Petagna’s Elsdon Park vision taking shape, as Walls and Wanless secure Alabama Express colt

Lib Petagna’s Elsdon Park is still in its infancy but the stud’s Karaka prominence is on the rise and on day two of the New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale it was evident his level of investment in the thoroughbred industry was paying off.

Elsdon Park sold an Alabama Express colt for $850,000 on Monday, the equal second highest-priced lot sold at New Zealand’s 100th annual yearling sale, to KPW Bloodstock’s Kevin “Millie” Walls.

A former Trelawney Stud manager, Walls has been acting exclusively for Ron and Judy Wanless at the Australasian yearling sales in recent years and the trio have bought eight horses at Karaka so far this week.

And it was the Alabama Express colt who caught Wallis’ eye the most and he wasn’t alone given the horse’s price tag, being the first foal of Petagna’s Tivaci mare Diva Carolina.

He is also from the fourth crop of the Yulong-based stallion, whose three crops of racing age are headed by multiple Group 1 winner Treasurethe Moment and sprinter Alabama Express.

“He stood out. He is a very nice horse. We buy purely on type and I rated him one of the best types in the sale. And once Ron starts, he tries hard,” Walls said of Lot 383. 

“We’ve paid a bit more for one or two before, but (Ron) loves the game, loves the racing – it’s his hobby and his passion. 

“They love their horses, love their racing, he’s been in the game a long time and most other games, too. 

“This horse will definitely end up in Australia. He has the VOBIS bonus, so no doubt he’ll go to Melbourne.”

A prominent New Zealand businessman, Petagna agreed the colt was the standout of Elsdon Park’s draft but he was surprised by the competition for him.

“We thought he was going to go for good money, but if you’ve got two strong bidders on a nice horse, you just don’t know,” Petagna said. 

“So, we thought he would be our most expensive lot, but honestly you just don’t know in this game.”

Petagna also raced the Mike Moroney-trained Tivaci, the 2017 All Aged Stakes winner who was retired to Waikato Stud at the end of that preparation, and bred Diva Carolina out of his stakes-placed mare Rosa Carolina.

Bought by agent Bruce Perry for Petagna, Rosa Carolina was a $220,000 yearling in 2015 who went on to be stakes-placed for trainer Kris Lees in Australia after starting her career in New Zealand with Stephen Marsh.

“We bought Rosa and raced her, and she was a very smart, fast filly, and that was when I started breeding so we kept her,” Petagna said. 

“Diva was her first foal and we ended up keeping her. But it’s funny, (the Alabama Express colt) is out of a Tivaci mare, we’ve got two Tivaci mares on the property, and they’ve both left lovely offspring.

“He wasn’t the most commercial sire, but I think he’s going to be quite a good broodmare sire, at least for us.”

It continues the rise of Petagna’s Elsdon Park, which is overseen by Kerrie Cox at the former Valachi Downs property near Matamata. 

“Look, this is only our fourth sale, so we can’t point to a string of Group 1 winners over 20 years that we’ve bred. Our oldest with the brand on have only just turned four, and the first two drafts were quite small,” Petagna said.

“Last year we sold 26, and four of them got into the Karaka (Millions 2YO) field. So, I think we’ve got some nice two-year-olds and three-year-olds that will start to come through.”

Expanding Elsdon Park’s broodmare band isn’t on the agenda despite buyers’ recognition of Petagna’s breeding prowess.

“This is about the right size for us, 30 to 35, and that’s where we’ll probably be going forward,” he said.

“But we’ve had good support, so we appreciate it from the buying bench, and I think people know we don’t keep our best stock at home now. We bring our best stock to market.”