TAB Karaka Millions 2YO By the Numbers

The 15 runners entered for Saturday’s $1m TAB Karaka Millions 2YO (1200m) at Ellerslie were sourced from a range of NZB Sales.

Eight were bought from Book 1 of Karaka 2024, five from Book 2, one from the National Online Yearling Sale and one from the National Weanling Sale. Their average purchase price was $134,533. The average price in last year’s Karaka Millions 2YO field was $202,679.

The highest-priced yearling purchase in this year’s field is the filly Belle Du Monde (Zoustar), who was bought by Te Akau Racing’s David Ellis for $400,000. At the other end of the scale, Daylight Robbery (NZ) (Super Seth) cost his trainer Gavin Sharrock only $10,500 during the National Online Yearling Sale.

Ellis bought seven consecutive winners of this race between 2017 and 2023 – Melody Belle (NZ) (Commands), Avantage (Fastnet Rock), Probabeel (NZ) (Savabeel), Cool Aza Beel (NZ) (Savabeel), On The Bubbles (Brazen Beau), Dynastic (NZ) (Almanzor) and Tokyo Tycoon (NZ) (Satono Aladdin).

No fewer than four horses purchased by Ellis have made the final field for this year’s edition of the Karaka Millions 2YO. Unbeaten colt and current favourite To Bravery Born (NZ) (Snitzel) is backed up by talented stablemates La Dorada (NZ) (Super Seth), Belle Du Monde and Dare To Proisir (NZ) (Proisir).

The other purchasers with multiple runners in this year’s race are Benner Racing with Toretto (NZ) (Ardrossan) and Sierra Leone (NZ) (Sun City), and Chris Rutten Bloodstock with Too Sweet (NZ) (Satono Aladdin) and In The Air (NZ) (Embellish).

There are also two vendors with multiple runners in the race. Waikato Stud has La Dorada and Daylight Robbery (NZ), who are both progeny of their exciting young stallion Super Seth, while Inglewood Stud has Vega For Luck (Lucky Vega) and Miss Ziggy (Brazen Beau). Inglewood Stud are shooting for back-to-back Karaka Millions triumphs, having been the vendors of last year’s winner and champion two-year-old Velocious (Written Tycoon).

The $1m TAB Karaka Millions 2YO will be run as the fourth race on a spectacular six-race card at Ellerslie on Saturday that carries total prize-money in excess of $5m. The scheduled start time for the Karaka Millions 2YO is 6.23pm.