Top Colt to Te Akau

The Informant reports on a hugely successful Day 1 for Te Akau at the Karaka Premier Sale - check out all our purchases on our "Yearlings and Shares" page - the world is your oyster - email [email protected] now!

Te Akau Racing principal David Ellis missed out on a couple of high-priced yearlings earlier in the day, but defeat was not an option when Waikato Stud's colt by Savabeel out of Bling entered the Karaka sale ring this afternoon.

Ellis considered the full-brother to Group One winner Diademe to be one of the standout colts of New Zealand Bloodstock's National Yearling Sale this year, and he backed up that judgement with relentless bidding. He unflinchingly responded to every opposing bid and eventually secured the colt for $775,000 - a new top price for the 2016 National Yearling Sale so far, and a new record for vendor Waikato Stud.

“It was a good bidding battle and I'm delighted that I got him,” Ellis said. “I knew he was special from the moment I first saw him at Waikato Stud. He had a lovely presence and I thought he was Waikato Stud's best yearling this season.

“When I first started looking at the yearlings this year I wasn't going to put together one of my colts syndicates, but after I saw the quality of these yearlings I knew I was going to have to put another one together. It's so important to keep quality horses like this in New Zealand and for people to see them on New Zealand racetracks. Hopefully this colt can follow in the footsteps of horses like Xtravagant and Darci Brahma and perform at the highest level.

"I'm pleased to buy this horse from Waikato Stud, who we have a great relationship with. We train some of their horses for them, and Rock 'n' Pop stands at stud there."

Sent through the ring at Lot 200, the brown colt had a pedigree to match his impressive physique. The O'Reilly mare Bling is a sister to Sacred Star's dam Irish Nova, and her progeny include Diademe and the stakes placegetters Deadly Shadow and Roop All.

Waikato Stud's Mark Chittick was delighted by the result, the highest-priced yearling in the stud's history.

“We're rapt with that result,” he said. “We haven't really sold in this bracket much before, but we knew coming into the sale that he was one of the better colts and could go for more than $500,000. He's a beautiful type with a great pedigree, and the Savabeel-O'Reilly cross is one that's worked.

“He was extremely popular in the lead-up to the sale, more than any other yearling we've had. I don't normally get nervous, but I was feeling a few nerves when he came into the ring. It's a tremendous result, and it's been really great to see how well the Savabeel and Ocean Park yearlings have been received all day.”

Ellis was the underbidder for the $550,000 colt earlier in the afternoon and the $450,000 white filly, but the new sale-topper was his 12th purchase of the day and took his aggregate past $3.2 million. He has also bought a Savabeel colt for $440,000, a Fastnet Rock filly for $420,000 and a Tavistock colt for $460,000.

The purchases are a significant addition of firepower to the Te Akau Racing operation, which leads the New Zealand trainers' premiership and took the training title for the 2015 Singapore racing season as well.

“It's very rewarding to have those great results,” Ellis said. “It's not easy to do so well with two separate stables. It's a lot of hard work from everyone involved, and fantastic commitment from owners.

“These yearlings are the future of our stable. We come here to buy the best possible yearlings to add to our team. They'll all be trained by Stephen Autridge and Jamie Richards and will hopefully provide more success for the stable in the future.”