Millefiori blooms for Totara Park ahead of Karaka
Northland farm to send through Per Incanto half-brother to current favourite for New Zealand’s richest juvenile race
A win for Karaka Million 2YO (RL, 1200m) favourite Millefiori (Iffraaj) in Saturday’s $1 million feature could prove bountiful for Totara Park Stud’s Dirk and Nicci Oberholster, who are offering up a Per Incanto (Street Cry) half-brother to the unbeaten filly at the Karaka Premier Yearling Sale next week.
The prosperous history of Totara Park Stud, in Glenbervie on the outskirts of Whangarei, is well-documented. Established by Northland breeding stalwart Les Donaldson in the early 1960s, the farm struck great success with Uncle Remus (Bandmaster II) in the late 1970s and has continued to be a noted nursery of decent racehorses ever since.
The Oberholsters have continued to build on the legacy created by Donaldson, Nicci’s father, with Millefiori on the cusp of providing the couple with their biggest success since his death in 2018.
“What can I say, we’ve been in this game a long time and you always try to breed a good one at some stage,” Dirk Oberholster told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday. “I think she’s the best that we’ve bred. She’s by Iffraaj out of a Savabeel mare that’s from a very good family, the mare herself is a daughter of a Stravinksy mare called Operavega who is a half-sister to Vegas Showgirl, the dam of Winx. It’s pretty good stuff in there and pretty current.
“She’s definitely not past the post just yet, but it seems we may have a good talent and she is the favourite for the race.”
Millefiori’s dam Miss Bluebell (Savabeel) was passed in at the 2014 NZB Ready To Run Sale before never stepping foot onto the racetrack. She produced a colt by Totara Park stallion Pure Champion (Footstepsinthesand) in 2016, an unraced four-year-old named Grinzinger Himmel, with Millefiori her second foal.
However, the story of Miss Bluebell’s dam Operavega (Stravinsky), a half-sister to Winx’s (Street Cry) dam Vegas Showgirl (Al Akbar) who was purchased by Totara Park Stud for just $700 at the 2010 Karaka National Weanling, Broodmare and Mixed Sale, adds lustre to Millefiori’s chase for millions on Saturday.
“We bred Miss Bluebell in conjunction with Waikato Stud,” Oberholster recalled. “I’ve got to mention and give credit to Mark Chittick, who has become proprietor of Waikato Stud. Operavega’s first foal was a horse named Hampden, who won his maiden by seven and a half lengths and Mark phoned me and said we should breed Operavega back to Savabeel. At that stage Savabeel really wasn’t much at all, and now of course he’s an absolute champion.
“So we did that and then Miss Bluebell had a heart irregularity and couldn’t race. She had great ability but unfortunately because of this we had to put her to stud and that’s where we got her from.
“We bought two mares at the 2010 sales, both sisters by Stravinsky and both half-sisters to the dam of Winx. The other sister (Vegas Dancer, who was a NZ$1,200 purchase) had a foal by Shocking called Vegas Jewel, who is twice Group placed in Australia so they’ve been two good purchases for us.”
One glance at her pedigree suggests that Millefiori should be at her best as a three-year-old over further, rather than a precocious two-year-old. While former Haunui Farm shuttler Iffraaj (Zafonic) has produced a winner of this race in Xiong Feng, he is far more notable for his three-year-olds.
Throw in family members like Winx, who shares her second dam Vegas Magic (Voodoo Rhythm) with Miss Bluebell, and it seems that a race like the New Zealand 1000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) later this year would have been right up her alley.
And while it still could be an eventual target, she has shown abundant precocity in her two starts to date – a maiden win at Ellerslie before a second success at Tauranga – to suggest that she is right in contention for Saturday’s contest.
“She’s not been bred to do this really,” Oberholster mused. “She’s more of a Guineas or Oaks-type three-year-old, or so it looks. But obviously she’s got the speed and the winning qualities to get up at this stage.
“The mating was actually done by Nicci, who liked the Iffraaj part of it, he’s left a lot of good horses. But a lot of it comes from the mare and this is her second foal. The first foal was unraced due to injury, but he was a nice enough colt that we sold to Australia.
“Millefiori is the second foal, and from the moment she dropped on the ground she was a beautiful filly, never had any issues, and we sold her through Book 2 at Karaka for $65,000.
“She’s always been the love of my family. When I say the family, I mean myself, my wife, my father-in-law who has now passed, and his wife. It’s like a dream come true really. It’s a wish turned into reality that we can have a horse of this quality in a race like it is.
