Tears of joy as colt cracks $2m

DONNA WALSH/Waikato Times

HOT PROPERTY: Cambridge Stud’s Peter Stanaway leads the Zabeel-Diamond Like colt through the Karaka sales ring yesterday. The colt made $2 million, bought by Sydney bloodstock agent James Bester.

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Sir Patrick Hogan admitted shedding a tear of joy as a colt he rated as the best he has ever presented for sale was knocked down for $2 million at Karaka yesterday.

The Zabeel-Diamond Like colt became the star of the early afternoon at the National Premier Yearling Sales, catapulted from an opening bid of $900,000 to becoming the equal third highest-priced yearling ever sold in New Zealand, courtesy of a winning bid from international bloodstock agent James Bester.

On that list, Sir Patrick's Cambridge Stud features in six of the top seven, with the top spot held by the Zabeel-Diamond Lover colt which fetched $3.6 million in 2000 and went on to win the Gr I AJC Derby as Don Eduardo.

However, Sir Patrick was adamant the Diamond Like colt, from the same Eight Carat family, was superior to all he had taken to the sales before him.

''He's the best I've put through the ring without a doubt,'' Sir Patrick said.

''But in this economic climate, if anyone had said you'll sell a $2 million colt you could be taken as a fool. I put an $800,000 reserve on him and I've let everyone know as I always do and I think that's why we got an opening bid of $900,000.

''My expectations were that I thought he was a colt who in this climate should make $1 million. A few years ago he would have made $2 million and more when things were more buoyant but I didn't think that was possible this year.

''I had thought probably $1 million or maybe one bid more at $1.1 million. When it got to $1.2 million, I thought 'well, that's nice'. When it got to $1.6 million, I thought 'that's going up', and when it got to $1.6 million I thought 'when is this going to end?'

''Don Eduardo came to mind because the bidders were so strong. When it got to $2 million that was the time for the tear to drop out of my eye. I'm so proud and it is emotional.

''Something like that is like winning the game and I've always played the game to win.''

Bester, based in New South Wales, said he started the bidding at $900,000 and was on his last bid when he went to $2 million to stave off Coolmore bidder Demi O'Byrne.

Bester has bought several horses for Coolmore, though he was this time buying for an ''undisclosed'' group of people who ''race and breed in Australia''.

Among the other underbidders was Te Akau's David Ellis, who placed his final bid at $1.2 million.

Bester was taken by the colt on type but said he had the upside of a stellar pedigree with the prospect of him becoming a stallion following his racing career.

''I gave him the highest rating I've ever given a yearling on type,'' Bester said.

''On conformation I've never rated a yearling better and at $1.6 million Australian, he's still good value. He was absolutely outstanding, better than any other Zabeel I've seen. He has the same quality and class as Octagonal, with a look of speed.

''He was the best horse on the saleground with the best [pedigree] page. I'm pretty confident that barring accident, he'll be an outstanding racehorse and then he'll be real value.''

By superstar Cambridge Stud stallion Zabeel out of stakes-winning Danehill mare Diamond Like, the colt was bred in the purple from the Eight Carat family and boasted star racehorses and stallions the like of Octagonal, Kaapstad, Don Eduardo, Tristalove, Diamond Lover, Shower Of Roses, Viscount, Lovetrista, Viking Ruler, Mouawad, De Beers, Danewin and Commands on his pedigree page.

''What I liked was that his mother was fast, his grandmother [Tristalove] was fast, even though she won the Oaks,'' Bester said.

''I figure that he is somewhere between a 1400m two-year-old, and I do think he will be a two-year-old and a 2000m Cox Plate horse, but the Zabeel factor could obviously carry him any distance.

''That's what I loved about him, he's a very versatile looking horse, a lot of quality, class and balance, with the back-up of all that family.''

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