Stunning Australian Season for Karaka Graduates
15 August 2025
Despite making up only 7.7% of the Australian racing population, New Zealand thoroughbreds continued their proud tradition of success across the Tasman with victories in 21% of their Group One races in 2024-25. Karaka graduates played a key role, contributing 14 wins at the elite level in Australia.
Those Group One successes were delivered by 10 horses that were bought for an average price of $136,000 at Karaka. Their purchase prices ranged from $22,000 for Mr Brightside (NZ) (Bullbars) and $27,000 for Antino (NZ) (Redwood) up to a maximum of $260,000 for Atishu (NZ) (Savabeel).
The Ready to Run Sale has been a particularly rich source of Australian success, with its graduates winning 10 Group One races and 12 stakes races during the 2024-25 Australian season.
2024-25 Australian Group One Graduates (in alphabetical order)
Bred by Nearco Stud and Rich Hill Thoroughbreds Ltd, Aeliana (NZ) (Castelvecchio) was offered by Rich Hill Stud in Book 1 of Karaka 2023 and was bought by Star Thoroughbreds for $180,000.
The Chris Waller-trained filly showed bright promise in the spring, winning the Group Three Reginald Allen Quality (1400m) and Group Three Carbine Club Stakes (1600m) and flying home from the back of the field for a close second in the Group One Thousand Guineas (1600m).
But her crowning moment came in the autumn, where she became only the 10th filly to win the A$2m Group One Australian Derby (2400m) in the 164-year history of the Randwick classic. She burst to the lead at the top of the home straight and blew her rivals off the track, winning by five lengths.
Aeliana finished the season with four wins and three placings to her name from 10 starts, also including a second in the Group One Rosehill Guineas (2000m) and a third in the Group Two Hobartville Stakes (1400m). She has earned more than A$2.2m for a Star Thoroughbreds syndicate, which is more than 13 times her purchase price at Karaka. Judging from her stunning performance in the Derby, there could be a whole lot more in store in 2025-26.
Aeliana became the 35th New Zealand National Yearling Sale graduate to win the Australian Derby, and the 10th Karaka graduate to join the honour roll since the year 2000.
The $27,000 paid by New Balance Racing to buy Antino (NZ) (Redwood) from the 2020 Ready to Run Sale has turned into more than A$3.1m in prize-money – 125 times his purchase price.
Antino was already a 10-race winner coming into his six-year-old season, including black-type successes in the Group Two Victory Stakes (1200m), Group Three Sandown Stakes (1500m) and Listed Wayne Wilson (1600m) along with a second placing in a photo finish to the Group One Toorak Handicap (1600m).
But trainer Tony Gollan took Antino to new heights in 2024-25, starting in the spring with a spectacular six-length runaway in the Toorak at Caulfield. He returned to his home state of Queensland in the autumn and added the Group Two Hollindale Stakes (1800m) by three and a half lengths and the Group One Doomben Cup (2000m) by four. Now Gollan is heading into the spring of 2025 full of confidence that Antino will again be a force to be reckoned with on Melbourne’s biggest stages.
Go Racing paid $260,000 at Karaka 2019 to buy the Waikato Stud-bred Atishu (NZ) (Savabeel), who went on to become a poster girl for the syndicators.
Atishu’s 51-start career produced 11 wins, 17 placings and A$5.9m in stakes – almost 25 times her purchase price. She was a Group One winner at the ages of five, six and seven, adding last season’s Empire Rose Stakes (1600m) to her earlier victories in the Champions Stakes (2000m) and Queen Of The Turf Stakes (1600m).
The Chris Waller-trained Atishu was also a perennial placegetter at the top level, recording five Group One placings behind the likes of Via Sistina (Fastnet Rock) and Pride Of Jenni (Pride Of Dubai).
Go Racing’s great ride with Atishu ended earlier this year with her sale for A$2.7m as a broodmare prospect.
Ready to Run Sale graduate Ceolwulf (NZ) (Tavistock) had already made some impact at Group One level before the 2024-25 season, having collected second placings in the Rosehill Guineas (2000m) and Australian Derby (2400m) as an autumn three-year-old. But that was nothing compared to what he did at the age of four.
The Joe Pride-trained gelding burst on the scene with stunning come-from-behind performances to take out the A$1.5m Group One Epsom Handicap (1600m) at Randwick on October 5 and the A$5m Group One King Charles III Stakes (1600m) at the same venue two weeks later. The King Charles III Stakes was at weight-for-age and featured the likes of reigning Horse of the Year Pride Of Jenni (Pride Of Dubai) along with proven big-race performers like Fangirl (Sebring), Tom Kitten (Harry Angel), Celestial Legend (Dundeel) and Amelia’s Jewel (Siyouni).
Pride and part-owner Leighton Howl paid $170,000 to buy Ceolwulf from Riversley Park’s draft at the 2022 Ready to Run Sale. Ceolwulf has now had 19 starts for five wins, six placings and A$5.9m – 38 times his purchase price.
The first of four Group One winners for New Zealand’s champion second-season sire Super Seth, the Pencarrow Stud-bred Feroce (NZ) was bought by McKeever Bloodstock Ltd and Sutton Racing for $160,000 from the 2023 Ready to Run Sale.
