Sixty is the number for Haunui Farm at Karaka 2023. Come the sale sixty yearlings will walk onto the grounds all carrying the polish of over six decades experience as vendors at New Zealand’s premier sale. Managing Director Mark Chitty gave us the good oil on the Haunui draft.
Even a cursory glance through the catalogue will impress the reader with Haunui’s diversity of pedigrees. As Mark explained, “Everyone likes something different and we will be presenting yearlings by a wide variety of stallions. The draft is strong on close relations to current Stakes performers and amongst our offerings will be a horse for every taste and budget.” That is certainly the case, for in Book One alone buyers can snap up youngsters by the likes of market leader Savabeel, Derby winning sire Almanzor, reliable stallions like Per Incanto, Pierro and Ocean Park, exciting tyros in Super Seth and Zousain, a red-hot Ribchester and young guns on the rise like Proisir, US Navy Flag, Shalaa, Belardo and Tivaci.
In a catalogue littered with jewels Haunui will proudly present a glistening diamond, a rare opportunity to buy a half-sister to a 14-time Gr1 winner. “We will offer one of the highlights of the sale as Lot 344, a Pierro half-sister to the Champion mare Melody Belle out of Meleka Belle by Iffraaj,” Mark told us. “She’s a nice, medium sized filly, very correct with inherent strength. You can see the mixture of Pierro and Iffraaj in her. Though she’s not a big filly she stands over nice ground and moves well. This filly has only come up for sale as her breeder Mrs Marie Leicester has kept the last couple of fillies out of the dam.”
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One measure of continued success off a farm is how it nurtures particular families, and Haunui will offer several lots that can be traced back to where it all began. “We have a couple of fillies in the draft that trace back to Foxona (Foxbridge), a foundation mare at Haunui from the late 1950’s,” said Mark. “One of those is Lot 616, a daughter of an exciting first crop stallion in Super Seth out of the Gr3 winner Valpolicella, dam of the Group winners Vavasour, Vilanova and Celebrity Dream along with Gr1 Sydney Cup second Rondinella. Another is Lot 466, by Ocean Park out of the young Reliable Man mare Rina Bettina, a half-sister to Valpolicella so you can see they carry very deep pedigrees.”
When asked for a couple of star colts Mark again went straight to a son of Gr1 Caulfield Guineas winner Super Seth. “We do vend on behalf of GSA Bloodstock so we have a good sprinkling of Super Seths in amongst the draft and there’s probably no better colt than Lot 207. He’s out of the unraced Oasis Dream mare Garden Of Swans, a half-sister to the Gr1 Eclipse Stakes winner Mukhadram (Shamardal) from a high-quality European family. We will also offer Lot 417, a lovely big colt by Almanzor, sire of the Victoria Derby winner Manzoice from his first crop, out of the Green Desert mare Patrimonium. This is another lovely family that traces back to some great European performers like Opera House (Sadler’s Wells) and Colorspin (High Top). It is well-proven in the Southern Hemisphere through Polish Princess (Polish Precedent), her Group winning sons Leebaz (Zabeel) and Polish Knight (Encosta De Lago), and her grandson, the current Gr2 winner Mr Mozart (Snitzel). This colt is a particularly nice individual”
Sprinkled through the draft are youngsters from the first Haunui conceived crop of Ribchester, a stallion making waves at present. “Ribchester has this season’s (Gr3) Maribyrnong Plate winner in Krakarib along with the very speedy three-year-old filly Red Card in Melbourne from crops that couldn’t be called large. That he is by Iffraaj suggests his stock will get better with time as well.”
Pushed for a horse that Mark thought might surprise potential buyers he delved into Book Two and gave us Lot 974. “We’ve got a really good Ribchester colt out of Sapphire Lass (Charge Forward) that I think is a particularly nice horse and typical of a couple of the Ribchesters we’ve got. So don’t worry, if you miss out on him we have plenty of other nice ones! As with all Book Two offerings the pedigrees aren’t quite as strong, but when you’ve got a young, emerging sire like Ribchester there’s a little bit to like there.”
Both the Gr1 winner Western Empire (Iffraaj) and the exciting Gr3 winner Showmanship (Showcasing) came off of Haunui as did Rhetorical (Snitzel) who is twice a winner and Stakes placed already this season as a juvenile. And just as this article was going to print the Haunui bred and offered Money Catcher (Ferlax) ran a game third in the Gr1 Hong Kong Cup, so be it local precocity or hardy gallopers on the international stage, they’re in the Haunui draft for you to find.