THE juggernaut of New Zealand, Te Akau Racing once again dominated Ellerslie’s Karaka Millions meeting, taking out both the A$1 million Karaka Millions 2YO and $1.5 million Karaka Millions 3YO.

Trainers Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson, with three starters in the Karaka Millions 2YO, legged up Craig Williams on La Dorada for the 1,200m sprint. Sharp out of barrier five in the 14-horse field, La Dorada was able to hold the rail on settling.

Hitting the front at the top of the straight, La Dorada was never headed on the run-in, putting in an impressive display to hand her rivals a two-length defeat. Second was the Lucky Vega colt Vega For Luck, with the Brazen Beau filly Miss Ziggy third.

Big stage

“It was great. It’s good to win on the big stage, always,” said Mark Walker. “Well done to (Te Akau boss) David Ellis to buy eight individual winners of this race. She just paraded so well. She just looked a picture.

“Craig Williams rode her a treat. It’s this time of the year you need to raise the bar and everyone has. It’s fun being part of this night. Full credit to NZ Bloodstock and everyone involved. It’s the night on the racing calendar and Te Akau loves being a part of it.”

La Dorada was purchased by Ellis from Book 1 at last year’s Karaka yearling sale for NZ$190,000 from Waikato Stud who stand her sire, Super Seth, by Dundeel.

Forty minutes later Te Akau were back in the winners’ stall when Damask Rose, second in last year’s Karaka Millions 2YO went one better to win the $1.5 million Karaka Millions 3YO.

Given a patient ride by Blake Shinn, the Savabeel filly, a $200,000 New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka purchase in 2023, was mid-field before slowly improving.

Angled wide on straightening, Shinn got the filly into clear running where she could move through her gears. Powering home, Damask Ros overwhelmed her rivals to win by a length from Joe Doyle’s mount the Tivaci gelding Tuxedo with the Ace High gelding Dealt With in third.

Biggest days

“It’s special to be able to come here on one of New Zealand’s biggest days, have a great book of rides and importantly get a winner,” said Shinn.

“It’s a big team effort and that’s what they do (Te Akau Racing) - they win these big races - so I’m thankful for the opportunity.”

With two wins and a third from three career starts, Damask Rose has been named as Te Akau’s runner in the $3.5 million slot race, the NZB Kiwi over 1,600m on the newly christened Champions Day race-meeting at Ellerslie on March 8th which will also feature four Group 1 races including the New Zealand Derby.

“We will let the dust settle now but she will probably have a run between races somewhere and then go straight into the slot race here in March,” said Mark Walker.

Sistema Railway (Group 1)

THE only Group 1 on Saturday’s twilight card was the set-weights Railway, Ellerslie’s premier sprint, which ironically was the fourth most valuable of the seven-race card. On a soft track and over 1,200m, the $700,000 race went to the second-favourite Crocetti, trained by Danny Walker and Arron Tata.

Last year’s 2000 Guineas winner has only been unplaced once in 12 starts and was ridden confidently by ex-pat South African Warren Kennedy, last season’s champion jockey.

Coming off the rails, having settled two-pairs back, Kennedy switched lanes on Crocetti just prior the 200m mark for better going wider on the track. A moment later and they lose as Crocetti needed every stride to hit the line in front.

Winning by a short-half-head, the Zacinto gelding defeated the short-priced favourite, the Alabama Express filly Alabama Lass with a similar margin back to the Embellish filly Luberon in third.

“You saw the gallop here a couple of weeks ago, where I couldn’t hold him, and now he’s really attacked the line today. The old Crocetti is back, for sure,” said Kennedy.

“Being drawn one on a horse that likes dry ground, I was worried when the rain came. The splits came when I needed them, and the way that he attacked the line proved that he’s back. He really fought for it and deserved it.”

Crocetti will now likely head to the Group 1 BCD Sprint at Te Rapa on February 8th where he finished second last year.

STAR filly Orchestral returned to the winners’ circle for the first time since March with an authoritative win at Ellerslie in the NZ$1 million Aotearoa Classic over 1,600 metres.

A warm favourite, the Savabeel filly, aptly named as her dam is Symphonic, overwhelmed the leaders to run away with a two-length win in the second edition of the now listed race.

Orchestral defeated the Almanzor filly Mary Shan and the Vadamos gelding Mosinvader.

“We were super happy going into this with her although a bit apprehensive with the draw (barrier 3) but it assisted her as he (Craig Grylls) was able to sneak runs and be handier than normal,” said co-trainer Roger James. “It was a masterful ride.” Orchestral has now won seven from 15 and over $2.6 million in prize money.

On this day last year, she also returned as the winner of the Karaka Millions 3YO. Two starts later she took out the New Zealand Derby.

New filly record at Karaka

NEW Zealand Bloodstock’s Karaka Yearling Sale saw a new record of NZ$2.4 million set for a yearling filly in New Zealand. By Savabeel out of the O’Reilly mare Symphonic she is a full-sister to the dual-Group 1 winner Orchestral. Offered by Haunui Farm, the filly was bought by Mulcaster Bloodstock and Chris Waller.

“She’s a beautiful filly, and the sister (Orchestral) winning on Saturday night really helped,” said Guy Mulcaster. “We’re lucky we’ve got a very good client that has a number of horses with us. We probably went a wee way past where we wanted to, but it’s an auction. We’ve got a beautiful filly, we’ll take her back to Australia and see where she ends up.”

The fillies dominated the top end of the sale providing the three top lots, with a Proisir filly out of Donna Marie, a full-sister to the dual Group 1 winner Prowess selling to that horse’s trainers Roger James and Robert Wellwood for $1.1 million. “Orchestral’s owner (Colin Litt) asked me to rate her out of 10, and I said 10,” said James.

“I couldn’t knock her in any respect, and so you shouldn’t be able to at that money. We weren’t keen to keep going, but I’m glad we got her.”

Top colt

Another filly by Proisir out of Golden Hand made $850,000 whilst the fourth highest lot of the sale and the top colt was the Wootton Bassett colt out of Il Affare that sold for $725,000 to the combination of Michael Freedman, Tom Magnier and Micheal Wallace.

Overall Book 1 grossed $75,322,500 for 457 lots sold at a clearance rate of 78%. The sale averaged $164,819 with the median at $110,000.

“We said if we could get close to the incredible result of 2024, we’d be thrilled, and we are down just 5% for now, so we could not be happier,” said NZB’s managing director Andrew Seabrook.

“We’ve been talking about how strong the international buying bench was here this week, but our domestic bench was outstanding.

“Given the state of the economy, we’ve just proven how resilient this industry is.”

TOM Madden enjoyed a nice win last week in Australia when he combined with trainer Shane Jackson to win the Hang Rock Cup with Flying Basil on at the Kyneton & Hanging Rock Racing Club meeting.