Donna Marie is a daughter of Don Eduardo, who still holds the all-time record with his own $3.6m purchase price as a yearling at Karaka in 2000. Donna Marie has now earned her own slice of Karaka history, becoming the fourth broodmare to be represented by multiple million-dollar yearlings.
She joins a list that is headed by Grand Echezeaux, who had three of her progeny break the seven-figure mark (Darci Brahma for $1.1m in 2004, Saperavi for $2.2m in 2006 and Burgundy for $1.3m in 2010).
Marquise had two (Shower Of Roses for $1.45m in 2001 and Mutheer for $1.05m in 2002) and so did Popsy (Maciano for $1.45m in 2008 and
Rock ‘N’ Pop for $1m in 2010).
Yesterday’s million-dollar yearling was bought by Cambridge trainers Roger James and Robert Wellwood, who bought Prowess and guided her through a 12-race career that produced eight wins, including the Group1 Vinery Stud Stakes (2000m), Group 1 Bonecrusher New Zealand Stakes (2050m) and $1.5m Karaka Millions Three-Year-Old (1600m).
“From the first time I saw this
filly, I thought she was exceptional,” James said. “They just don’t come as balanced. I couldn’t fault her.
“Orchestral’s owner [Colin Litt] asked me to rate her out of 10 and I said 10. I couldn’t knock her in any respect and so you shouldn’t be able to at that money. We weren’t keen to keep going but I’m glad we got her.
“Prowess was a big, rangy filly that we had to wait for. This one is so balanced — you could imagine her doing things at the tail end of her 2-year-old year and then being very competitive as a spring 3-year-old.
“Her attitude is bombproof. I saw her the other day. She was tired and almost dead on her feet, she’s been so popular, but the minute she was asked to walk, she had an overstep of about nine inches. She’s one filly that’s going to give her guts for you.”
The sale has produced some special moments for James, including seeing a full-sister to his stable star Orchestral set a record price for a yearling at Karaka with a sale-topping $2.4m. But he has endured a frustrating few days from a purchasing perspective.
“We’ve found the sale very tough. It’s probably a reflection on the
New Zealand prize-money. We were trying to buy three to syndicate, and normally we’d look at $200,000 to $250,000 and we didn’t even get a bid in. We don’t think we’re usually wrong with values but we were this year and I think it’s a reflection on our increased stakes.”
Orchestral’s heroics in the $1m Elsdon Park Aotearoa Classic at Ellerslie on Saturday provided a timely boost to the buying power of owners Colin and Helen Litt, who will race yesterday’s million-dollar filly.
“It certainly helped,” Wellwood said. “It was good prize-money on Saturday. Colin, Helen and the whole family have been such big supporters of the stable and they all love Orchestral, and that has egged them along to find the next Orchestral.
“We are absolutely chuffed to buy this filly. To be honest, we thought she was the best filly on the grounds. We loved Orchestral’s sister but she was a bit over our budget. But we are really stoked to have the support from Colin and Helen to get this filly. To buy her and have her come home is amazing.
“It is always hard to know how much these high-end fillies are going to make. Obviously she’s a full-sister to Prowess, who we won a couple of Group 1s with.
“They are always competitive, people all around the world are looking at them, so it’s very hard to value those fillies. We were very fortunate to get her on what was our last bid.
“She has the same athleticism as Prowess but she was probably a bit bigger than this filly and she might come a little bit earlier than Prowess did. This filly, Prowess and the filly that sold last year are all a bit different but all lovely fillies and I’m sure the Baker family are happy with the family, too.”
NZ Racing Desk
