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Graduates of the 2017 Karaka Premier Sale fought out the finish of Saturday’s G2 Avondale Guineas at Ellerslie.
The main lead-up to the G1 New Zealand Derby (2400m) early next month was won by Surely Sacred by a long head from A Twinkling.
[n]Surely Sacred[/n] (Rock ‘n’ Pop x Not Sure by Masterclass) was bought by Raffles Racing for $160,000 from the Waikato Stud draft while Te Akau Racing went to $250,000 to purchase [n]In A Twinkling[/n] (Fastnet Rock).
Surely Sacred is the second-to-last foal from the five-time winner Not Sure, the dam of five winners from eight to race.
Not Sure’s second foal is the G2 winner Betwixt (O’Reilly), who in turn produced G1 Queensland Oaks winner Provocative (Zabeel).
Not Sure is from the Listed winner Icelette (Icelandic), also the dam of G1 winner Taupo Retreat (Centaine).
Not Sure had one foal after Surely Sacred, a full sister to the gelding named Of Two Minds, who is in training with Tony Pike.
Trained by Tony Pike for Raffles Racing, Surely Sacred has now won three of his five starts and $158,900 in prizemoney.
This was his second G2 victory, having won the Auckland Guineas (1600m) on New Year’s Day.
The New Zealand Derby has been won by Karaka graduates Gingernuts (Iffraaj) and Vin De Dance (Roc de Cambes) in the last two years.
Te Akau Racing enjoyed Guineas success in Invercargill on Saturday when the leading stable won the Listed Southland Guineas with the Declaration Of War colt Weaponry.
Graduates of NZ Bloodstock Sales finished first, second and third in the Southland Guineas.
The winner [n]Weaponry[/n] was a $140,000 purchase by Te Akau Racing principal David Ellis at the 2017 Premier Sale at Karaka, while placegetters [n]Upscale[/n] (Tavistock) and [n]Air Max[/n] (Nadeem) went through the 2017 South Island Sale.
Upscale sold for $22,500 while Air Max was passed with a $20,000 reserve.
Weaponry was due for a feature success after finishing third and fourth without much luck in the Listed Gore Guineas and Dunedin Guineas.
Weaponry (Declaratiion Of War x Cat Shmea by Felix The Cat) became the 11th stakes winner for his sire when he landed the Southland Guineas for third win in five starts.
He is the last foal from the winning Felix The Cat mare Cat Shmea, an outstanding broodmare with three of her six foal to race winning or placing in Group races.
Her first foal was the G1 winner Velocitea (Volksraad), who went on to produce stakes placed Linehills (Redoute’s Choice), while her second foal was the G2 placed Maastricht (Mastercraftsman), dam of the G3 winner and favoured Blue Diamond Stakes contender Loving Gaby (I Am Invincible).