Photo: Trish Dunell
A highly successful NZB National Weanling Sale for first-season sires ended with a Paddington colt selling for $190,000.
Offered by Seaton Park as a supplementary entry at Karaka on Thursday afternoon, the colt is a half-brother to Gr.1 Randwick Guineas (1600m) winner Lion’s Roar and was bought by Byerley Bloodstock’s Liam Peters for the second-highest price of the day.
“It was obviously a big point going into the sale, him being a supplementary entry and a half-brother to a Group One winner,” Peters said. “He’s out of a family that obviously throws plenty of black type.
“And I was always personally a big fan of Paddington as a racehorse. I was quite shocked that he ended up shuttling to New Zealand – I thought he was one of those top-class racehorses that they (Coolmore) might have thought too valuable to travel. But it’s great that we have access to him through New Zealand. I’m really happy to have secured this bloke today.”
Peters bought the colt online, drawing on a mixture of digital media and feedback from the sales complex.
“The videos get you every angle and can give you a bit of confidence, but also a big thank you to Andrew Buick and Mike Kneebone at NZB for helping out and sending through their thoughts as well and making it all very easy,” he said.
The Paddington colt is set to join the imposing string of horses racing in the cerise and white colours of Peters’ grandfather, dominant Western Australian owner Bob Peters.
“He likes trying to aim for those Guineas or Derby style of horses, and we really hope that this bloke ends up fitting that profile,” Liam Peters said. “He definitely looks like he will.
Photo: Trish Dunell
“It’s great to be tapping into that Siyouni bloodline as well through Paddington. St Mark’s Basilica has had a red-hot start, so it’s definitely a proven formula. We’ve got a couple of those at home that we quite like. It’ll be interesting going forward to see how they mature.
“The exchange rate definitely helps when we’re buying in New Zealand. We saw that with the yearling sale earlier in the year as well. We bought up there – I think we ended up with six, and we’re very happy with all those purchases. So we just thought we might as well have a crack, and really glad that we were able to secure something, even though it was so late in the sale.
“We’ll bring him straight home now and put him out with a few of our other weanlings and see how he compares with them. Hopefully he’s one of the standouts going forward.”
Paddington is shuttling to Windsor Park Stud after an unprecedented sequence of four consecutive Group One wins in the space of 68 days in his three-year-old season.
He was trained by Aidan O’Brien to win the Irish 2000 Guineas (1600m), then added the St James’s Palace Stakes (1600m), Eclipse Stakes (2000m) and Sussex Stakes (1600m). He was Champion Miler in GB and Ireland and Joint Champion 3YO in Ireland in 2023, and he had a World Thoroughbred Ranking of 124.
Paddington will stand for a $30,000 service fee in the upcoming breeding season.
Paddington was one of a quartet of first-season sires to feature in this year’s National Weanling Sale catalogue, and all four made their mark on Thursday.
Cambridge Stud’s multiple Group One winner Chaldean topped the sale with his colt out of Novashow that was bought by Bhima for $250,000. The striking colt was also on Peters’ radar.
“We didn’t bid on any others today, but we were going to have a go on the Chaldean at the beginning of the day – he just looked like an absolute ripper,” he said. “He’s another first-crop shuttler who had plenty of class as well, so hopefully those two stallions can continue to throw some really good types like that and get more good results.”
Mr Mozart, who stands at Highview, had six first-crop weanlings in the catalogue and they all sold for a total of $143,500.
Grangewilliam’s Hilal had a colt in the Curraghmore draft that was bought by Pertab for $65,000.
