Southern Vendors to Continue Proud Legacy at National Yearling Sale

The South Island has made a massive contribution to the 100-year history of New Zealand’s National Yearling Sale, dating right back to the Timaru-bred champion Phar Lap (NZ) (Night Raid) and his trip through the Trentham sale ring in 1928.

Bought for 160 guineas, the legendary Phar Lap had 51 starts for 37 wins and five placings. He won 32 of his last 35 races and was among the inaugural inductees into both the New Zealand and Australian Racing Hall of Fame.

The South Island has continued to produce top-class National Yearling Sale graduates through subsequent decades, from the 1956 Australian Derby (2400m) and Victoria Derby (2500m) winner Monte Carlo (NZ) (Lucky Bag) to last season's Group One Sistema Stakes (1200m) winner Velocious (Written Tycoon) and more.

Claiming a unique part of sales history are the Southern-bred and well-performed brothers Bruce (NZ) (Royal Chief) and Royal Tan (NZ) (Royal Chief) from the 1944 and 1945 National Yearling Sale. Both won the WRC Wellington Cup and were the top performers of their year. Bred by Stuart Faulks of Mount Barker Stud, Wanaka, they were purchased for 170 and 450 guineas respectively. 

Southern vendors Beaufort Downs, Inglewood Stud and White Robe Lodge will make their annual trek up to Auckland again in two weeks time to continue the proud tradition of offering quality yearling drafts at Karaka 2026.

 

Inglewood Stud

Many vendors have been involved in New Zealand’s National Yearling Sale through a large part of its existence, boasting proud histories that span multiple generations. Inglewood Stud certainly fits that bill.

The North Canterbury operation is the oldest thoroughbred stud still standing a stallion in New Zealand. Still located in its original Ohoka property, it was founded in 1938 by New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame inductee Ken Austin, who offered his first draft at the National Yearling Sale a couple of years later.

But Austin’s connection with the Sale dates back even further than that. He moved to New Zealand from Australia in 1932, having previously made annual trips across the Tasman to serve as auctioneer during the National Yearling Sale at Trentham, including the very first Sale in 1927.

Fast-forward to 2012, when Austin’s great-grandson Gus Wigley took over the running of Inglewood Stud from his father Nick – some 75 years after Austin first set foot on the property.

Gus and Bianca Wigley’s latest generation of Inglewood Stud started selling yearlings at Karaka in 2014. Their drafts have produced $1m TAB Karaka Millions 2YO (1200m) and Group One Sistema Stakes (1200m) winner Velocious (Written Tycoon), Group One New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m) winner Ugo Foscolo (NZ) (Zacinto), and other black-type performers such as Secret Allure (NZ) (Zacinto) and last season’s Karaka Millions 2YO third placegetter Miss Ziggy (NZ) (Brazen Beau). During that time, Inglewood’s yearlings have sold for up to $375,000.

“We’ve been through the history and I believe 1940 was the first time Inglewood Stud had a draft at the National Yearling Sale,” Gus Wigley said. “Ken took about 20 drafts up to Trentham over the years, and Dad did his fair share after that as well, going right through to the early 2000s.

“Now Bianca and I have been going there since 2014. We’ve worked out that since we took over, our drafts have produced 110 runners and 26 of them have performed at black-type level. That’s a pretty good strike rate and something we’re quite proud of.

“We’re heading up to Karaka with 15 yearlings this time around, so if that pattern continues, there might be four black-type horses among them for the buyers to try to find.”

That outstanding record has given the Inglewood team plenty of enormously satisfying moments over the last decade and a bit.

“Velocious was a really big highlight,” Wigley said. “There was a lot of hype and she was going into the Karaka Millions as the favourite. We’d been parading her half-sister all week and we were desperately hoping we’d get the result. That’s how it turned out, and then the guys that raced Velocious – Go Racing – stumped up and bought the half-sister as well. That’s probably been the highlight during my time taking yearlings to Karaka.

