyn now - [email protected]