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New Zealand is renowned for producing top performing three-year-olds, with buyers flocking to Karaka to find their next ‘classic’ champion.
New Zealand three-year-olds have won 32% of Australian 3YO Group 1 races in the past five seasons, and 44% of the 3YO Group 1 races at 2000m and beyond.
Horses like First Seal (Fastnet Rock), Lucia Valentina (Savabeel), Platinum Witness (California Dane), Kirramosa (Alamosa) Thunder Lady (Mastercraftsman) and War Affair (O’Reilly) are a few of the current successes sourced from Karaka in addition to the likes of Rising Romance (Ekraar), Criterion (Sebring) and Spalato (Elusive City).
Kiwi-bred horses continue today to dominate the classic staying contests at some of the world’s toughest racecourses.
New Zealand has produced a total of 24 Derby winners in six countries over the past five seasons. In particular they have made a huge impression on Australia’s classic records, with New Zealand horses winning 40% of Australian Derbies in the past five seasons.
Six of the last eight winners of the AJC/ATC Australian Derby have come from NZ, including Fiumicino (Zabeel), Nom du Jeu (Montjeu), Roman Emperor (Montjeu), Shamrocker (O’Reilly), Dundeel (High Chaparral) and Criterion (Sebring).
The most recent Derby victor to graduate from Karaka and write yet another chapter in the Kiwi-dominated Australian classic is Preferment (Zabeel) in the 2014 Victoria Derby.He is the sixth Kiwi-bred horse to have won the Victoria Derby since 2006, after Efficient (Zabeel), Kibbutz (Golan), Monaco Consul (High Chaparral), Lion Tamer (Storming Home) and Sangster (Savabeel).
Preferment entered the Derby field a maiden, with his epic first win for trainer Chris Waller rewarding the colt with A$910,000 in prize money.Prior to his G1 glory Preferment ran runner-up in the Listed Geelong Classic, with a win and four placings from his 7 starts to date.
The three-year-old is by champion New Zealand sire Zabeel and was purchased by Chris Waller at the 2013 Premier Sale for $190,000 from Cambridge Stud.A half-brother by freshman sire So You Think is entered in the 2015 Karaka Premier Sale at Lot 287 from Windsor Park Stud.
Other horses to graduate from Karaka who have gone on to win a Derby over the previous four seasons include Puccini (Encosta de Lago), Brambles (Savabeel), Sangster (Savabeel), Shamrocker (O’Reilly) and Shootoff (Duelled).