Allams and Slade score successful cross-Tasman raid for speed filly
Te Akau’s stakes-winning Sky On Fire to return to Australia after Gavelhouse sale
Father and son Steve and Daniel Allam last night added to the depth of their boutique Australian broodmare band, venturing to New Zealand to acquire precocious stakes-winning two-year-old Sky On Fire (Exceed And Excel) for NZ$297,500.
Sold by Te Akau Racing through New Zealand Bloodstock’s Gavelhouse online platform, Sky On Fire was purchased by the Allams in conjunction with Bruce Slade’s Kestrel Thoroughbreds.
The winner of last season’s Welcome Stakes (Listed, 1000m) at the renowned Riccarton carnival, Sky On Fire was prematurely retired by Te Akau trainers Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson after being diagnosed with the kissing spine condition.
Slade fended off strong competition from numerous parties, which included Baystone Farm’s Dean Harvey, to buy Sky On Fire who won the same stakes race as another member of the Allam Racing broodmare band, the Te Akau-raced Sassy ‘N’ Smart (Smart Missile).
“She [Sky On Fire] was a filly who was highly rated as a yearling, so it’s always of great benefit when you can go back through your yearling notes and see what we thought. She was a cracking yearling who made $400,000,” Slade told ANZ Bloodstock News last night.
“She was a really sharp, commercial type who was purchased by a great judge in David Ellis, so there’s a lot of confidence in buying off someone like David and Te Akau Racing as you know they buy a great style of yearling and you know they’ve been through the right hands.
“She showed a lot of speed, she was very precocious and fast which tied right into her pedigree being by Exceed And Excel out of a Northern Meteor mare.”
Sky On Fire is the second mare purchased by the Allams this year – and the tenth in their small breeding operation – after they acquired Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) runner-up Lankan Star (Nicconi) in foal to champion first and second season sire Russian Revolution (Snitzel) for $600,000 at the Inglis Chairman’s Sale in May.
The Allams and Slade also paid $600,000 for a breeding right in I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit), now back-to-back champion Australian stallion, at the Magic Millions Gold Coast National Broodmare Sale.
“Sky On Fire’s exactly what we’re looking for over here in Australia and the Allams, Steve and Daniel, have some lovely, young broodmares who are well-performed speed fillies and mares,” Slade said.
“Dan saw this mare himself browsing through the catalogues and she was one who was on my radar as well and we linked up and valued her.
“We thought she was good buying on the market at sub-$300,000, so she’ll come back to Yarraman Park, which is where all the Allam mares are kept, and we’ll have a look at her and finalise a mating for her.
“She’ll go to a high-end commercial horse which ties in with her strength, precocity and speed.”
Sky On Fire is the first foal to race out of Elusive Meteor (Northern Meteor), a mare purchased by agent Harry McAlpine on behalf of breeder John Wagstaff for $200,000 with the filly in utero who was later sold to Te Akau at the 2022 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
Elusive Meteor is out of Listed winner and Group 3-placed mare Golden Pedigree (Golden Brose), making her a half-sister to stakes-placed filly Aristocratic Miss (Foxwedge).
Elusive Meteor’s second foal by Spirit Of Boom (Sequalo) out of Elusive Meteor was bought by Australian Bloodstock for $140,000 at this year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale and has been named Ceekay’s Choice. She also has a yearling filly by Spirit Of Boom and is due to foal to the Eureka Stud-based stallion again this season.
Slade said Elusive Meteor was residing on Queensland’s Darling Downs and being managed by the McAlpine family.
He was also relieved to have been able to buy Sky On Fire after swinging and missing on a number of mares this year, praising Gavelhouse’s Haylie Martin for her assistance yesterday.
“You have just got to keep doing your homework. Anyone reading this will know, you can be leading the race and then someone comes in at the last minute,” Slade said.
“You just never know you’ve got them until you’ve received that ‘Congratulations’ sign pop up, because people are bidding so late in the piece, as they were with that filly.
“It’s nice to land one. I must say, because I’ve bid on plenty in between times.”
Sky On Fire was one half of a two-fillies Magic Millions package put together by Ellis. The other, the $800,000 half-sister to Group 1-placed Brosnan (Snitzel) Superbly Written (Written Tycoon), is slated to have her first start at Taupo tomorrow.
The latest Inglis Digital auction, which closes tomorrow, also has a number of high-class mares for sale including three-time Group 3 winner Flying Mascot (Tavistock) and the Australian Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m)-placed Group 3 winner Gin Martini (Rip Van Winkle).