TAB Karaka Millions 3YO By the Numbers

Saturday’s $1.5m TAB Karaka Millions 3YO (1600m) at Ellerslie will be the eighth running of the prestigious race, which already boasts Group One winners Probabeel (Savabeel), Aegon (NZ) (Sacred Falls), Prowess (NZ) (Proisir) and Orchestral (NZ) (Savabeel) on its honour roll.

Those are big shoes to fill for the class of 2025, but the field of 13 brings promising credentials into their Saturday evening showdown. Eight of the 13 runners were purchased from Book 1, with the other five sourced from Book 2. The average purchase price of this year’s field is $94,615 – a drop from last year’s average of $226,900.

The top-priced runner in this year’s field is last-start Group One New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m) fourth placegetter Kiwi Skyhawk (NZ) (Contributer), who was bought by Stephen Marsh Racing and Dylan Johnson Bloodstock for $240,000.

The lowest-priced runner in the race is Billy Blinx (NZ) (Shocking), who cost his trainers Shaun and Emma Clotworthy just $20,000.

Kiwi Skyhawk is one of two runners in the field that were bought by Marsh Racing and Dylan Johnson Bloodstock. The other is Bourbon Proof (Justify), who was a $130,000 purchase. Trainer Stephen Marsh has a third Karaka Millions 3YO contender with Balsan (NZ) (Ocean Park), who was bought by bloodstock agent Bruce Perry for $140,000.

Perry is another buyer with multiple purchases among the Karaka Millions 3YO field. He also paid only $50,000 to buy Yaldi (NZ) (Ardrossan), who has already earned $219,551 from a six-race career including a Group Two victory in last month’s Auckland Guineas (1400m). Yaldi has a full-brother catalogued as Lot 90 in Book 1 of Karaka 2025 next week.

Yaldi and Balsan both came from the draft of Little Avondale Stud, who are the only vendors with multiple runners in this year’s race.

Former Mapperley Stud stallion Contributer has dual representation with Kiwi Skyhawk and Group Three winner He’s Lucid (NZ).

The mighty Savabeel, who sired the 2020 winner Probabeel and last year’s heroine Orchestral, will attempt to add a third Karaka Millions 3YO winner to his CV with another daughter, Damask Rose (NZ). Fillies have won this race in four of the last five years – Probabeel in 2020, Pin Me Up (NZ) (Pins) in 2022, Prowess in 2023 and Orchestral last year. The only exception was Aegon (NZ) (Sacred Falls), who narrowly beat the filly Amarelinha (NZ) (Savabeel) in 2021.

The $1.5m TAB Karaka Millions 3YO will be run as the fifth 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 7.03pm.