Sisters to Group 1-winning mares Orchestral and Prowess and a Savabeel daughter of high-class mare Rondinella are expected to fight it out for auction ring supremacy when the New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Yearling Sale starts on Sunday.
The prized fillies are predicted to command the attention from leading domestic and international owners keen to acquire the valuable yearlings carrying immense residual value and continue the trend across Australasia over the past two years.
Prowess’s two-year-old sister Seychelles, who is trained by Peter Moody and Katherine Coleman in Victoria, topped last year’s Karaka sale at $1.6 million while fillies have topped the past two Inglis Easter and Magic Millions Gold Coast yearling sales.
For the first time at the Magic Millions sale earlier this month, fillies also averaged more than the colts, indicating buyers’ preference for the relative safety of the high-end fillies’ market rather than the often boom-or-bust colts segment.
Haunui Farm will offer the second foal out of the Group 1-placed Rondinella early on Monday as Lot 255 while 90 lots later studmaster Mark Chitty will consign the Savabeel sister to New Zealand Derby and Vinery Stud Stakes winner Orchestral as Lot 345.
On Tuesday, the last of three Book 1 selling sessions, Hallmark Stud will offer the Proisir sister to the Group 1 Bonecrusher and Vinery Stud Stakes winner Prowess, who like Orchestra and Rondinella was trained by Roger James and Robert Wellwood.
Chitty believes the returns quality fillies have provided owners either to race and sell off the track or retain to breed with over the past decade has been lucrative.
“When you look at the fillies out of New Zealand and being able to get them by a champion stallion from very, very active families … they meet with very high demand,” Chitty said.
“We were fortunate enough to sell Orchestral two years ago for $625,000, and last year we sold Rondinella's first foal, He Who Dares, (who has had) one start for one win, for $825,000.
“So, to bring these horses to the market is exciting, a little nerve-wracking, but they're two quality fillies by a champion stallion out of great families.”
NZB managing director Andrew Seabrook suggested that the fillies could create the headlines again at Karaka 2025.
“There's probably fewer colts syndicates in operation, perhaps, and the general chat here is, when people are talking about potential sale-toppers, there’s two or three fillies that have been mentioned.”
Seabrook heads into Sunday’s opening session “cautiously optimistic” about what trade will eventuate over the ensuing five days.
“I'll tell you what, I'm really happy with the Australian buyers and I've been saying that for a few days now,” he said.
“We’re getting a sense that we were going to have more Australians here this year than we've had for a while and their appetite for our product seems to be as strong as ever.
“I think having that great spring with winning those Group 1 mile races with Ceolwulf and Antino and Mr Brightside and a runner-up in the Caulfield Guineas (Feroce) has really helped.”
Chitty indicated that inspection numbers had been in line with the past two Karaka sales.
“What I've found is, a number of people that possibly in the past might not have looked at everything have looked at everything,” he said.
“I think that's because some of the investors like to ask more than one person their opinion on a horse if they're going to invest.
“If a trainer's looked at horses and they pass an opinion and they like it, they might get it to train.”
The increase in Australian foot traffic, which includes agent James Harron, trainers Chris Waller, Adrian Bott, Mick Price, Bjorn Baker, Matt Hoysted and Jack Bruce, has Seabrook upbeat as does an influx of European bloodstock agents.
“There's probably fewer colts syndicates in operation, perhaps, and the general chat here is, when people are talking about potential sale-toppers, there’s two or three fillies that have been mentioned” - New Zealand Bloodstock's Andrew Seabrook
They include Johnny McKeever, a regular Australasian sales circuit attendee, as well as Sam Haggas, Martin Buick, Stuart Boman, Jamie McCalmont and Emma Pugsley.
“The New Zealand domestic racing scene goes from strength to strength … and.with a strong, ready-to-run sale the last couple of years, which hopefully gives the pinhookers the confidence to go again, coupled with the increase in prize money, coupled with the nice Australian buying bench, hopefully that can offset a weak economy,” Seabrook said.
“I'd be thrilled if we could hold last year's figures, which, of course, held up better than most sales last year (in Australia).”
The 2024 Karaka Book 1 sale grossed $79.585 million, up $9.5 million on the 2023 sale, at an average of $168,257 and a median of $120,000.
The Karaka Millions twilight race meeting will be held at Ellerslie on Saturday with the first of five days of selling to start at 10am local time on Sunday.
