Bargain Karaka Buy a Stakes Winner in Second Start

Media Release - Monday May 27

Owner-trainer Dean Wiles paid $2,200 in the 2023 NZB National Online Yearling Sale to buy Southern Warrior (NZ) (Belardo), who has become a black-type star in only the second race of his career.

Southern Warrior is a stakes-winner!

Saturday’s $100,000 Listed Staphanos at Novara Park Champagne Stakes (1600m) at Pukekohe was Southern Warrior’s first win and came 17 days after he kicked off his career at Matamata. The two-year-old Seaton Park graduate has now earned $57,840 – more than 26 times his purchase price.

Southern Warrior produced an eye-catching performance in his debut appearance at Matamata on May 8, making up late ground from last to finish fifth. It prompted Wiles to throw the chestnut gelding in at the deep end and take a shot at black type in Saturday’s Champagne Stakes, and the gamble paid off in spades.

Southern Warrior again dropped out to the back of the field on Saturday before coming to the outside in the straight and warming through his gears for jockey Joe Doyle. Relishing the 1600-metre distance and untroubled by the testing Heavy10 track conditions, Southern Warrior drew up alongside Zorro’s Revenge (NZ) (Ferrando) and outfought him through the final 50 metres to win by a neck.

“I just thought the Belardo factor might kick in today on a heavy track,” Wiles said. “He had been working great. He’s only a little pony, but jeez he can run. I knew he’d get back to last, and I just thought he could skip through that wet ground.

“I didn’t even think about this race until that debut run at Matamata a couple of weeks ago. He got back last that day too and ran on really well.

“Everyone that’s ridden him has said that the further he goes, the better he’ll be. And then once the rain came this morning, I was quietly confident.”

Advertisement

The Champagne Stakes was the first time Doyle has ridden Southern Warrior, and the jockey was impressed with his mount’s performance.

“Fair play to Dean – he thought the ground would suit this horse and he’d get the trip,” he said. “This horse isn’t big, but he’s got a big heart and tries very hard.

“It was the plan to go to the back early. If anything, it probably helped him that the other horse (Zorro’s Revenge) got so far ahead of us in the straight, because my horse is still very green. Dean has quite a small team, and it’s not the easiest when you have only a handful of horses. But I think having something to aim at was probably a key factor in his performance today.”

Southern Warrior’s Champagne Stakes heroics added to an enormously successful few weeks for his dam, Cape South (NZ) (Cape Cross).

Cape South now as a perfect record of four winners from four foals to race, and Southern Warrior’s older half-sister Apostrophe (NZ) (Tavistock) – who herself was a $60,000 purchase from Karaka 2019 – won last month’s Group Two Travis Stakes (2000m) and Group Three Manawatu Breeders’ Stakes (2100m).

Vendor Seaton Park Ltd
Purchaser Warrior Stable (Waikato)
Breeding Belardo – Cape South
Sale Lot 17, 2023 National Online Yearling Sale, $2,200
Bred by K D & P J Landrigan
Advertisment
More Reading...
Unbeaten So You Think 3YO WA's New Excitement Machine
One month to the day since he first set foot on a racecourse, So You Think’s three year old son  Opportunistic remains undefeated from three starts, is a dual stakes winner with earnings of $200,250 to his name, and is WA's new rising star of the turf.
How Much for a Snitzel Colt from Winx?
The record price for a yearling by the late champion sire Snitzel stands at $2.8million, but that benchmark looks set to be smashed at Inglis Easter next year.
Another Aussie SW Sourced from Aga Khan Studs
When Australian investors buy tried horses out of Europe from Aga Khan Studs they know they are getting quality, but the good ones don’t come cheap with Elamaz (IRE) sourced from their draft at the Arqana Arc Sale last year for €480,000.
Wootton Bassett Winning Whirl
It was a red letter day for Wootton Bassett (GB) at The Curragh overnight with a treble of winners highlighted by top class filly Whirl, who captured the Group I Pretty Polly Stakes (1m2f), a race won by the mighty Via Sistina in 2023.
Sires With Winners - Saturday June 28
Here is the full list of 109 stallions which had winners throughout Australasia today with winners and result details.
$3million Won Through Inglis Xtra Bonus
A staggering $3m has now been won as part of the Inglis Xtra Bonus Series following today’s victory by the Cody Morgan-trained 3YO Considered at Dubbo.
Big Pedigrees Don’t Always Spell Black Type
The breeding of thoroughbreds is a very inexact science which is why we saw siblings to a pair of Group I winners fighting out the finish of a very pedestrian 1100m maiden at Ballarat on Sunday.
Sires With Winners - Sunday June 29
Here is the full list of 53 stallions which had winners throughout Australasia today with winners and result details.
Better Than Ready’s Metalart Wins Group 3 W J Healy Stakes
Improving off a third in the Listed Lightning Handicap at Eagle Farm recently, 4yo Better Than Ready gelding Metalart stepped up to 1200m to record his first black type success, winning the Group 3 W J Healy Stakes.
Aussie 2YO SW for Tivaci
New Zealand-bred colt Matahga stamped himself as an exciting spring three-year-old prospect with a hard-fought victory in the A$120,000 Listed David Peacock Oaklands Plate (1400m) at Morphettville on Saturday.