Cherry Taylor is certain about one thing surrounding Trelawney Stud’s draft for this year’s Karaka Yearling Sale, but unsure about another. “I can tell you there’ll be a Group 1 winner out of it,” she said. “I just can’t tell you which one it will be.”
That’s some pretty good ground to stand on - and at the tantalising odds of 16-1 for those who buy from them, given the size of their draft.
And nor is it some idle boast or piece of marketing hype. The odds are probably in fact shorter than that, given Trelawney has averaged more than one Group 1 winner per year. In their 30 years of operation, 36 have been produced by the Cambridge farm, winning more than 50 top tier races - all bar a few being bred by Cherry and husband Brent.
To name but a handful there’s been Ocean Park (Thorn Park), who won five, and his fellow modern sire Grunt (O’Reilly), who won two; three-timers Pride Of Jenni (Pride Of Dubai) and The Bostonian (Jimmy Choux), in addition to six-time stakes winner Two Illicit (Jimmy Choux) and Singapore champion Lim’s Kosciusko (Kermadec), who won ten of the city-state’s top level races.
What’s more, Trelawney expects this to be an exceptional draft - selling out of a bumper sale - given the conditions most New Zealand farms have experienced in the past 16 or so months.
“This is our sixth draft since we’ve been selling only our own horses, and we’re confident it’s our best draft in that time,” said Taylor, whose farm offers 14 lots in Book 1.
“We’ve got a really good line of really nice horses, out of super mares and from a really strong spread of sires. There’s a horse in there for everyone’s tastes.
“It’s also just been a really interesting year and a bit. This draft has looked like a really good crop, full of great types, right from the start.
“We’re very lucky in that we’ve got a good farm that does grow a good type of horse as our record shows.”
Part of the reason, Taylor believes, is the Trelawney farm itself, the 485 acres of mostly rolling hills set atop New Zealand’s famed limestone-rich soil.
“But also, this season has been very kind to us,” she said. “It hasn’t been ultra dry, or too cold, or too wet; it’s been a Goldilocks season - the perfect weather for growing young horses.
“I’m sure a few other farms are in the same boat, because they’ve had the same season as us. So actually, this could be a great sale, when you look back in four or five years time and see what the graduates have done. I’d expect the yearlings have all got very good bone, and very good constitutions.”
Not only do Trelawney promise quality stock, they’re confident they’ll be moved at reasonable prices.
“We are very conservative on our reserves, and everyone who’s bought from us will tell you that,” Taylor said. “We’re also happy to tell all potential purchasers what the reserve is.
“We virtually sell 100 per cent of our horses. If we get a bid, they’ll be sold. That’s our philosophy. We put low reserves on that we think are fair, and we let the market tell us what it’s worth.
Trelawney’s Book 1 draft of eight colts and six fillies contains the usual marks of the farm’s produce - with a reliance on mostly proven stallions with a couple of new boys thrown in.
Three are by New Zealand breeding byword Savabeel (Zabeel), and one of those who’s expected to kick the draft off in strong style is Lot 11, a colt out of Indecision (Per Incanto). Trelawney bought Indecision from Per Incanto’s Little Avondale Stud, and she won three stakes races for the farm when in the care of Tony Pike.
The mare appears to have carried on the good form at stud. First foal Vacillation (Snitzel) has won one from five for Team Hayes. His brother Storm Front - bought by Pike last year - won on debut at Ellerslie in October, and was an early favourite for this Saturday’s Karaka Millions 2YO (RL, 1200m) before sustaining a minor injury.
Indecision’s third straight colt could be the best in the series, Taylor believes.
“He’s a beautiful looking horse,” she said. “He’s well balanced, walks very well and is really athletic and I think he compares really well with the other two siblings.”
Also creating much excitement is Lot 417, a colt first foal of a recent Trelawney star in Zayydani (Savabeel), a half-sister to Grunt, who won three stakes races including Flemington’s Matriarch Stakes (Gr 2, 2000m).
As per standard Trelawney practice for their mares who raced in Australia, the Lindsay Park-trained Zayydani stayed west of the Tasman for a first cover by a proven Australian sire, which in this case has produced a strapping son of Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice).
“She’s a super mare and I love her to bits, and we’re super excited to see her first foal coming to the sales,” Taylor said of Zayydani, who bore this colt in Australia before returning to New Zealand in-foal to Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj).
“He’s a really athletic colt, really good looking, and I’d be surprised if we don’t get him away for a reasonable amount.”
Another Trelawney mare put to a renowned Australian sire was the stakes-placed Addison (Jimmy Choux) - a half to Grunt and a half to Zayydani - whose cover from Exceed And Excel (Danehill) yielded the filly who’ll go through the ring as Lot 429.
Trelawney has a policy of not selling fillies out of this trio’s dam Ruqqaya (Van Nistelrooy) and, Taylor said, will “probably never” sell a filly out of Zayydani.
“So this filly is a great chance for someone to get into this family,” she said. “We’ve had a lot of success with Exceed And Excel, and this filly is out of that mould. Brent does the matings on paper and I look at them physically, and this mating looked perfectly suited on paper and on type.
“The filly looks strong, looks like she’ll run, and if someone’s looking for a future broodmare this would be right up their alley, because it’s pretty hard to get into that family.”
In terms of something relatively new, Trelawney offers two lots by Cambridge Stud shuttler Hello Youmzain (Kodiac), who’s made a stunning start in Europe.
The eight-year-old, who shuttles from his French owners Haras D’Etreham, was France’s leading first season sire of 2024 by all three major markers: earnings, winners (13 from 33 runners), and stakes winners (two), and by wins (16) for good measure.
He finished fifth on France’s two-year-old sires’ table, which was topped by Wootton Bassett and Siyouni (Pivotal), but beat those heavyweights by winners - sharing top spot with Goken (Kendargent) - and was equal-second for stakes winners.
Cambridge’s $30,000 sire also ranked a meritorious seventh among Britain’s first season stallions, earning a service fee increase at Haras D’Etreham.
He now has one winner from four New Zealand starters, in Ellerslie two-year-old victor Remala, and one from one in Australia thanks to Lindsay Park’s Hello Romeo, who scored at Bendigo.
Trelawney offers Lot 162 by Hello Youmzain, a filly out of South Australian Group 3 winner Okahu Bay (Flying Spur), who’s had success as a broodmare in producing the highly talented Group 2 Pareanui Bay (Lonhro). Also trained by Pike, the gelding won three races in succession - including at Group 2 and Listed level - amid his only five starts before his career was tragically cut short.
“Tony said he was one of the best horses he’d trained,” Taylor said.
“This filly is a great type also. She’ll probably need to go home and go to a paddock but she’ll furnish into a lovely filly.”
Trelawney’s other Hello Youmzain is Lot 410, the third foal out of Winkelmann (Rip Van Winkle), who won four races for the stud and trainer Danny O’Brien, and is a daughter of the three-time stakes-winning mare Crepe De Chine (Pins).
“She’s lovely. She’s got a great walk on her and a really good attitude. She’s a really sensible filly and she’s really strong,” Taylor said.
The stud’s draft also includes colts by first-season sires Sword Of State (Snitzel) and Noverre (Savabeel), a filly by first-season sire Armory (Galileo), plus lots by proven sires Almanzor (Wootton Bassett), Per Incanto (Street Cry) and Proisir (Choisir).
By Trevor Marshallsea on ANZ Bloodstock News