Feroce was the winner of two of his three starts as a two-year-old. He kicked off his three-year-old spring with a seventh in the Group Three McNeil Stakes (1200m) and fourth in the Group Three Caulfield Guineas Prelude (1400m), then was beaten by a head when second in the Group One Caulfield Guineas (1600m).
The Dominic Sutton-trained gelding came back and went one better in the autumn, beating fellow Karaka graduate Savaglee (NZ) (Savabeel) to take out the A$1m Group One Australian Guineas (1600m) at Flemington in early March.
Feroce has had 10 starts for three wins, three placings and A$1.38m – almost nine times his purchase price.
Little Avondale Stud stallion Per Incanto had a career-best season in 2024-25, winning the Centaine Award for worldwide progeny earnings with a total of over $20m. A significant chunk of that amount came from breakthrough performer Gringotts (NZ).
Archer Park offered Gringotts in Book 1 of Karaka 2021, where Kasa Bloodstock bought him for $100,000. He was subsequently passed in during the Ready to Run Sale with a $450,000 reserve.
The Ciaron Maher-trained Gringotts has now had 21 starts for 10 wins, eight placings and A$3.67m – over 40 times his purchase price.
From eight appearances as a five-year-old last season, Gringotts recorded three wins and three placings. He won the A$3m The Big Dance (1600m) and A$1m The Gong (1600m) in the spring, then moved into the big time with an autumn triumph over Fangirl (Sebring) and Ceolwulf (NZ) (Tavistock) in the A$1m Group One George Ryder Stakes (1500m).
Linebacker (NZ) (Super Seth) was offered by Haunui Farm in Book 1 of Karaka 2023 and was bought by John O’Shea Racing and Suman Hedge Bloodstock for $160,000.
Linebacker showed promise in the spring with a fourth in the Group Two Run to the Rose (1200m) and sixth in the Group One Golden Rose (1400m), but he came back a whole lot better a few months later.
After a second in the Group Three Eskimo Prince Stakes (1200m) and a sixth in the Group Two Hobartville Stakes (1400m), he scored an emphatic victory over the multiple Group One winner Broadsiding (Too Darn Hot) in the A$1m Group One Randwick Guineas (1600m). That classic triumph came only a week after another son of Super Seth, Feroce (NZ), took out the Group One Australian Guineas (1600m) in Melbourne. Linebacker was later an unlucky eighth, and barely a length from the winner, in the Group One Doncaster Mile (1600m).
Linebacker’s nine-start career for trainers John O’Shea and Tom Charlton has produced three wins, two placings and A$1.05m – seven times his purchase price.
The third son of Super Seth to make a Group One statement in Australia last season was Maison Louis (NZ), who Go Racing bought for $250,000 from Pencarrow Stud’s draft in Book 1 of Karaka 2023.
John O’Shea and Tom Charlton trained Maison Louis to win three of his first five starts between February and April, earning a trip to Queensland for bigger assignments. After a strong-finishing fourth in the Group Three Rough Habit Plate (2000m), he came of age with a powerful finish to take out the A$1m Group One Queensland Derby (2400m).
Maison Louis has had seven starts for four wins, a second and A$679,750 in stakes – almost three times his purchase price.
Much has been written already about the incredible career of Mr Brightside (NZ) (Bullbars), who was bought by Phill Cataldo Bloodstock for $22,000 from the 2019 Karaka May Sale and was later passed in with a $50,000 reserve at the 2021 Ready to Run Sale.
Mr Brightside has gone on to become the fourth highest earner in the history of Australian racing, behind only Winx (Street Cry), Bella Nipotina (Pride Of Dubai) and Nature Strip (Nicconi). The Ben, Will and JD Hayes-trained marvel has had 44 starts for 19 wins, 14 placings and A$17.38m – a whopping 866 times his purchase price at Karaka.
The 2024-25 season brought more of the same for Mr Brightside. His seven-year-old campaign featured victories in the A$750,000 Group One Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m), A$3m Group One Champions Mile (1600m) and A$750,000 Group One Futurity Stakes (1600m), and he also placed in the Group One Memsie Stakes (1400m), Caulfield Stakes (2000m), C F Orr Stakes (1400m) and All-Star Mile (1600m).
Last on this list both alphabetically and chronologically, War Machine (NZ) (Harry Angel) joined Australia’s elite with a sparkling victory in the A$3m Group One Stradbroke Handicap (1600m) in Brisbane in June.
War Machine was bred by Ardsley Stud’s Wallace family and was a member of the Ardsley draft in both Book 1 of Karaka 2022 and the 2022 Ready to Run Sale. He failed to meet his $100,000 reserve on both occasions.
After spending the early part of his career in the stable of the late Mike Moroney, War Machine joined Ben, Will and JD Hayes this year and continued his rise to stardom. He won all of his last three starts of the season – a Benchmark 100 handicap at Caulfield on May 10, a runaway victory in the Group Three BRC Sprint (1350m) at Doomben on May 24, and his Stradbroke triumph at Eagle Farm on June 14.
War Machine’s 13-start career has produced six wins, four placings and A$2.48m.
The 2025 edition of the Ready to Run Sale will take place at the Karaka Sales Centre on Thursday 13 & Friday 14 November with Breeze Ups to be held at Te Rapa Racecourse on Monday 13 & Tuesday 14 October.
Karaka 2026 will take place at the Karaka Sales Centre from 25 - 29 January, the iconic week on the international sales calendar marking the 100th National Yearling Sale in New Zealand.