Mo'unga's eye-catching brother sets Karaka benchmark at NZ$1 million on day one

Champion stallion Savabeel dominated day one of the New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Yearling Sale, supplying five of the top ten lots sold yesterday in what could be a pointer to the generation set to carry the potent stallion’s legacy well into the future.

The brother to Savabeel’s dual Group 1 winner Mo’unga, himself earmarked as a potential heir to the throne, stood out during the opening session in many buyers’ eyes and sold for NZ$1 million (£521,000/€628,000) to Tony Fung Investments, which was prepared to pay three times as much as for his older brother three years ago.

A further six yearlings by Waikato Stud’s long-time roster stalwart made NZ$350,000 or more on day one, in another example of the reliance on the elite stallion by the New Zealand industry.

Overall trade was strong in the middle to upper level of the market, which was aided by the addition of expatriate Kiwi agents and trainers who were not at Karaka in 2021.

NZB managing director Andrew Seabrook believes Monday’s session set the platform for another two days of strong Book 1 trade.

“The top 40 per cent sold really well, there was a lot of competition for the better lots, of course, and there was a lot of Australian interest from online, which is good, and we sold a million dollar horse, which isn’t that easy to do,” Seabrook told ANZ Bloodstock News.

“We are really pleased with the first day and I think it will only get stronger over the next couple of days.”

Fourteen of the 126 yearlings sold in the opening session made NZ$300,000 or more, which helped the aggregate close at NZ$20,042,500 last night, climbing 28 per cent year-on-year, while the average also jumped a significant 20 per cent to NZ$159,067. The median was last night sitting at NZ$125,000, up from NZ$100,000 at the same stage of the 2021 sale.

Importantly, the clearance rate also increased late in the day to 70 per cent, a figure which is expected to continue to improve over the next two days.

The figures are also above the pre-pandemic 2020 Karaka sale, which could be attributed to the record demand in Australia rubbing off on the New Zealand market.

Mo’unga’s $1 million brother heading to Australia

Competition for the day’s star attraction, the brother to Mo’unga, was not unexpected given his pedigree and conformation, but the NZ$1 million mark appeared off-limits until the adrenaline rush of an auction kicked in and the heavyweights went head-to-head.

After an opening bid of NZ$100,000 was made, New Zealand trainers Graeme Rogerson and Tony Pike, perhaps optimistically put up their hands, before the eventual underbidder David Ellis and Fung’s representative Kacy Fogden fought it out.

It initially appeared that the Waikato Stud-bred and sold colt would realise NZ$950,000 but, as often happens at a live auction, Ellis made a last-ditch attempt to land the horse at NZ$975,000, a move which forced Fogden to go to NZ$1 million for the star yearling.

Until yesterday, million-dollar yearlings by Savabeel had exclusively been the domain of Ellis, having bought the only two yearlings by the Waikato Stud stallion to reach seven figures: a NZ$1.4 million colt in 2019 and a NZ$1.025 million colt at Karaka a year earlier.

TFI is currently fielding stud offers via auction house Magic Millions for rising five-year-old Mo’unga, who could run in the George Ryder Stakes at Rosehill on Saturday week, and the organisation could not resist adding his younger brother to its large-scale racing division, even at the dizzying heights paid for him.

New Zealander Fogden, who trains a number of horses on the Gold Coast for Fung, signed for the colt on behalf of her boss and Mo’unga’s Sydney-based trainer Annabel Neasham after a spirited bidding duel.

“Mo’unga is obviously a pretty special horse to us and we were prepared for it,” Fogden said.

“It is a bit scary when you have got David Ellis coming back at you round for round. I wouldn’t want to do that too many times.

“But he is a quality colt and you have got to buy the colt you want.”

The Savabeel-O’Reilly cross, so prolific in New Zealand breeding over the past decade and carefully nurtured predominantly by the Chittick family, is responsible for 124 individual winners including 23 stakes winners, seven of them at Group 1 level, including Mo’unga.

“With a high-profile horse like this I do get a bit anxious with them,” Waikato Stud’s Mark Chittick said.

“It’s not about how much they will make, but more about them being nicely sold as there was a lot of hype about him.

“He has been an absolute professional in both the outside and inside ring and it is nice when it all falls into place.

“There is a hell of a lot of time and effort that goes into all of these horses, it’s two years with a lot of hours and people involved.

“I have to take my hat off to everyone and especially my team at Waikato Stud as they put their life and soul into this and it is great that we can get a little result like this for them.

“It verifies that we are doing the job right.”

The Lot 161-catalogued colt is the fifth live foal out of the Group 3-placed Chandelier, a sister to Group 2 winner Irlanda.

“[The colt] really is a quality animal with a lot of attractiveness about him and all the way through from a foal to a weanling, he stood out,” Chittick said.

“Even when he was an early yearling and you went down the farm and saw them running in their groups, he was the one that caught the eye.

“His family goes right back to the days when we were based in the Wairarapa, 30 or 40 years ago. Like a lot of our families, they are turning out great results in the sales ring and the racetrack.”

Fogden suggested there were similarities between Mo’unga and his yearling brother beyond just his increasingly impressive pedigree page.

“He is a lot like his brother at the same stage,” she said.

“The way he comes out and does his job and Mo’unga is a bit the same. He is very straightforward, has a good temperament, and is very athletic.”

Subscribe to make sure you never miss updates from Australia, New Zealand and beyond and to have ANZ Bloodstock delivered to your inbox every day