A determined David Ellis worked the phones in the lead-up to Wednesday’s opening New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale to ensure he had the financial firepower to buy one of the most impressive two-year-olds to have set foot on Karaka.
And just as well the Te Akau Racing principal shored up his pre-sale capital as he was forced to go to a record-breaking $1.65 million to buy the son of Australian champion sire I Am Invincible during Wednesday’s opening session.
Smashing the record $1 million mark for a southern hemisphere breeze-up sale, which was posted just five weeks ago for a Written Tycoon filly traded at the Inglis Ready2Race Sale, the I Am Invincible colt loomed as the horse most likely to reach a new benchmark after producing a dazzling breeze-up of 9.97 seconds at Te Rapa last month.
He was the only horse in the 404-Lot catalogue to break 10 seconds for the 200m gallop.
Te Akau principal Ellis is no stranger to purchasing high-priced horses at Karaka, but more so in January rather than in November, but he is confident that the investment can reap the rewards.
As well as Ellis’ emphatic admiration for the horse’s credentials, the two-year-old also carries the endorsement of Te Akau’s senior trainer Mark Walker and the Mitchells of Yarraman Park, home to the two-year-old’s three-time champion sire I Am Invincible.
“Mark Walker is an absolute genius at looking at these horses breeze up, and he's given me some really good advice, as Jamie Richards did before Mark while Mark was in Singapore, and it's a sale that we've had a lot of success at,” Ellis said.
“As soon as I saw this colt, I said to myself, ‘if he breezes up well, this is a colt I'm going to buy’.
“So, I went to the Mitchells from Yarraman Park and they said, ‘this is one of the nicest I'm Invincible colts we've ever seen’ and they’ve seen them all, so what better recommendation can you have? They do the job as well as any breeders in the world.”
Sha Tin trainer Cody Mo and agent Denys Chan underbid the colt at $1.6 million after prominent Hong Kong owner Kin Man Yeung had raised his hand high into the air for all to see from his seat at the top of the Karaka sales ring multiple times until he said no more at $1.4 million.
From there it was Ellis and Mo who went toe-to-toe.
“My wife Karyn was sitting right behind me and she said, ‘if you really, really like this horse, don't be beaten’,” he said.
“She's a very astute person and a big part of the success of Te Akau Racing and she gave me the confidence to go for it.
“Along with Mark Walker, who's a partner with me in Te Akau Racing, we just wanted the horse in our stable. I think that's what it boils down to.”
Christopher and Susanna Grace, who bred the colt out of their Group 1 Empire Rose and Cantala Stakes-winning Savabeel mare Shillelagh, were delighted that their decision to retain the horse after passing him in at the Inglis Easter sale had paid off.
And it was immediately clear that there would be no taking the Mark and Lorraine Forbes-prepared horse home a second time around.
Tim Rowe
“When he went into the ring there was a $400,000 reserve to make sure that he got on the market straight away,” Christopher Grace told The Straight back at Barn E at Karaka’s spacious complex after the colt had been sold.
“I mean, you don't know with this quality of horse as you need two people (bidding). We were just lucky that David Ellis had put together a good, strong syndicate from his side.
“I'm much happier having the horse trained in New Zealand or Australia than if he had gone to Hong Kong.”
The Graces will retain 25 per cent of the colt while Harry Mitchell has also formed a partnership to take an interest in the two-year-old.
“I wasn't really expecting the horse to make that sort of money, but Te Akau approached me and said would we take a piece of the horse with the view of one day obviously dreaming of him being a stallion,” Mitchell told The Straight.
“I was very taken with his breeze and I came over to look at him and I love the horse's temperament.
“We're having a bet, but now we'll put some of our better clients in and we'll see how we go. Hopefully, we're winning a couple of Group 1s with him.”
One of those Group 1s could be next April in the Manawatu Sires, a race the colt’s soon-to-be stablemate Move To Strike won last season to provide Te Akau with its eighth victory in the race and sixth in the past seven years.
But first Ellis’ expensive acquisition will be given a short break at Te Akau Stud before going into Matamata to begin his first racing preparation under the watchful eye of Walker and his training partner Sam Bergerson.
Although he missed out on the record-breaking son of I Am Invincible, electronics entrepreneur Yeung, who races the Patch-named horses in Hong Kong, didn’t go home empty-handed during the opening session, having purchased eight two-year-olds.
In all, there were 106 juveniles traded on day one - 18 of them making $300,000 and above - with the gross sitting at $18.467 million, up 14 per cent year-on-year.
Tim Rowe
The average is also up 11 per cent to $174,217 while the median has climbed six per cent to $95,000.
NZB bloodstock sales manager Kane Jones described Wednesday’s session as a “really solid day”.
“It's been a real theme throughout sales around the world that the quality horses have been selling particularly well and we knew when a horse that ticked all the boxes walked in the ring, the bidders followed that horse in,” Jones said.
“And that was reflected in a really strong average … and the clearance rate of about 66 per cent is something we're working hard on to improve and to have that creep up. I'd love to see that get closer to 70 per cent into the night.”
The second and final session of selling will start at 11am NZ time on Thursday.
Sale statistics - day one
Catalogued - 200 (190)*
Offered - 161 (151)
Sold - 106 (103)
Clearance - 66% (68%)
Aggregate - $18,467,000 ($16,206,500)
Average - $174,217 ($157,345)
Median - $95,000 ($90,000)
Top Lot - $1.65 million ($800,000)
* denotes 2023 figures