“But sometimes there’s ones that come out of the blue as well. We got good money for an Ancient Spirit filly in Book 2 of Karaka 2024 ($160,000), which far exceeded what we were expecting, and there was also a horse called Mystery Shot (Shooting To Win) back in 2018. He was from the first crop of Shooting To Win and was out of our stakes-performed mare Mystique (NZ) (Montjeu). A couple of buyers really wanted him and went hammer and tong, and we got good money for him ($260,000). He went to Victoria and won seven races, including his first five in a row.”

Inglewood Stud’s Karaka 2026 draft is made up of 12 yearlings in Book 1 and three in Book 2.

“It’s a bit of a cliché, but I think this is the best draft of yearlings we’ve taken up to Karaka,” Wigley said. “It represents some decent investment in terms of service fees and the quality of mares that we’ve bought.

“We’re big fans of Harry Angel and have sent mares to him every season, so it’s been fantastic to see the success that his progeny have had. He’s gone from a A$16,500 service fee to A$66,000 and he’s likely to go even higher than that.

“We have two Harry Angel colts in our draft that we really like. One of them is a half-brother to Miss Ziggy, who ran third in the Karaka Millions 2YO last season, and the other is a full-brother to a colt that we sold a couple of seasons ago for $150,000. Eion Kemp bought him and later sold him for $800,000 at the Ready to Run Sale, and he’s been named Packing Glory (NZ) and was a very impressive winner of his first start in Hong Kong on November 30.

“We also have a couple of Sword of State fillies who both look quite precocious.

“One that’s quite close to my heart is the filly by Street Boss out of Shuffled. She’s the only Street Boss yearling in the Karaka 2026 sale, and I’ve always been a massive fan of that stallion. He’s just about the best sire in Australia when you break down his numbers. He’s been a bit patchy with fertility so hasn’t had a huge number of runners, but he’s sired the likes of Anamoe along with this season’s top-class three-year-old colt Tentyris and three-year-old filly Tempted. This filly’s out of a full-sister to Ace High.

“Overall, I think it’s just a good, consistent draft. They all looked great in their parade today (Thursday), and I think it was the best turnout we’ve had for a yearling parade. There were lots of South Island trainers there and plenty of interest, so it all bodes well. We’re looking forward to getting back up to Karaka.”

 

Beaufort Downs 

That Ken Austin connection also carries through to another of his great-grandchildren at Beaufort Downs, which is run by Gus Wigley’s cousin Annabell Tuthill along with her husband Olly.

Beaufort Downs is a boutique thoroughbred agistment/breeding farm, set on 100 acres of beautiful rolling North Canterbury grass land.

Both Olly and Annabel Tuthill went into their Beaufort Downs venture with plenty of experience behind them, having represented their countries internationally – Olly represented England in polo and Annabel competed for New Zealand in eventing.

The pair presented their first Beaufort Downs draft at Karaka in 2018, and since then they have attracted price tags as high as $450,000. Their stakes-performed graduates include the likes of So Dazzling (NZ) (So You Think), Betty Spaghetti (Stratum Star), Luvnwar (NZ) (War Decree) and Platinum Diamond (NZ) (Hello Youmzain), who put together a Listed treble earlier this year in the Castletown Stakes (1200m), Ryder Stakes (1200m) and Wanganui Guineas (1200m).

“It’s pretty cool having the 100th National Yearling Sale this year and we’re looking forward to being part of it, especially with that long family connection,” Annabel Tuthill said.

“We’ve been lucky enough to have a lot of amazing highlights and memories from those years that we’ve been taking yearling drafts to Karaka. It’s been all about gradually building the draft up, improving our broodmare band and trying to go back there every year with a better-quality group of horses each time.

“We’ve had some really nice horses come out of our drafts and perform on the racetrack. We always love to follow their progress and we really enjoy all of their success. Platinum Diamond has been a particularly special one this year – what she did as a two-year-old and early three-year-old was great to watch.”

