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Waikato Stud leading vendor at Karaka 2020

Published: Wed 29 Jan 2020 09:08 AM
Waikato Stud remains on top of the New Zealand breeding world after again bagging top honours at Karaka.
The Matamata farm was the leading vendor again at New Zealand Bloodstock’s Book 1 National Yearling Sale for the seventh consecutive year.
Waikato Stud consigned 71 yearlings, selling 59 at an aggregate of $9.9million.
Its top priced lot was the Savabeel colt out of Magic Dancer, Lot 79, which was purchased by Te Akau’s David Ellis for $800,000.
And freshman stallion Tivaci also sold extremely well to be the second leading first season sire.
Click here to view a video edit of Day 3 at Karaka.
Today’s highlights include:
Reflecting on another great result
Karaka 2020 has provided “so many memorable moments”, stud principal Mark Chittick says.
“I just want to thank all my staff for their hard work at the sale. It’s been a great team effort by everybody, the family and the community and all those people who have done business with us during a successful Book 1 sale.
“It’s all over for another year although the work starts again tomorrow,” Chittick adds.
“We’ve had a good steady sale and I’m really proud of the homes these horses have found and they will get every opportunity from now on.”
While this year’s draft didn’t match the heady heights of 2019, where they sold their first $1 million yearling, Chittick is more than pleased with the numbers achieved in 2020.
“Last year was particularly special and this year was really good,” he says.
Savabeel was the dominant force again among the proven stallions and Chittick is also delighted with the buyer interest in the first crop representatives of Tivaci.
“We knew we had very good types, he’s stamped them just like himself,” he says. “We were very proud to purchase Tivaci and stand him at stud and everybody recognised the quality he has and is passing on.
“They’re good types and a lot of good judges have bought them. They have got all the attributes that you would be looking for.”
Tivaci’s yearlings sold for up to $500,000 at Karaka with purchasers including trainers Danny O’Brien, Ciaron Maher, Joseph Pride, Mathew Ellerton and Mark Zahra and agents John Foote, Guy Mulcaster and Dalziel Bloodstock with Peter Moody.
Savabeel stars again
It was the same old pleasant story for Waikato Stud as Book 1 at Karaka drew to a successful close for the Matamata farm.
Late in the session, it sold a son of Savabeel, Lot 626, to Te Akau boss David Ellis for $500,000.
“I’ve bought him for a brand new client who wanted a quality colt,” Ellis explains.
“We trained his sister who won the Matamata Breeders’ Stakes and she was a real two-year-old. This is another precocious colt who will race in the tangerine.”
The youngster is out of the Gr.2 Karrakatta Plate winner Gold Rocks, who produced Gr. 2 Breeders’ Stakes winner Gold Fever. She also placed in the Gr.1 Diamond Stakes and half-sister Gold Rush also won the Matamata juvenile feature.
Savabeel’s pulling power was evident when the Hong Kong Jockey Club went to $400,000 for Lot 483.
The colt is a son of Candleabra, particularly well-related daughter of the late Pins. She is a half-sister to the Group One winning siblings Diademe and Embellish. The pedigree page also features the champion sprinter Sacred Star, a dual top-flight winner.
“It’s a great family and he was worth the money,” Mark Chittick says. “He sold well and once they get past $200,000 it’s a matter of how far they go and we’re happy.”
Click here to download a photo of Lot 626.
End of an era as last Pins yearling sold
Waikato Stud’s sale of Lot 657 provided the Matamata farm with a poignant moment at Karaka.
The filly was the last yearling by the late Pins, such a wonderful sire for the Chittick family, to be sold by them.
The youngster was knocked down to the final bid of $80,000 from trainer Graeme Rogerson.
She is out of the winning Savabeel mare Hurry, a blood sister to the Gr.2 Manawatu Challenge Stakes winner Splurge.
It is a family highlighted by Sacred Falls, who retired to the Waikato Stud roster with four Group One wins on his CV.
“It’s the end of an era and a bit sad to take the last crop of his yearlings to Karaka this year," Chittick says. "Pins was incredible on the racetrack and as a sire, but he was great in the yearling ring as well.
“If you had the right one with the right pedigree, you could make really good money, but all of his progeny consistently sold well.
"I think that buyers knew that Pins produced horses they could rely on and buy with confidence. We’re definitely going to miss him."
Pins gave yeoman service to the farm until his passing due to complications from colic in 2018. He has produced more than 80 stakes winners.
He sired nine individual Group winners, including El Segundo, Aerovelocity, Katie Lee, Ambitious Dragon, Madison County and the stud’s own Legs.
Earlier in the session, a daughter of Pins realised $270,000 with Lot 477 going to Andrew Williams Bloodstock on behalf of New South Wales interests.
The filly is out of the O’Reilly mare Brampton Loco and the family of the Group One winners Stratum Star, Railings, Virage De Fortune and Rumya.
Click here to download a photo of Lot 657.
ENDS

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