Cambridge’s $200,000 Queen completes leading vendor double at Karaka

Still celebrating a defining Karaka moment, Cambridge Stud doubled down by topping the Book 2 sale after reclaiming the leading vendor title for the first time under Brendan and Jo Lindsay.

A filly by Cambridge’s resident sire Embellish, the second foal out of the talented two-year-old Queen Of Wizardry, sold for $200,000 at the New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale on Tuesday in a session that turned over $12.1 million.

But not before the filly was passed in at $170,000, prompting negotiations between the Lindsays and Cranbourne-based Trent Busuttin who agreed to buy the daughter of Embellish at her reserve price.

Twenty-four hours earlier, they sold a $1.1 million Sword Of State half-brother to Group 1 winner Ceolwulf, the first time Cambridge Stud had sold a seven-figure yearling since the change of ownership from Sir Patrick Hogan to the Lindsays in 2017.

Embellish isn’t Cambridge’s most commercial stallion on its roster and this filly was conceived off a $5000 service fee. 

This filly’s pedigree warranted an above average price tag given her dam Queen Of Wizardry was a talented juvenile.

“Queen Of Wizardry was trained by Annabel Neasham (now Archibald). She actually ran in the Magic Millions race, she ran in the Golden Slipper, a Sires and a Champagne, so she had a very busy two-year-old career,” Cambridge Stud’s Cameron Ring said.

“We paid a lot of money for her (as a breeding prospect), so we wanted to protect this filly. We raced a really talented Embellish filly called Luberon with Lance Noble and this filly reminded us a lot of Luberon.

“She was Group 1-placed and a Group 3 winner. We just love this filly and we’re just so happy that Trent Busuttin has bought her as he’s had a lot of luck with the stallion.”

The second foal out of Queen Of Wizardry, a three-quarter sister to Group 1 South Australian Derby winner Coco Sun, the filly is from a family developed by Tyreel Stud.

Her first foal is by Spirit Of Boom named Scorcer’s Spirit and is in training with Tony Gollan after being sold at last year’s Magic Millions for $300,000, while she has a Chaldean weanling filly and is back in foal to the Cambridge Stud shuttler.

While the Embellish filly was the headline grabber, the Book 2 session did start slowly with auctioneer Mike Kneebone struggling to “get off the mark” after a strong Book 1 sale, but the competition heated up as the sale went on.

As trade picked up, the clearance rate hit 75 per cent by the end of the day, while the average price was $65,416 with a median of $60,000.

Book 2’s trade also took the combined aggregate to $91.712 million, up $5.65 million on last year’s figure despite selling 127 fewer horses.

The average of $149,125 is also a Karaka record, bettering the 2024 amount of $121,925.

“It seems like every year the sales stats sort of speak for themselves, but those are genuine figures there when you’re a couple of million up on a gross like that,” Kneebone said.

“I think it’s probably a record Book 2 sale and with 130-odd less horses, that’s a pretty remarkable effort.”

Kneebone also acknowledged the feats of Cambridge Stud’s son of Snitzel in Sword Of State, whose Book 2 yearlings averaged $95,000.

“And they looked more and more aligned as they came through the ring, didn’t they? The colts and fillies, they’ve got plenty of natural muscle and great outlooks about them,” Kneebone said.

“He’s been the star of the show.”

The Summer Sale will bring the Karaka sale to a close on Thursday with the first lot scheduled to go under the hammer at 11am (NZ time).

Sale statistics – combined Books 1 and 2

Catalogued: 848 (1088)

Offered: 768 (941)

Sold: 615 (742)

Clearance: 80% (79%)

Aggregate: $91,712,000 ($86,061,500)

Average $149,215 ($115,986)

Median: $100,000 ($80,000)

Top Lot: $1.1 million ($2.4 million)