The Karaka 2026 draft for Beaufort Downs includes eight yearlings in Book 1 and four in Book 2.

“We’re really happy with the horses that we’re taking to the sale,” Tuthill said. “We had the NZB parade today (Thursday) and had a good turnout. It was the first time bringing all of the yearlings together and parading them in front of an audience, and we were very happy with how they all handled that experience.

“I’m looking forward to selling Lot 152 – he’s Platinum Diamond’s half-brother, by Too Darn Hot, who’s a bit of a sire phenomenon. We think he’s a really nice horse. He’s got a great temperament and shows all the signs that he might be quite a speedy two-year-old type.”

Lot 174 is a Proisir half-sister to Betty Spaghetti, while Lot 323 is a filly by exciting first-season sire Profondo out of an unraced half-sister to dual Group One winner Lizzie L’Amour (NZ) (Zabeel).

 

White Robe Lodge 

One of the most famous names on the South Island thoroughbred landscape is White Robe Lodge, which was founded by Hall of Fame inductee Brian Anderton in 1956. He was just 18 years old at the time.

Spanning 660 acres on the Taieri Plains, the esteemed nursery has stood 20 stallions including the likes of Noble Bijou, Mellay, Yamanin Vital and Ghibellines.

Noble Bijou’s progeny included National Yearling Sale graduates The Phantom Chance (NZ), (Mr) Lomondy (NZ) and Prince Majestic (NZ), who between them won the Group One Cox Plate (2040m), New Zealand Derby (2400m), Waikato International Stakes (2000m), Caulfield Cup (2400m), Spring Champion Stakes (2000m), Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) and Tancred Stakes (2400m).

Another of Noble Bijou’s standout progeny was Alibhai (NZ) who was bred by Brian and Lorraine Anderton and offered by White Robe Lodge at the 1982 National Yearling Sale. Purchased for $50,000 by Tommy Smith, he went on to win the Rosehill Guineas, Caulfield Stakes, Rawson Stakes and Tancred Stakes.

Brian and Lorraine Anderton offered their first yearling at a National Yearling Sale in 1968 when a filly from the first crop of Mellay and a daughter of Lochlisten (NZ) (Balloch) sold for $2,750. The filly, Corsage (NZ), ran third in the South Australian Oaks (2000m).

White Robe Lodge has had yearlings sell for up to $375,000, and their notable graduates in the last couple of decades include Group One winner Smokin’ Romans (NZ) (Ghibellines) and fellow big-race performers such as King Johny (NZ) (Seasoned Star), Blood Brotha (NZ) (Danzighill), Inferno (NZ) (Yamanin Vital), Parthesia (NZ) (Raise The Flag), Live Drama (NZ) (Ghibellines) and Markus Aurelius (NZ) (Ghibellines).

Smokin’ Romans was a $52,500 purchase from White Robe Lodge’s draft in Book 1 of Karaka 2018. He has turned that into more than A$2.5m from a 56-race career, with 11 victories including the Group One Turnbull Stakes (2000m), the Group Three Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2600m), the Group Three MRC Foundation Cup (2000m), the Listed Pakenham Cup (2500m) and the Listed Warrnambool Cup (2350m).

A select offering of two White Robe Lodge yearlings will go through the ring during Book 2 of Karaka 2026. Lot 579 is a colt by their young sire Ancient Spirit and is a half-brother to last month’s Listed Stewards’ Stakes (1200m) winner Inflamed (NZ) (Ghibellines). Lot 772 is a colt by Vanbrugh out of an unraced half-sister to the dual Listed winner and Group Three placegetter Parthesia.
 

Karaka 2026 will take place at the Karaka Sales Centre from January 25 to 29, with Book 1 on January 25 and 26, Book 2 on January 27 and the new Karaka Summer Sale on January 29.