SUZANNE McFADDEN reports on day two of the Karaka Yearling Sales, and finds a special friendship in the stables.
When tiny Bobbie Zabeel needs a nap after prancing around at the Karaka yearling horse sales, she uses a human pillow.
The bay filly, sired by New Zealand's Zabeel, has forged an unusual relationship with blacksmith Tim Bruce. After parading in front of would-be buyers, the horse returns to her stable at Karaka for a kip. Bruce stretches out in the hay and the little horse rests her head on him and drifts off.
Alison Davies, of the Hilton Park stable in Waiuku where the Zabeel-Mala Sestra filly was raised, cannot believe the friendship.
"I have never seen a partnership like this before - they are amazing," she said. "But it's going to be a sad break-up when she's sold."
Bruce, a farrier and horse handler, is a lofty 1.88m. The horse, nicknamed Bobbie Zabeel after Davies' showjumping friend Bobbie Beale, hardly reaches his shoulder at just over 14 hands high.
Bobbie, the horse, is very protective of her human buddy. Whenever Bruce's girlfriend, Saskia Struyck, is around, the filly gets jealous - baring her teeth and tearing off her rival's hat.
Saskia Struyck is more understanding: "She's the only other woman I let Tim sleep with."
Tonight Bobbie Zabeel goes into the sale ring, where other Zabeel off-spring have averaged over $300,000 in the last two days.
But Bobbie is a true baby compared to other yearlings under the hammer.
Yesterday was her first birthday, whereas most of the other horses are five or six months older, so she is still growing.
"She's so young and she is just shattered at the end of the day here," Alison Davies said. "That's why she needs to take a nap all the time."
Another female who does a lot of walking at these sales can sympathise with Bobbie.
Australian horse training icon Gai Waterhouse says she almost walks a marathon during her week studying New Zealand's best young thoroughbred talent.
So the woman who often spends $1 million each visit comes equipped for the job. The stylish Sydney mum wears an Italian designer cardigan, clutches a Charles Jourdan handbag and walks about in an old, stained pair of sneakers.
"While it's essential to study the sale book, it's just as important to study for the right footwear," she said.
"It's so hard on your feet - you can't wear heels out here."
Especially when you have to dodge the steaming deposits left by the stars of the show.
As fast as Waterhouse strides from stable to stable eyeing up possible Melbourne Cup winners, her mother tries to keep pace.
Valerie Smith, now in her eighties, has crossed the Tasman every year for the past 50 years to spot the equine talent.
"She enjoys the social side of it - it's like a holiday for her," said her daughter. "She manages to keep up with me, but she likes to stop every now and then for a cup of tea and a cake."
The New Zealand Bloodstock sales are a gathering of the horse world's rich and famous.
Lord Tavistock, the British aristocrat who owns Woburn Abbey with its own safari park, has been buying and selling for his Bloomsbury Stud.
Olympic champion horseman Mark Todd has been at Karaka every day this week, after turning his career to raising racehorses.
One of his horses, a Danehill-Mer du Sud colt, goes under the hammer this morning. He is also looking to buy new fillies for his Cambridge farm.
Racing: Sales strut wears out little Bobbie
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