Photo: Angelique Bridson
A late, great sire and a deceased Group One-winning dam combined with an $850,000 colt that topped the opening day of the Book 1 session of Karaka 2026 on Sunday.
The colt was offered by Cambridge Stud and went through the ring as Lot 265 in the final hour of the day.
He is by the four-time champion Australian sire Snitzel, who died in June, and was the second and final foal produced by Savabeel mare Amarelinha before her untimely death in a paddock accident.
Herself a $300,000 purchase by David Ellis from the Karaka sale ring in 2019, Amarelinha won five races and more than $627,000 in stakes. Her victories included the Gr.1 New Zealand Oaks (2400m), Gr.2 Eight Carat Classic (1600m), Gr.2 Sir Tristram Fillies’ Classic (2000m) and Gr.3 Sunline Vase (2100m), and she was the NZB Filly of the Year in 2020-21. She was later purchased by Cambridge Stud for $1.1 million on Gavelhouse Plus.
Bidding on the Snitzel colt developed into a two-way battle between determined buyers who exchanged rapid-fire $25,000 bids from the $400,000 mark onwards. In the end, the colt was knocked down to Chris Waller Racing and Mulcaster Bloodstock.
“He’s a beautiful colt by a champion sire, Snitzel, out of a Filly of the Year in Amarelinha,” Guy Mulcaster commented. “We had a really good client who wanted to buy a good colt today, and hopefully he’s going to buy some good fillies tomorrow as well – fingers crossed.
“This was a horse that we saw early, and he just stayed in my mind. We were lucky enough to take our client to see him today, and the colt behaved really well.
“Buying off Cambridge Stud, you can’t go wrong.”
The headlining colt headed a highly successful first day of the sale for Cambridge Stud, who sold 29 horses on Sunday for a total of $6.4 million and an average price of $220,862.
They also fetched $650,000 for a colt by first-season sire Anamoe out of the stakes-placed Savabeel mare Save The Date, who was bought by Mulberry Racing. A colt by Savabeel out of the Sea The Moon mare Allemande was sold to Shijiazhuang Hongtao Horse Breeding for $550,000.
The $850,000 Snitzel colt was the fifth purchase of the day for the Waller/Mulcaster team, who spent a total of $1.71 million. They previously went to $440,000 to buy Lot 177, a colt by Satono Aladdin out of Group Two performer Taviarma, then paid $200,000 for a full-brother to the Chris Waller-trained Group One winner Kovalica. That Ocean Park colt went through the ring as Lot 222.
“We’ve picked and chosen what we’ve been buying today, and we’ve done pretty well,” Mulcaster said. “We’ve got quite a long list, so we’ll see how we go tomorrow.”
Te Akau’s David Ellis finished the opening day in his usual position of leading buyer, with 11 purchases for a total of $3.15 million and an average price of $286,363. His highest-priced yearling of the day was Lot 147, a colt by Home Affairs out of the stakes-performed Fastnet Rock mare Special Memories, which he secured for $475,000.
