33 stakes performers in three years

Statistics play an all important role in the thoroughbred industry - sires tables, sales results, race track performance, they all tell a story.

Stud farms are more often than not judged by the success they achieve in the sales ring and Haunui has had its share over the last few years.  The horses themselves however, are judged by their success on the track - big dollars in the sales ring doesn't always equate to "big" race performances.

In the last three years, 33 horses that have been bred, reared or sold by Haunui, have gone on to perform at stakes level - four of them have been Group One winners in the form of Piachay (NZ) (Danasinga), Perlin (NZ) (Carnegie), Calveen (NZ) (Canny Lad) and Railings (NZ) (Zabeel).

G1 Caulfield Cup-winner Railings

"For Haunui to have produced 33 individual stakes performers in the last three years is something that we are very proud of," said Haunui General Manager Mark Chitty.  "To be honest, it was a bit of surprise when I looked at the numbers," said Mark - "a nice surprise," he said.

Add nine Group winners, eight Listed winners and four Group One place getters to the list, and an impressive picture is painted.

"I hope that these sort of statistics give prospective yearling buyers confidence in the horses that we are breeding and rearing at Haunui," says Mark.  "I am quietly confident that there are stakes horses among this year's draft of yearlings."

Russian Pearl Highlights the Success of Soviet Star

The success of the one and only southern hemisphere crop of Soviet Star (USA) (Nureyev) was underpinned once again this weekend just passed with the victory of Russian Pearl (NZ) (Soviet Star) in the first leg of Hong Kong's triple crown series, the Group One Stewards' Cup (1600m).

A standout performer as the three-year-old in New Zealand for the Bruce and Stephen Marsh stable, Russian Pear has been plagued by injury since arriving in Hong Kong but showed he was up there with the best when running fourth to Vengeance of Rain (NZ) (Zabeel) in the Hong Kong Cup (2000m) last month.

Russian Pearl

Bred by Courtenay and Mandy Howells, and Peter Setchell, Russian Pearl joins Starcraft (NZ) (Soviet Star) as another truly international performer for his sire.

Standing just one season in New Zealand, Soviet Star was brought to the southern hemisphere by a partnership including a number of the same studs involved in bringing stallions to New Zealand such as Almutawakel (GB) (Machiavellian) - sire of Group One-winner Wahid (NZ) and last weekends Group Three Wellington Stakes-winner Chettak (NZ) - and in more recent times, Van Nistelrooy (USA) (Storm Cat) and Elusive City (USA) (Elusive Quality).

"We all know that both Soviet Star and Almutawakel only stood in New Zealand for one season," said Mark Chitty of Haunui Farm, "but their impact on our industry has been immense," he said.  "Farms like ourselves and Trelawney were both involved in bringing these two stallions to the Southern Hemisphere so looking toward a horse like Van Nistelrooy and further down the line Elusive City, we hope to emulate some of this success," he said.

First Crop Yearlings by Don Eduardo & Van Nistelrooy

Next Monday will see the arrival of the first crop of yearlings by AJC Derby-winner Don Eduardo (NZ) (Zabeel) and multiple stakeswinner Van Nistelrooy (USA) (Storm Cat) enter the sales ring.

Both record setters themselves - Don Eduardo the highest priced yearling to sell in the southern hemisphere at NZ$3.6 million and a subsequent Group One-winning three-year-old and Van Nistelrooy the highest priced yearling of his year at US$6.4 million - their progeny are sure to attract their share of buyers' attention.

"Both horses have been given a tremendous opportunity to get their breeding careers off to a great start," said Mark.  "Don Eduardo has 20 yearlings in Australia that will be entering the stables of Gai Waterhouse and Lee Freedman for their owner, Mr Eduardo Cojuanco," he said.  "Van Nistelrooy on the other hand has been supported by a number of leading breeding operations and he will be very well represented at Karaka next week," says Mark.  "We're excited at the prospects for both stallions," he said.

Lot 448 at Karaka, Van Nistelrooy - Midnight Babe, a clost relation to G1-winner Perlin.

A Group Two winner of the Futurity Stakes and second to Refuse To Bend (Ire) (Sadler's Wells) in the Group One National Stakes, Van Nistelrooy has 30 yearlings catalogued in the Premier sale and more than 50 yearlings across the entire sales series.  His first ever yearling to be sold fetched A$135,000 at the Magic Millions sale just over a week ago.  "I've been very impressed with the quality of his progeny," said Mark, "and they are all athletic, good moving horses so I'm sure buyers will warm to them," he said.

Haunui Farm Yearling Parade

Our annual yearling parade took place on Sunday 22^nd January with more than 130 people attending on what was a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

We paraded our draft of Premier, Select and Festival yearlings, all of which behaved remarkably well in front of such a large audience and this will hold them in good steed for what is to come at Karaka.

Mark and the Haunui team would like to thank all that attended and look forward to seeing many of you in C-Block at Karaka over the coming weeks.

Video footage of yearlings on web

Photographs of the Haunui Farm yearlings have been up on our website for some time now and for the first time this year, we also have video footage of our Premier and Select Draft on the internet. 

These videos can be viewed in one of three ways:

1 - Visit the Sales section of the Haunui website and click on the Lot number of the yearling you wish to view.  This will bring up the yearlings pedigree page where at the top of the page, is a link to the video footage.  Click on the link to start the video.

2 - Visit www.nzb.co.nz and go to the sales section.  In the search facility, type the word Haunui and this will bring up the Haunui Farm yearling draft.  Click on the video icon beside the yearling you wish to view to start the video.

3 - Visit www.stallions.com.au and follow the link through to Sirecam.  There you will be able to select the Haunui Farm yearling draft to view.

This is a new innovation in the yearling sales market that has become more and more popular in the last two years, especially for buyers who are unable to make it to the sales themselves but may have agents acting on their behalf.

We would be interested to hear any feedback in regard to the video's as it is part of an ongoing process of looking at ways in which we can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of getting information to our clients, prospective buyers and industry participants.

For any information in regard to any of our yearlings, please feel free to contact Mark Chitty on +64 21 663 995 or Shannon Taylor on +64 212 855 513.

We look forward to seeing many of you at Karaka over the next two weeks where we hope we can show you some quality yearlings and where you can also enjoy some wonderful New Zealand food, wine and hospitality.