David Ellis Swoops on $825,000 Snitzel Colt for Te Akau

Media Release - Monday January 29

Te Akau Racing’s extraordinary reign in the Karaka Millions 2YO (1200m) was broken at Ellerslie on Saturday, but David Ellis has been on a mission at Karaka this week to return to the top of the podium.

Between 2017 and 2023, seven consecutive winners of the million-dollar juvenile feature were bought by Ellis and trained in Te Akau’s Matamata stable – Melody Belle (2017), Avantage (2018), Probabeel (2019), Cool Aza Beel (2020), On The Bubbles (2021), Dynastic (2022) and Tokyo Tycoon (2023).

Lot 360, the Snitzel – Rondinella colt consigned by Haunui Farm. Photo: Trish Dunell

Go Racing’s Velocious snapped that streak with a superb victory in the 2024 Karaka Millions 2YO, with Te Akau filly Damask Rose filling the runner-up position with an eye-catching finish in just the second start of her career.

Ellis has been as active as ever on the first two days of the 2024 New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale at Karaka on Sunday and Monday, building a formidable arsenal of yearlings that he believes can put Te Akau in the Karaka Millions spotlight for the eighth time in nine years.

In his eyes, none fit that bill better than a Snitzel colt he secured for $825,000 on Monday afternoon.

Catalogued as Lot 360, the Haunui Farm colt is by champion Australian sire Snitzel and is the first foal out of the Ocean Park mare Rondinella.

A half-sister to Group Two winners Vavasour and Vilanova and three-quarter-sister to the Group Three-winning Celebrity Dream, Rondinella won four races from 1400m to 2100m and placed in the Gr.1 New Zealand Stakes (2000m), Tancred Stakes (2400m) and Sydney Cup (3200m).

“We’re absolutely over the moon to be able to take a Snitzel colt of that quality home,” Ellis said. “We thought that he was one of the best colts we’ve seen at Karaka in five or six years. Karaka Millions, here we come.

“He’s got beautiful size, balance and looks like he’s got a good temperament. You can see in my book – ‘Real two-year-old type. Karaka Millions winner.’

Advertisement

“There was good competition for him, but there is on all of these good colts. Snitzel is one of the best sires we’ve had in this part of the world in the last 50 years, he’s that good, and this is the sort of money that you have to pay to buy a colt with this quality. We’re thrilled. But I didn’t have a lot left – I was on the ropes!”

Ellis has previously had Group One success with Snitzel’s progeny, with Sword Of State capturing the Gr.1 Sistema Stakes (1200m) before embarking on a stallion career at Cambridge Stud. But Ellis believes Monday’s star colt holds more similarities with another former elite performer in those tangerine colours.

“He’s not the same sort of horse as Sword Of State,” Ellis said. “I think he’s more like Darci Brahma, who was champion two-year-old, three-year-old and four-year-old. He won a Group One in Australia as a two-year-old, and I think this colt is the same. After the Karaka Millions, I could see us turning him out for a week and then getting him ready for the Golden Slipper (1200m). That’s the plan.”

Ellis knows Rondinella’s family well, having bought her half-brother Vilanova for $150,000 at Karaka in 2012. He began his career in New Zealand under the name Catalonia, scoring a three-length Listed win at Te Rapa before finishing fourth in the Gr.3 Eclipse Stakes (1200m) and fifth in the Karaka Million. He later won the Gr.2 Autumn Classic (1800m) at Caulfield and the Gr.3 Grand Prix (2200m) in Brisbane.

Lot 360 was the ninth purchase on Monday by Ellis, who also got on board with an exciting new venture with his $300,000 purchase of Lot 358 – a colt by Savabeel out of Romantic Time, who is the dam of Group One placegetter Young Werther and the recent Gr.2 Sir Patrick Hogan Stakes (2050m) winner About Time.

“We’ve just bought a nice Savabeel colt for the TAB Racing Club,” Ellis said. “That was a big thrill for us. It’s the first time that the TAB have asked us to buy a horse for them.

“It’s great to see the effort that the TAB and Entain are putting into promoting racing in this country. For somebody that’s been working in this industry for a lifetime, it’s such a thrill to see it being run by an organisation that is putting so much back into it.” – NZ Racing Desk.

Advertisment
More Reading...
Cream Rises at Trentham
A half-sister by Hello Youmzain (Fr) to dual Group I winner Mustang Valley, exciting filly Cream Tart is set to line up in one of the major three-year-old races over New Zealand Cup Week following her impressive win in Sunday’s Upper Hutt Car Sales LTD Three-Year-Old (1400m) at Trentham.
Inglis Digital - Darby Swoop on Amazing Eagle for $310,000
Scott Darby believes today’s Inglis Digital sale-topper Amazing Eagle (Capitalist) can continue along the same successful mould as the likes of former online Darby acquisitions Robusto, Caballus and Imperial Force and progress on to become a future racetrack star.
Undefeated 3YO King of Light Wins Listed Belgravia
Dan Morton's exciting three year old King Of Light (Earthlight) remains unbeaten in three starts, as the gelding graduated to stakes company with a scintillating first up victory in the Listed Belgravia Stakes on Cox Plate Day at Ascot.
Sale Cup Winner Adds to Fastnet Rock Super Weekend
It’s been quite the weekend for the late great champion sire Fastnet Rock with a Cox Plate quinella on Saturday and then on Sunday he produced a new stakes-winner when seven year-old gelding El Rocko captured the $200,000 Listed Sale Cup (1600m).
Hi Yo Sass Bomb Wins G3 on Sunday
Kim Reid bypassed a Group One in favour of Sunday’s Gr.3 Gee and Hickton Funeral Directors Thompson Handicap (1600m) at Trentham with Hi Yo Sass Bomb, a decision that paid dividends when the mare led from the outset to claim her third stakes success.
Consistency Key On Day One of 2025 Breeze Ups
After the rescheduling of dates for NZB’s anticipated 2025 Ready to Run Sale Breeze Ups, Day One kicked off on Monday at Te Rapa Racecourse with consistent times, weather and track conditions.
Transatlantic Takes $1million Five Diamonds Prelude
Transatlantic’s lucrative spring carnival continued at Randwick with an arrogant victory in the $1m Five Diamonds Prelude.
Magic Millions First Digital Sale - Opportunities Aplenty
Bidding is now open for the first Magic Millions Digital Sale with opportunities across all levels of the market for prospective buyers.
Yes Yes Yes 3YO Shooting for G2 on Monday
Last year’s Gr.2 James and Annie Sarten Memorial (1400m) set Savaglee up for Group One glory in Christchurch, and Matamata trainer Pam Gerard is hoping to follow a similar blueprint in 2025 with her Yes Yes Yes 3YO Affirmative Action..
Wootton Bassett Colt Leads Coolmore G1 Trifecta
The last British Group I race of the flat season was run overnight at Doncaster with Aidan O’Brien producing a trifecta of two year-old colts led by a son of the late Wootton Bassett (GB) in Hawk Mountain, who was too good for a pair of Frankel colts.