Te Akau's 'Burgundy Beauties' Set to Sell

It is with sadness, yet also extraordinary pride, that we see the racing chapter close on the life of two 'home-bred' Te Akau mares - Belle En Rouge and Burgundy Rose.

Both mares will, over the coming week, be offered for sale on Gavelhouse Plus, New Zealand Bloodstock's specialist auction platform.  Previous Te Akau mares have attracted superb results via Gavelhouse Plus, including Avantage - the nine-time Group 1 winning Fastnet Rock mare attracting $4.1 million at auction, establishing a new global online record for the sale of a broodmare.

Both Belle En Rouge and Burgundy Rose were both offered to, and syndicated among, our owners.

Belle En Rouge of course went on to win the Group 1 NZ Oaks, and is the joint reigning NZB Filly of the Year.  She also won the Group 2 Eight Carat Classic, and the Group 3 Eulogy Stakes and Group 3 Anniversary Handicap. She was runner up in the Group 2 Rich Hill Mile, and finished third in both the Group 1 NZ 1000 Guineas and Group 3 Soliloquy Stakes.

In total Belle En Rouge (or Jane as we know her) she won five of her 20 starts, was placed on eight other occasions, and earned $492,555 in prize money for her owners.

Remarkably, her eight wins came at eight different tracks, underlining her versatility: Taupo, Wingatui, Trentham, New Plymouth, Tauranga, Rotorua, Otaki and Riccarton. She had five riders record wins on her with Te Akau Joe Kamaruddin forming a strong bond with her, the pair winning on three occasions.

Burgundy Rose was one of the most consistent mares in commission.  She won eight of her 34 starts, was placed a further 20 times, including nine runner up placings - in total she won $166,736 in stakes.

We will follow their auctions with great interest and, as mentioned, pride.  Here is Gavelhouse Plus' media release:

Te Akau's Black-Type Burgundy Mares on Gavelhouse Plus

Gavelhouse Plus has become Te Akau Racing's platform of choice for selling high-quality mares as they retire from the racetrack, and that trend is continuing over the next week with the sale of Belle En Rouge (NZ) (Burgundy Rose) and Burgundy Rose (NZ) (Burgundy).

The two stakes'-performed mares are the latest in a series of Te Akau Racing stars to be offered on the digital platform, following on from Avantage (Fastnet Rock), Exaltation (NZ) (Not a Single Doubt), Festivity (NZ) (I Am Invincible), Entriviere (NZ) (Tavistock) and Amarelinha (NZ) (Savabeel).

Those five mares sold for more than $7 million, including a record-breaking online price of $4.1 million for Avantage. Those remarkable results left Te Akau principal David Ellis CNZM with no hesitation in following a similar formula with the next two stakes-performed mares.

“Selling these high-quality mares on Gavelhouse Plus has worked really well for us over the last couple of years,” Ellis said. “We've had some outstanding results, including setting a new world record with the sale of Avantage.

“I've been really impressed by the effort that Gavelhouse Plus puts into promoting these horses when they're up for sale, and it's become a fantastic way for us to sell these well-performed mares that have reached the end of their racing careers.

“I'm really looking forward to seeing both Belle En Rouge and Burgundy Rose sell through Gavelhouse Plus over the next few days, and I'm sure that they'll both make terrific broodmares.

“They're two stakes'-performed daughters of Burgundy, who was the fastest horse we've ever had at Te Akau Racing. He went on to have a highly successful stallion career at Cambridge Stud, and I'm confident that he'll have similar success as a broodmare sire.”

Belle En Rouge

First off the rank is Belle En Rouge, whose auction launches on Friday and will run until 7pm on Tuesday 9 May. 

Belle En Rouge was joint New Zealand Bloodstock Filly of the Year for the 2021-22 season, and she is the fourth consecutive winner of that prestigious prize to be offered on Gavelhouse Plus. Amarelinha sold for $1.1 million, while Jennifer Eccles (NZ) (Rip Van Winkle) fetched $800,000 and Imelda Mary (NZ) (Ferlax) was sold for $200,000.

Belle En Rouge was bred by David Ellis CNZM and Karyn Fenton-Ellis MNZM, and she is out of Cavendish Belle (NZ) (Thorn Park) - an unraced half-sister to Group One performers Filante Etoile (NZ) (Soviet Star) and Vega Sicilia (NZ) (Rodrigo de Triano).

Raced by the Te Akau Beautiful In Red Racing Partnership, Belle En Rouge had 20 starts for five wins, five placings and $492,555 in prize-money.

She won four races as a three-year-old, headed by the Group One New Zealand Oaks (2400m), the Group Two Eight Carat Classic (1600m) and the Group Three Eulogy Stakes (1600m). That outstanding campaign also featured placings in the Group One New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) and Group Three Soliloquy Stakes (1400m).

“She was just a really high-class racehorse,” Ellis said. “She had an outstanding three-year-old season, from placings in the 1000 Guineas and Soliloquy Stakes in the spring right through to winning the Oaks in late March.

“She carried on as a four-year-old as well, winning the Group Three Anniversary Handicap (1600m) and placing in the Group Two Rich Hill Mile (1600m). She did a fantastic job on the racetrack.”

Burgundy Rose

The auction of Burgundy Rose will begin immediately after Belle En Rouge, and hers will run through until 7pm on Friday 12 May.

Another Te Akau homebred, Burgundy Rose is a daughter of the six-race-winning mare Paraiba (NZ) (Faltaat).

Burgundy Rose did even better than her dam on the racetrack, recording no fewer than eight wins in a 34-start career. She also placed in another 11 races and banked $166,736 for the Te Akau Roses Are Red Syndicate.

Burgundy Rose performed up to stakes' level, finishing second and beaten by a short neck in the Listed Lightning Handicap (1200m) in March of last year. She also finished fifth in the Group Three Stewards' Stakes (1200m) and Listed Pegasus Stakes (1000m), and she ran sixth in the Listed Power Turf Sprint (1200m).

“She was a very good and super-consistent performer across five seasons, and she was unlucky not to win a black-type race,” Ellis said. “She's a beautiful type of mare and will make a lovely addition to any broodmare band.”

The auction of Belle En Rouge launches on Friday and will run until 7pm on Tuesday 9 May. That will be followed immediately by Burgundy Rose, whose auction will run until 7pm on Friday 12 May. Both mares are available for inspection.