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Ellis goes to NZ$700,000 for colt at New Zealand Bloodstock Ready To Run Sale
Waikato Stud’s star stallion Savabeel (Zabeel) has been the headline act of New Zealand racing for the past few years so it was no surprise to see a colt by the multiple champion sire take centre stage of an extraordinary two days of trade at the New Zealand Bloodstock Ready To Run Sale on Thursday, with Jamie Richards - bidding on behalf of his boss, Te Akau supremo David Ellis - going to a record-breaking NZ$700,000 for the Riversley Park consigned-two-year-old.
Catalogued as Lot 298, the colt breezed in a time of 10.28 seconds - the equal second quickest time of the sale - and he is the first foal out of the unraced O’Reilly (Last Tycoon) mare Miss Opulence, meaning he is bred on one of the most potent crosses in the New Zealand studbook.
The Savabeel / O’Reilly cross has produced 18 stakes winners, headed by Group 1-winning quartet Costume, Diademe, Savaria and Embellish and it fires at a 13 per cent stakes winners to runners rate.
Miss Opulence herself is out of Listed winner Miss Opera (Paris Opera), who is herself the dam of multiple Group 1-winning pair Sir Slick (Volksraad) and Puccini (Encosta De Lago), while she also produced Group 3-placed Shortblackmini (Black Minnaloushe) - the dam of Group 2 scorer Amarula (Thorn Park) and Group 3 winner and Group 1 placed Little Wonder (Volksraad).
Richards said the team rated him as the best colt in the sale and they have aspirations that he would make a stallion in the future.
“He is a lovely colt,” said Richards. “He is medium-sized and athletic and he isn’t going to get too big and gross and heavy on us.
“We thought he was the best colt in the sale and we just kept our powder dry. He has been bought to hopefully develop into a stallion. He has got the pedigree behind him that we think he is able to do so and we hopefully saved the best for last. We are looking forward to getting him back to Te Akau and sell him amongst our wonderful owners.”
Richards had to fight off fierce competition from Kingsclere Stables’ Roger James and the trainer said the winning bid was as far as they were prepared to go.
“We were getting towards the end of it, so it was great to get him for NZ$700,000 and hopefully we can develop him into a stallion that the New Zealand industry can be proud of,” said Richards.
The colt was the headline act of the two lucrative days of buying for team Te Akau and he joins their other eight purchases, which saw them finish the sale as leading buyers, taking home nine two-year-olds for an aggregate of NZ$1,520,000 and Richards was quick to heap praise on New Zealand Bloodstock.
“New Zealand Bloodstock need to be commended for the wonderful sale they have put on here over the last couple of days,” Richards said.
“We’ve tried to get horses at all different budgets. Karyn [Ellis] does such a wonderful job of syndicating horses along with David. All of the horses from the first day of the sale are syndicated already and I am sure it won’t take long to get these ones done. The effort that goes into it is just unbelievable.”
The colt was bred by the Smithies family’s Monovale Farm in Cambridge, who have had a long association with Riversley Park.
“We knew from the interest leading into the sale that we had a pretty good horse on our hands, how good we weren’t sure,” Joe Smithies said.
“We were keen to get him on the market relatively early and it turns out that was a good move.
“It was great to see two New Zealand guys going at him, and there was plenty of interest from bidders online.
“It’s a huge result for the mare, Savabeel, Riversley and Monovale and everyone at NZB as well.
“We are just over the moon. You are always optimistic but half the time when you are optimistic you probably get caught out a little bit. We went into it hoping it would go well but NZ$700,000 is beyond optimistic.
“It is a family we have had a long time now and one that has been very good to us.
“Miss Opulence is a six-year-old mare and is carrying her fourth Savabeel. She has a yearling filly, a filly foal and is back in foal to Savabeel. She is a very exciting broodmare for us going forward.”
Smithies, whose brother Max led the colt through the ring, praised the efforts of the Riversley Park team.
“They do a fantastic job, there was a reason we chose them to prepare this horse and we have been impressed with how they operate for a number of years,” he said.
“They have done all our breaking in for a decade or more and we have a very good relationship with them.”
Riversley Park finished the two-day sale as the leading vendors by both aggregate and average, selling 23 two-year-olds for total receipts of NZ$4,152,500 at an average of NZ$180,543 and Sam Beatson was delighted with the results.
“When we arrived at the sale complex we were busy from the get-go,” said Beatson.
“We knew he was a lovely colt and that he would bring some money in, but to make NZ$700,000 was fantastic.”
“The online bidding has worked very successfully, people weren’t quite sure how it was going to go, but the overseas buyers got their heads around it and it has paid off,” he said.
Beatson has learned a lot from the unexpected circumstances due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.
“Just give the buyers as much information on the horses as possible. They have their agents down here doing some work too but if they can see as much online as they can, that helps them and gives them confidence in what they are buying,” Beatson said.
Unsurprisingly given his dominance in New Zealand, Waikato Stud’s multiple champion stallion Savabeel led the stallion standings at the close of trade by both aggregate and average (with three or more lots sold) on Thursday, being responsible for five two-year-olds selling for an aggregate of NZ$1,352,000 at an average of NZ$270,400.
