Matamata nursery Waikato Stud continued their dominance of recent years at the National Yearling Sale at Karaka, taking out the leading vendor title for the seventh consecutive year.
Powered by the progeny of champion sire Savabeel along with the excitement of debuting youngsters by first season sire Tivaci, the raw numbers make solid reading.
The stud consigned seventy-one yearlings through the auction ring, selling 59 at an aggregate of $9.9million and a $167,839 average. Their top priced lot was the Savabeel colt out of Magic Dancer, Lot 79 that was knocked down to the $800,000 bid of the King of Karaka, David Ellis who was crowned leading buyer for the fifteenth time.
Stud principal Mark Chittick, who made a rare appearance as the handler of their last horse through the ring at this year’s sale, was pleased with the results achieved.
“It’s all over for another year although the work starts again tomorrow,” Chittick said.
“We’ve had a good steady sale and I’m really proud of the homes these horses have found and they will get every opportunity from now on.
“At the end of the day my leading that last lot through is a salute to my team who have worked so hard all the way through these horses lives and especially in the last week or ten days.”
Although this year’s draft couldn’t match the heady heights of 2019, where they sold their first $1million yearling, Chittick was pleased with the numbers achieved in 2020.
“Last year was really special and this year was really good,” he said.
“We knew we had a beacon last year and this year the Magic Dancer was our best horse in the draft.
“That’s why he made $800,000 and it’s a proven formula where a good Savabeel colt made good money with strong underbidders and gone to a home that it works for.”
Whilst delighted with the strong showing of Savabeel yet again, Chittick also was left feeling well satisfied with the popularity of new stallion Tivaci who narrowly finished second to Vadamos on the New Zealand-based first season sire by average statistics with 28 sold at an average of $124,821 (Vadamos 21 sold, $125,714).
“We’ve known all along that we’ve had really good types (by Tivaci) but we weren’t making too much noise about it,” he said.
“These guys (buyers) are the ones looking at them and they are the experts. They’ve sold really well and once again gone to very good homes and will get every chance.
“I’m delighted to see those who have supported Tivaci do so well as when you secure a stallion like this it’s a pretty big job.
“Trelawney Stud, who sold one for $500,00 and another for $300,000, are amongst a bunch of really good supporters. For them to breed two such lovely horses and get those results is really satisfying.”
Buyers also witnessed the last crop of yearlings through the sale ring of stud stalwart Pins who has contributed massively to the success of Waikato Stud over a number of years.
“He was an incredible stallion and he always had a good horse somewhere in the world,” he said.
“He was such a good horse to breed to and to start a young mare off with and he is sorely missed already.
“We also didn’t have many Ocean Parks this year but that is the way it goes sometimes but rest assured there will be next year and beyond.
“It’s also exciting that we have Super Seth starting off for us this Saturday and it won’t be long before we have his progeny coming through here. “Time flies when you are having this sort of fun.”
