The owners of New Zealand’s reigning champion three-year-old Orchestral have reinvested in another high-profile filly, paying $1.1 million for the sister to Group 1 winner Prowess at the New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Yearling Sale.
Colin and Helen Litt, whose Roger James and Robert Wellwood-trained four-year-old Orchestral took out the $1 million Aotearoa Classic on Karaka MIllions night at Ellerslie last Saturday, added another well-credentialled filly to their racing portfolio.
The second million-dollar Lot of the 99th National Yearling Sale - the Savabeel sister to Orchestral sold on Monday for a record $2.4 million, the highest-priced filly ever sold in the country - the daughter of Proisir will enter the same Cambridge stable of her now-retired sibling.
James and Wellwood, who normally station themselves to the right of the Karaka press box when bidding, instead stood downstairs in the alleyway to land the sibling to Prowess, a mare they trained to win a Group 1 Bonecrusher in New Zealand and a Vinery Stud Stakes in Sydney.
With the backing of the Litts, the co-trainers held off the challenge of bloodstock agent Dean Hawthorne who was the underbidder.
James was thrilled to have bought the filly and he believes she could be mature enough to be racing as a juvenile.
“Prowess was a big, rangy filly that we had to wait for. This filly's so balanced that you could imagine her doing things at the tail end of a two-year-old year,” James said.
“And you could imagine her being very competitive as a spring three-year-old. Her attitude looked bombproof.
“I saw her earlier today and she looks dead on her feet, tired, as she'd been so popular. But the minute you asked her to walk, she had an overstep of about nine inches. So one filly that's just going to give her guts for you, I would think.”
Her year older sister Seychelles sold for $1.6 million to trainer Peter Moody and owner John Camilleri at last year’s NZB sale and the latest foal out of Donna Marie continued an amazing story for Hallmark Stud’s Mark Baker whose family has been breeding horses for decades.
Baker had indications before day three that there were some “big hitters” who had shown their interest in the filly, but he didn’t want to get ahead of himself despite the anticipation of a big result.
“Roger, he loved her, he was five or six times all week so it was great to see him get her in the end,” Baker said.
“But it's just great for all the staff that work with these mares from conception through to folding, through to weaning.
“There's so many things that can go amiss and to get her here and to do it two years in a row, that hasn't sunk in yet.”
Tim Rowe
Prowess’s emergence in 2022-23 also played a role in the rise of Rich Hill Stud stallion Proisir, New Zealand’s champion sire of two seasons ago, with her racecourse success demonstrating the stallion’s ability to upgrade his mares.
“Prowess was a big contributor, but he is just an extraordinary stallion. He's done it off average mares, starting at a fee of $7,000. Rich Hill has done a great job with him and he's done it the hard way but he's proved he's the real deal, colts, fillies, soft tracks, firm tracks, all distances, so he's a proper stallion,” Baker said.
“For (the $1.1 million yearling to be out of a) mare that we paid $20,000 for and (by a sire) we bought a stallion share in for $20,000 in Proisir as well, so it's just an amazing result and it proves what a great game it is and anyone can do it.”
Another filly by Proisir also provided her breeder with a big financial return when she sold for $850,000 to agent Hawthorne on behalf of his long-term client, GSA Bloodstock’s Jonathan Munz.
The demand for fillies, as was the case at the Magic Millions, saw them average $172,000, $12,000 more than the colts.
Undeterred by missing out on the two million-dollar fillies, Hawthorne finally struck a blow and physically he believes the daughter of Tavistock mare Golden Hind stacked up well against the seven-figure sisters to Prowess and Orchestral.
“I thought she was probably my top physical Proisir filly with a pedigree. This filly was a belter, and we love Tavistock mares,” said Hawthorne, who confirmed a decision on an Australian trainer wouldn’t be made until later on.
“Unfortunately we got into a bidding duel with Ronnie Wanless, which isn't good for the health. But she’s a lovely, lovely filly.
“We had three cracks here, we went up to about $1.8 million on the sale-topper and a million on the next one and this filly we rated right up there with those top ones."
She was bred by Nearco Stud’s Greg Tomilson and consigned by Curraghmore Stud.
Later, a colt by first-season Cambridge Stud sire Sword Of State sold for $540,000 on Tuesday will also head to Australia after being purchased by Hawkesbury-based trainer Brad Widdup and Mulberry Racing’s Mike Gregg.
Out of West Australian Listed-winning two-year-old Fuld’s Bet, the colt is also a half-brother to New Zealand stakes-placed juvenile I’m All In.
He was bred by Cambridge Stud’s Brendan and Jo Lindsay who stand the Group 1 Sistema Stakes-winning two-year-old.
“We're just absolutely over the moon, it's made our sale. And it's got our new stallion off the mark to an incredible start,” Brendan Lindsay said.
“He's sold well on the Gold Coast, but $540,000 is an awful lot of money on a $15,000 service fee, which shows you the quality of a horse he's leaving.”
The underbidder on the Sword Of State colt was Te Akau’s David Ellis, who bought 27 yearlings in Book 1 for a total spend of $4,437,500, to be leading buyer at Karaka for the 14th year in a row and 17 of the past 20 national yearling sales.
"This filly's so balanced that you could imagine her doing things at the tail end of a two-year-old year. And you could imagine her being very competitive as a spring three-year-old. Her attitude looked bombproof" - Roger James after buying a $1.1 million filly by Proisir
The leading vendor was Haunui Farm, dethroning Waikato Stud, for the title having sold $6.74 million worth of yearlings while Mark Chittick’s operation was second with a gross of $5.84 million, $40,000 more than Curraghmore.
“The top two lots were bought by New Zealanders, which is really, really rare. In fact, this will be the first sale that New Zealanders have outspent the Australians. I can't remember a sale ever where that's happened,” NZB managing director Andrew Seabrook said.
“Even though we had more Australians on the sale grounds than we've seen for a number of years, they perhaps didn't have the firepower of the last couple of years, so it was great to see the positive New Zealand racing scene resulting in a bigger New Zealand buying bench.”
Tim Rowe
More than $75.18 million was spent across the three days of Book 1 at an average of $165,966 and a median of $110,000 at a clearance rate of 77 per cent.
“(The market) is a little bit softer in the middle market, but I think overall, if you'd asked me at the start of the week, would you take these results, I would have taken them and run,” Seabrook said.
“I think the first sale of the year (Magic Millions) was down nine per cent, so for us to be down three per cent, remembering that we were up 12 per cent last year, which was the only sale to increase (in 2024), (leaves me) happy.”
The two-day Book 2 sale will start at 12pm local time.
Sale statistics - Book 1
Aggregate $75,182,500 *($79,585,500)
Average $165,966 ($168,257)
Median $110,000 ($120,000)
Clearance 77% (78%)
Catalogued 661 (682)
Sold 453 (473)
Top lot $2.4 million ($1.6 million)
*2024 in brackets
