Sydney home for Karaka sale topper

20 November 2014

Savabeel

The progeny of resident Waikato Stud stallion Savabeel were in hot demand once again on the second day of the Ready to Run Sale at Karaka as the visiting Australian buying bench made their presence felt in dramatic fashion.

Gold Coast trainer John Morrisey set the pace with his successful $350,000 bid for Lot 201, the colt from six race winner Tonic.

That was overshadowed just two hours later when Sydney’s Bryce Heys fought off strong competition to set a new benchmark for this year’s edition of the successful two-year-old sale.

He outlaid $460,000 for Lot 264, a full-brother to the multiple stakes performer Diademe bought out of the Diamond Lodge draft.

Included in the colt’s extended pedigree is Gr. 2 QTC Cup winner Sacred Star and multiple stakes performer Starcent.

Heys admitted he had identified the colt as a horse of particular interest as soon as he spotted him in the sale catalogue.

“We worked through the catalogue as soon as it came out and he was one we had on the short list fairly quickly,” he said.

“He just fits the profile of this sale so well as the horses sourced from it are highly regarded in our market and he is from a sire that is producing the results week after week.”

Heys confirmed his attraction to the colt the moment he saw him in the flesh prior to the sale.

“I flew in on Tuesday and managed to inspect him that evening and that confirmed he was our main target as he really is a quality individual,” he said.

The colt, who breezed up in an effortless 10.70 seconds, will immediately head across to his new home at Heys’ Ellerslie Lodge at Warwick Farm in Sydney along with a Fastnet Rock colt secured for $150,000 on the first day of the sale. – NZ Racing Desk.

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