Normal service resumed as Te Akau regain Karaka Millions 2YO with La Dorada
Daughter of Super Seth scores huge win at Ellerslie on red-letter day for Waikato Stud
La Dorada (Super Seth) scored her emerging sire’s grandest success and capped a huge day for Waikato Stud stallions as she restored Te Akau Racing’s domination of the Karaka Millions 2YO (RL, 1200m) at Ellerslie on Saturday.
While co-trainer Mark Walker had on Friday ranked the filly second among his three Te Akau runners, La Dorada proved supreme under Craig Williams in racing half–a–length off the pace on the inside, taking the lead at the 350 metres, and maintaining a dominant gap on her rivals to score by 1.8 lengths.
The Ben and Ryan Foote-trained longshot Vega For Luck (Lucky Vega) continued her Yulong sire’s impressive first season of Australasian runners by taking second at $67, with Andrew Carston’s Miss Ziggy (Brazen Beau) further fattening the trifecta dividend by taking third at $86.
La Dorada – whose half-brother by Tivaci (High Chaparral) will be offered by Waikato at next month’s Inglis Classic yearling sale as Lot 256 – started a $3.40 second elect. Te Akau and Walker’s top selection, the $2.50 favourite To Bravery Born (Snitzel), loomed at the 200-metre mark but could only manage fourth.
Bought by Te Akau boss David Ellis for $190,000 from the Karaka Book 1 draft of breeders Waikato Stud last year, La Dorada has now reaped $615,125 from three starts, for two wins and a Group 2 second.
The win restored normal order for Te Akau. The tangerine army had won the Karaka 2YO millions seven years in a row until it was taken out last year by the Stephen Marsh-trained Velocious (Written Tycoon).
“Well done to David Ellis, who has now bought eight individual winners of this race,” said Walker, who co-trains with Sam Bergerson. “You can go anywhere in the world and you’d struggle to find anyone else with a record like that.
“It’s always good to win on this big stage. It’s fun to be a part of this night. Full credit to NZB [New Zealand Bloodstock] and everyone involved. It’s a big night on the New Zealand racing calendar, and Te Akau loves to be a part of it.”
While Walker had said he favoured To Bravery Born’s chances over La Dorada’s, he received validation for another statement made to ANZ Bloodstock News on Friday – that Super Seth (Dundeel) has “got a massive future for the New Zealand industry”.
In his second season of runners, the Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m)–winning stallion, who stood for $45,000 (plus GST) for the 2024 breeding season, now has five stakes winners from 55 starters at nine percent, among 21 winners.
Last term’s champion first season sire in New Zealand, Super Seth has 27 lots entered for this week’s Karaka Yearling Sale.
Williams, who’s riding in career-best form at 47, was rapt with La Dorada’s performance, saying the addition of visor blinkers and a tongue tie had helped.
“The gear change today meant I had the right filly and she was very good,” Williams said.
“She had a lovely run throughout although the instructions weren’t that specific.
“It was all about her and they knew the horse they had.”
La Dorada also contributed to a stellar day for Waikato Stud, whose stallions provided four of the six winners on the card including the two most lucrative highlights. Just 40 minutes after La Dorada’s victory, Damask Rose (Savabeel) took the $1.5 million Karaka Millions 3YO (RL, 1600m), becoming her all-conquering sire’s 149th stakes winner.
Earlier, another daughter of Savabeel (Zabeel), the dual Group 1–winning Orchestral, claimed her fifth stakes success in the $1 million Aotearoa Classic (Listed, 1600m), while Ardalio (Ardrossan) kicked Waikato’s golden day off by taking the first event, the Cambridge Stud Almanzor Trophy (Gr 3, 1200m).
Continuing the rich Waikato flavour, La Dorada is the fifth and best foal out of the Group 2-winning and Group 1-placed Gold Fever (Savabeel).
La Dorada (2 f Super Seth – Gold Fever by Savabeel) is now the third–straight stakes winner on that rich female line. Second dam Gold Rocks (Oratorio) won Perth’s Karrakatta Plate (Gr 2, 1200m) then threw three stakes winners that include Calaverite (Lonhro), dam of another Caulfield Guineas winner in Golden Mile (Astern).