“Everyone aspires to breed a horse that lines up in this race, let alone stand a chance of winning it.”
Millefiori is in the right hands for Karaka Million glory, with owners Te Akau Racing and trainer Jamie Richards seeking a fifth straight triumph in the race after victories to subsequent Group 1 winners Cool Aza Beel (Savabeel), Probabeel (Savabeel), Avantage (Fastnet Rock) and Melody Belle (Commands) the last four years.
“Being sold to Te Akau gave us lots of confidence,” said Oberholster. “Being a minor player and then selling a couple of horses – we sold one to the Duchess of Bedford and then David Ellis bought this one – it gave us so much confidence that we bought a share back in the horse. It wasn’t only because we loved her but also because of where she went, we knew she’d have every opportunity. They run a pretty good ship!”
After barriers were drawn yesterday morning, Millefiori was priced up as the $3.80 favourite as one of four horses set to carry the Te Akau tangerine. She will jump from gate five with Danielle Johnson booked to ride.
The filly took over as the slight favourite ahead of her fellow unbeaten stablemate On The Bubbles (Brazen Beau), who drifted out to $5 after coming up with the outside gate should the emergencies not gain a start.
Richards also saddles up Sneaky Shark (Capitalist) and Sophisticardo (Burgundy) for Te Akau, with the pair at $10 and $13 respectively, while the handler’s fifth runner is Welcome Stakes (Listed, 1000m) winner Avonallo (Belardo), owned by Chris Rutten and Little Avondale Stud.
Million glory a pointer to Karaka success?
Amazingly, only three of the 17 acceptors for New Zealand’s richest juvenile race have siblings going through the Karaka sales ring next week. Millefiori’s half-brother will go through on day three of Book 1 next Tuesday as Lot 538, 15 lots after a Iffraaj half-sister to Seven Twenty (Power) enters the hall as Lot 523.
The pair will be followed by a Vespa (Elusive City) half-brother to Follow Your Dreams (Contributer), catalogued as Lot 769, who will be one of the standout lots of Book 2.
Over the last decade, only four Karaka Million winners have had siblings step foot into the sales ring within a week.
In 2011, Fort Lincoln (Charge Forward) scored by the narrowest of margins over Antonio Lombardo (Pins) to take the spoils. A $110,000 purchase the year before, Fort Lincoln’s win saw his brother – later named Forward Flyer – knocked down for $300,000 a couple of days later.
A year later, though, the victory of Ockham’s Razor (Any Suggestion) – a $170,000 purchase at Karaka in 2011 – did little to boost his sister’s value, with the filly already relegated to the Select Yearling Sale in 2012. She could only reach $35,000 at the fall of the hammer.
In 2016, $30,000 purchase Xiong Feng’s success saw his Ocean Park (Thorn Park) half-brother passed in with a dramatically higher reserve of $100,000.
The following year saw perhaps the most prolific Karaka Million winner of them all, Melody Belle, take the spoils. A $57,500 purchase, seemingly a steal in hindsight, her win ensured her O’Reilly (Last Tycoon) half-sister was bought for six figures, reaching $100,000.
While that O’Reilly filly, now named Amazing Belle, is unplaced from two starts, her value as a broodmare has skyrocketed now that Melody Belle is a 12-time Group 1 winner and is on the cusp of joining the mighty Sunline (Desert Sun) as New Zealand’s most prolific thoroughbred at the top level.
When Millefiori’s half-brother steps into the ring, her performance – win, lose or draw – is likely to be at the forefront of thoughts amongst the buying bench.
Offered by Cherie Archer under her Archer Park, just as Millefiori was 12 months ago, there is likely to be considerable interest in the colt on pedigree alone. However, Oberholster believes that as a physical type, he is likely to receive even more interest.
“The photos are there for all to see online, but he’s an absolute cracker, he’s probably a better specimen of a horse than what she was,” Oberholster said. “The lady that’s putting her through the sale, she says it’s the best horse she’s ever prepared for a sale.
“Covid has ruined a lot of things for a lot of people and we may not have the whole buying bench there from overseas, but hopefully there’s an online interest – he’s an absolute cracker of a colt.
“It’s easy to praise your own kids. It’s easy to say, ‘my son’s going to be an All Black’ but this is a special horse. An outstanding specimen of the thoroughbred.
“There’s a little bit of thought gone into him, too – he’s by Per Incanto who is a son of Street Cry and Winx was by Street Cry out of the same female family.”