High-class Atishu added to Magic Millions National sale
Three-time Group 1 winner and Australian Cup (Gr 1, 2000m) hopeful Atishu (Savabeel) will go under the hammer at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale on the Gold Coast in May.
Trained by Chris Waller, having moved across the Tasman following a debut campaign as a three-year-old in her native New Zealand, the seven-year-old’s 11 victories are headed by her wins in the Queen Of The Turf Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) and Champions Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) in 2023 while also scoring in last November’s Empire Rose Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m).
Overall, the classy daughter of Savabeel (Zabeel) won eight at stakes level, and also pocketed 16 placings from 48 starts, with over $5.7 million earned in prize-money for her owners Go Racing.
“It’s exciting,” Go Racing’s Albert Bosma told ANZ Bloodstock News. “We looked at selling her last year and she went so well in that autumn preparation so we had a chat to Chris Waller and we felt that she’d probably come back and perform as well as a seven-year-old.
“We decided to race her on and she’s of course, won another Group 1 since and been placed in other Group 1s, so it’s turned out to be the right decision.
“The guys [Go Racing] have had a fantastic ride and it feels like the right time for her to move on to the next part of her career.”
Out of the winning No Excuse Needed (Machiavellian) mare Posy, Atishu is a sister to Group 3 winner Mazzolino and three other winners. She was purchased by Go Racing for NZ$260,000 from her breeders, Waikato Stud, at the 2019 NZB Karaka Yearling Sale.
Savabeel’s daughters have produced 35 individual stakes winners between them, headed by six Group 1 winners, including Gringotts, winner of last weekend’s George Ryder Stakes (Gr 1, 1500m).
“She’s got a fantastic pedigree,” Bosma added. “Her full-sister, the year before she sold, made $875,000 as a yearling which sort of tells you both the pedigree and confirmation which they have.
“So she’s not just done it on the track, but she’s got the page to back it up. I’d expect her to be well sought after.
“It’s been fantastic. She won four-in-a-row in New Zealand before we sent her over and she was running some amazing sectionals, so we knew she was top drawer.
“The Group 1s she’s won as well, they’re serious Group 1s. She won the McKinnon [Champions Stakes], ran second in the McKinnon again. She ran third in the Australian Cup. She won the Queen Of The Turf, the Empire Rose. And the Group 1s she’s won have been either in [Melbourne] Cup week or the championships, so they’ve been at the peak.
“There has been no dodging in her career. She hasn’t dodged any horses or anyone and she’s been set for the big races, and so when you’re running on that bigger stage and winning, there’s nothing better.”
Atishu will be given more chances to bolster her CV ahead of May’s sale on the Gold Coast, and the first of those comes in Saturday’s Australian Cup at Flemington, a race she ran third in last year.
“She’ll run in the Australian Cup this Saturday and then she’ll get back up to Sydney and she’ll have her last run in Sydney on the last day of the championships, either in the Queen Elizabeth or the Queen Of The Turf, it’ll be one of those two,” Bosma said.
“So two more chances left for the guys to enjoy it. There’s going to be about, with owners and partners, 23 or 24 people going to Flemington on Saturday – so there will be a bit of a celebration.”
On her winning chance in Saturday’s race, Bosma said: “She is a chance. This has been her goal the whole preparation so she’s peaking for this. I think her last start [when fifth in the All-Star Mile] was very good. She got back last, there was no speed on and her sectionals were still excellent for the last 600 [metres].
“I like the fact that it will be on pace for her on Saturday, so I think it maps well for her to run well. It would be brilliant [if she could win]. The party will go on all night if that happens.”
Atishu will be joined in the National Broodmare Sale by fellow Go Racing star Diss Is Dramatic (Dissident), a three-time winner at Group level in New Zealand.
Entries are now closing for all sections of the National Sale and the Broodmare section will feature other Group-winning mares including Amazonian Lass (More Than Ready) and Revolutionary Miss (Russian Revolution).