Kiwis omnipresent in success of Karaka Book 1
Dennis Ryan - Raceform • January 31st, 2025 3:30 PM
There are many ways of analysing the success of an auction sale, but in the case of this week’s Karaka Book 1, the common denominator was the influence wielded on both sides of the equation by New Zealanders.
In a red-hot thoroughbred market for quality fillies, that was no more evident than in the sale-topping sisters to high-grade performers Orchestral and Prowess. Lot 345, the Savabeel-Symphonic filly offered by Haunui Farm on behalf of Barneswood Farm, and Lot 564, the Proisir-Donna Marie filly bred and offered by Hallmark Stud, were also bought by New Zealanders.
Stumping up $2.4 million and $1.1 million for the two gorgeous fillies took courage, but in the face of stern competition from domestic and international suitors, a previously little-known South Islander, Glenn Ritchie, and a Waikato couple who has become increasingly familiar, Colin and Helen Litt, carried it off.
South Canterbury-born Ritchie made his fortune through a range of businesses headed by one of the country’s largest public transport providers, Ritchies Transport, which he sold in 2021. Then a decision by Ritchie and his wife Lynn to “dabble” in racehorses led to involvement with Riccarton trainer Andrew Carston and on a larger scale with champion expat Chris Waller.
Throw in another Kiwi, bloodstock agent Guy Mulcaster, and the upshot was Ritchie’s biggest ever spend on the sister to Orchestral. In a five-word quote that will go down as one of the most understated and blasé by any big-spender in the National Yearling Sale’s near century of history, when interviewed by broadcast journalist Michael Guerin on his $2.4 million outlay, he replied “That’s only three new buses”.
On the other side of the equation, Barneswood Farm’s Sarah and Chris Green and their Netherlands-based “adopted Kiwi” business partner Ger Beemsterboer were left pinching themselves that the filly they placed an $800,000 reserve on made three times that figure.
“I’m still pinching myself,” Sarah Green told RaceForm a day after the filly she named Betty broke a National Sale record for her gender, second only to the Zabeel-Diamond Lover colt, subsequent Australian Derby winner Don Eduardo, who was sold for $3.6 million 25 years ago.
“I dreamed of it happening that she might make $1 million, but never did any of us imagine she would make that. We knew there were a lot of big players on her and to think that someone who lives only 45 minutes away from our home in Ashburton has bought her – that’s just incredible!
“I didn’t know the Ritchies before this, but we’re so pleased for them and like all the other horses we’ve bred and sold, we’ll be following her career as if we still own her.”
Barneswood Farm bought the O’Reilly filly Symphonic for $330,000 from Waikato Stud’s Karaka draft in 2014, and even though her four wins and one stakes placing didn’t repay that outlay, big things were always expected of her as a broodmare.
“Peter and Dawn Williams trained her and always said that she had what it takes to become a top broodmare. Even so, what she’s achieved is beyond our wildest dreams.
“We’ve got so many people to thank – Dawn and Peter, who are still our chief advisers, all the team at Haunui Farm who take such wonderful care of our horses, everyone who has been part of our journey.”
Symphonic’s first big step in proving herself at stud came when her first foal, a filly by Savabeel, fetched $625,000 at the 2022 National Sale. Selected by trainers Roger James and Robert Wellwood on behalf of Colin and Helen Litt, Orchestral became the star staying three-year-old of last season and her return to form at last Saturday’s Karaka Millions race meeting was the perfect platform for what was to follow.
James, Wellwood and the Litts were part of the bidding duel on Orchestral’s younger sister, but ended up saving their powder for a sister to another dual Group One-winning Kingsclere Stables performer, Prowess.
Twelve months earlier James was on another sister to Prowess before conceding to Victorian trainer Peter Moody at the then Karaka filly record of $1.6 million. This time, with the backing of committed clients, he wouldn’t be denied.
Like the Barneswood/Haunui team, Hallmark’s Baker family had not anticipated just how popular their star lot would be with the buying bench. But there was no greater proof than a price of $1.1 million when the gavel came down on the well-built brown, whose dam cost just $20,000 and their share in Proisir the same when he went to stud at Rich Hill in 2015.
Gone are the days when the majority of commercially-minded broodmare owners crossed their fingers for a colt foal; now fillies are the desired gender and in that respect both Symphonic and Donna Marie have delivered emphatically to again each have a filly at foot.
What that means in respect of next year’s Centennial National Yearling Sale is in one instance decided and in the other, still the subject of conjecture.
“I wanted to keep this filly,” Sarah Green said of her $2.4 million yearling, “but Chris talked me into selling her. I suppose I’ve forgiven him now, but we’re definitely keeping this year’s filly.”
As for Mark Baker, he also faces the conflicting reality of what a big-ticket yearling brings to the business versus a breeder’s other desire to retain future-proofing bloodlines.
Reflection of a slightly different sort belongs to the team at Haunui Farm, led by fourth-generation industry member Mark Chittick and now understandably glowing in a first-ever National Sale vendor’s title.
Haunui Farm, established in the 1960s in the Whitford region of south-east Auckland, underwent significant change a decade ago when relocating to Karaka on the opposite side of Auckland’s lower isthmus.
While resident stallions continue to play a part in Haunui’s business model, so too do a clientele possessing quality broodmares and a preparedness to invest in the best available bloodlines.
That led to Haunui’s highest previous placing on the vendors’ table when second to Waikato Stud last year and now fully deserving of top dog status with receipts of $6,740,000 for 24 lots. Waikato Stud’s $5,880,000 for 45 lots was underlined by resident stallion Savabeel’s second placing to Wooton Bassett on the sires’ averages table with 35 lots at $287,143.
The first-season sires’ table was led by Australian shuttle St Mark’s Basilica, while the New Zealand resident complement were led by Cambridge Stud’s Sword Of State with 20 lots at $201,500 and a top price of $540,000.
Te Akau’s David Ellis again led the buyers’ table with a spend of $4,497,500 on 26 lots, while Curraghmore, third on the vendors’ aggregate table, topped the averages at $322,222 across a clean sheet of 18 sales.
Picture at the Top of the Page: Barneswood Farm’s record-breaking sister to Orchestral who fetched $2.4 million on the middle day of Karaka Book 1. Photo: Supplied
