VIDEO: Magical First Two Days
Date: 9 Jan 2025
Te Akau has a wonderful history of success with yearlings purchased at Magic Millions, and principal David Ellis CNZM has again made a significant impact early in the sale.
At the completion of two days, Ellis had purchased 13 lots, to be third leading buyer, and was dominant among New Zealand entities who have bought 16 lots overall.
Ellis, along with the buying team comprising Mark Walker, racing manager Reece Trumper, and bloodstock agent Marcus Corban, made their initial inspections at the respective farms in early December, and returned to the sale grounds to continue work on 3 January for the sale from 7 – 13 January.
Among those available for buying shares:
- Lot 37 bay colt Snitzel – Toffee Tongue (Tavistock) $625,000 (draft: Bhima Thoroughbreds)
- Lot 74 bay filly I Am Invincible – Villa Carlotta (Street Cry) $510,000 (draft: Segenhoe Stud)
- Lot 74 bay filly I Am Invincible – Villa Carlotta (Street Cry) $510,000 (draft: Segenhoe Stud)
- Lot 134 bay filly Savabeel – Alezan (Duelled) $350,000 (draft: Westbury Stud)
- Lot 225 chestnut colt Home Affairs – Booker (Written Tycoon) $300,000 (draft: Coolmore Stud)
- Lot 285 bay filly Star Witness – Conscious (So You Think) $120,000 (draft: Bhima Thoroughbreds)
- Lot 306 bay/brown filly I Am Invincible – Danish Spy (Dane Shadow) $375,000 (draft: Yarraman Park Stud)
- Lot 350 bay colt Exceed And Excel – Eleusa (Medaglia d’Oro) $240,000 (draft: Widden Stud)
- Lot 395 bay/brown colt Snitzel – Festivity (I Am Invincible) $625,000 (draft: Yarraman Park)
- Lot 422 bay filly Capitalist – Fromparis Withlove (Smart Missile) $80,000 (draft: Newgate Farm)
You can find more details here: https://www.teakauracing.com/yearlings-shares
********************************************************
In 2020, Ellis purchased both Sword Of State (Snitzel) and Imperatriz (I Am Invincible) at Magic Millions.
Sword Of State won four of five starts, including the Group 1 Sistema Stakes (1200m), before being named Champion Two-Year-Old, and now stands at Cambridge Stud, where his first foals drew high praise.
Stable star Imperatriz (I Am Invincible) is the reigning NZ Horse of the Year and Champion Sprinter in Australia. Bought for A$360,000, Imperatriz was owned by Te Akau Invincible Empress Racing Partnership (Mgr: Karyn Fenton-Ellis MNZM).
Retired and sold in June this year for A$6.6 million, becoming the highest priced filly or mare ever sold in the Southern Hemisphere, Imperatriz recorded 10 Group One wins, from 1000m – 1600m, among 19 victories from 27 starts, and nearly NZ$7.6 million in prize money.
Incredibly, when three-year-old Colonel Warden (Russian Revolution) won recently he became the seventh winner of eight that Ellis bought at the 2023 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
In addition, he purchased Group One winners Move To Strike (I Am Invincible) and Captured By Love (Written), along with multiple stakes' placed winner Dream Of The Moon (All Too Hard), dual winners The Victress (Zousain) and Legally Binding (Exceedance), and stakes' placed winner Unbridled Joy (Snitzel).
From just one sale, it is remarkable to have achieved such a strike rate and also to see that level of Group and Stakes' performers.
His record continued into the 2024 sale with Return To Conquer already a stakes' winner on debut!