Huge Week Looms for Haunui Farm

Media Release - Friday March 4

With Karaka 2022 sandwiched between two stellar days of racing at Ellerslie, Mark Chitty is set to be a very busy man over the next 10 days.

Hanui Farm managing director Mark Chitty pictured with lot 502, the Iffraaj filly Powerfilly. Photo: Trish Dunell

Chitty is the managing director of Haunui Farm, who will offer another quality consignment of 27 yearlings in Book 1 and 35 in Book 2. But he is also the deputy chairman of Auckland Thoroughbred Racing, who are staging the Gr.1 Vodafone New Zealand Derby (2400m) on Saturday and the Gr.2 Barfoot & Thompson Auckland Cup (3200m) the following Sunday.

“It’s fair to say we won’t be getting much time to catch our breath over the next few days,” Chitty said. “But it’s exciting. In some ways, it reminds me of the race meetings and sale that we used to have at Trentham in the old days.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for us to showcase some of our best racing with two quality racedays, and also having the sale in between. It’s going to be an action-packed week, albeit without our Australian friends here with us this year. We’re all really looking forward to it.”

Haunui were famously the vendors of 14-time Group One winner and dual New Zealand Horse of the Year Melody Belle, who was bought by David Ellis for just $57,500 at Karaka in 2016. But they also laid the groundwork for the careers of other recent star performers such as Western Empire, Furore, Sherwood Forest, Field Of Gold, Elephant, Tutukaka and Rondinella.

Chitty believes the class of 2022 is right up to the standard of some of those high-class predecessors.

“I’m really happy with the quality of the draft we’ve assembled for Karaka this year,” he said. “We’ve got the progeny of a myriad of stallions, from the proven and established big names to the exciting up-and-comers that are just starting to come through. I think there should be a horse there for everyone.”

Like many other vendors, Chitty has given an enthusiastic thumbs-up to New Zealand Bloodstock’s decision to postpone the sale from its traditional late-January timeslot due to logistical challenges arising from COVID-19.

“I think that late-January and February period is extremely conducive to yearling development here in New Zealand,” he said. “We’ve often seen examples of that in the past, where we’ve looked after horses following the sale when it was held in its usual date. Those yearlings really come a long way in those few weeks in the late summer.

“One big advantage of it that I can see is that the horses have had less pressure put on them early in the season, and they seem to have really benefitted from that.

“From walking around the grounds and looking at the horses in other drafts, I think there’s much more evenness across them all. You’re not seeing as many yearlings that make you think, ‘Oh, that one’s a little bit behind.’

“It certainly seems to have had a lot of advantages from a vendor’s point of view, and I think it’s more conducive to foals being born a few weeks later in the spring as well.”

Advertisement

One of the most notable features of Haunui’s draft in 2022 is that it features the final New Zealand crop of Iffraaj.

The last crop of NZ yearlings by Iffraaj will be offered at Karaka.

Shuttling to Haunui from 2008 to 2019, Iffraaj has sired 366 winners from 605 runners among his southern hemisphere-conceived progeny. That includes 30 individual stakes winners, headed by Group One stars Turn Me Loose, Gingernuts, Western Empire, Jon Snow and Wyndspelle.

Turn Me Loose, Jon Snow and Wyndspelle are now embarking on their own stud careers in New Zealand, along with Godolphin star Ribchester, who has taken his sire’s place at Haunui. Iffraaj is also the grandsire of Cambridge Stud’s bright prospect Almanzor.

“It’s the end of an era in a way,” Chitty said. “Iffraaj been a great servant over a number of years. He’s still got some really good progeny on the racetrack at the moment, and he’s making a name for himself as a broodmare sire as well (with four stakes winners in our part of the world, headed by Melody Belle).

“We’re looking forward to getting some lovely colts and fillies from his final crop in front of the buyers at Karaka over the next few days.”

Fellow Haunui sire Belardo is also represented in the draft, along with the likes of Savabeel, Ocean Park, Snitzel, More Than Ready, Justify, Deep Field, Almanzor, Per Incanto, Dundeel, Written By, Vadamos and U S Navy Flag.

There is also no shortage of credentials on the dams’ side of the pedigrees. Lot 37 is out of Valpolicella, who is the dam of four black-type performers, while Lot 190 is a Savabeel half-sister to the trans-Tasman Group Two winner Spanish Whisper, and Lot 343 is a half-brother to the Group One winner Consensus.

Haunui’s Book 1 draft also features the progeny of Group One-performed mares Veloce Bella, Xpression, Floria, Irish Fling and Striker.

“There may not necessarily be a superstar in the draft this year, but I think it’s a really nice, even group of yearlings,” Chitty said.

“I think there’s quite a high standard generally and a great variety of stallions represented, and buyers can come and choose a horse that’s going to suit them.” NZ Racing Desk

Advertisment
More Reading...
Manifique Drawcard for Gavelhouse Sale
Both the pedigree and the racetrack performances of Manifique (NZ) (Savabeel) make her a major drawcard in the latest fortnightly auction on gavelhouse.com.
€3million Blueblood Filly Tops Record Breaking Arqana
The Arqana Deauville August Yearling Sale concluded on Monday with the half-sister to last year’s sale-topper shattering all previous records when fetching €3million to the bid of Amo Racing.
Top Filly Beats Top Colt in G1 Prix Morny
The Group I Prix Morny (1200m) at Deauville overnight produced a mightly clash between unbeaten Starspangled banner colt Gstaad and unbeaten filly Venetian Sun with the filly prevailing, although Starspangledbanner got some consolation with a new G3 winning 2YO at Goodwood.
Merchant Navy 3YO Primed for Spring Stakes Campaign
Cody Cole is happy to play a waiting game with Landlock before confirming the three-year-old’s main goals for the season.
Commemorative Retired to Stud
Watching the progress of Godolphin horses as they start stepping our for their new trainers has been interesting to say the least and will get more so this weekend when we see Tom Kitten go around in the Group I MRC Memsie Stakes at Caulfield, but one horse we won’t be seeing again is Commemorative.
Narrow Miss for Hellbent Gelding in G2 Foxbridge
Lhasa proved he is more than a synthetic track specialist when he nearly caused an upset when finishing runner-up in Saturday’s Gr.2 Foxbridge Plate (1200m) at Te Rapa.
Spring Trial Watch – Hawkesbury
There was an interesting set of trials at Hawkesbury on Monday that featured heat winners including Golden Slipper winner Marhoona, Randwick Guineas winner Linebacker as well as the Waterhouse Bott stable Cups contenders Sir Delius (GB) and Vauban (FR), plus we may have seen an Everest horse.
Wootton Bassett Colt Sells for 2.3million at Arqana
The second session of the Arqana Deauville August Yearling Sale on Sunday produced a sale ring battle between MV Magnier and Amo Racing over a colt by Woottton Bassett from High Celebrity with Coolmore winning out with a final bid of  €2.3million.
Exclusive opportunity to purchase nomination in Too Darn Hot
Exciting racing and breeding prospects – plus a nomination in Champion First and Second Season Sire Too Darn Hot (Dubawi) – headline a diverse catalogue of 302 lots for the Inglis Digital August (Late) Online Sale.
Inglis Ready2Race Sale Now Online
The strongest collection of sire power ever assembled for an Australian 2YO Sale will be offered at the Inglis Ready2Race Sale, for which the catalogue is now available online.