Seth’s super run continues as La Dorada takes the Sires’ Produce
Waikato Stud’s upwardly mobile young stallion Super Seth (Dundeel) sired his third individual Group 1 winner when Te Akau’s talented filly La Dorada led home a 1-2 for her stable in Saturday’s Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) at Trentham.
The win handed Te Akau a clean sweep of the biggest juvenile prizes in New Zealand with the Waikato Stud-bred La Dorada having won the Karaka Millions 2YO (RL, 1200m) and Matamata Breeders’ Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m), while her unbeaten stable companion Return To Conquer (Snitzel) has strung together four black-type successes including the Sistema Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m).
Meanwhile, this top-level win is the third in the space of a month for the Waikato Stud’s stallion Super Seth, with Feroce kicking off the golden spell with his victory in the Australian Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) on March 1 and Linebacker doubling the tally in the Randwick Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) a week later.
To cap off the good results for the Chittick family’s operation, they also bred La Dorada’s dam, Gold Fever, a Group 2-winning daughter of their marquee sire Savabeel (Zabeel) and Saturday’s result handed Savabeel his seventh top-flight winner as a damsire. La Dorada joins the likes of recent George Ryder Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Gringotts (Per Incanto), Warmonger (War Decree), winner of the Queensland Derby (Gr 1, 2400m), and Icebath (Sacred Falls) as elite-level winners out of daughters of Savabeel.
Ridden by Michael McNab, La Dorada had a smooth run up the rail in the race, eventually drawing clear to defeat her stablemate Hostility (I Am Invincible) by an impressive 3.5 lengths. Landlock (Merchant Navy) passed the post another length away in third, but was subsequently relegated after a successful protest by the connections of the fourth-placed Tajana (Darci Brahma).
La Dorada became Te Akau’s ninth winner of the Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes, joining Maroofity (Maroof) (2003), Kindacross (Cape Cross) (2005), Melody Belle (Commands) (2017), Avantage (Fastnet Rock) (2018), Yourdeel (Dundeel) (2019), On The Bubbles (Brazen Beau) (2021), Maven Belle (Burgundy) (2022) and Move To Strike (I Am Invincible) (2024).
David Ellis bought La Dorada for $190,000 from the Book 1 draft of her breeders Waikato Stud at Karaka 2024 and filly has now had five starts for four wins and a second, earning $1.06 million in stakes for the Te Akau Solid Gold Racing Partnership.
“She showed her class today and she’s just so tough,” said Mark Walker, who trains the juvenile in partnership with Sam Bergerson.
“She’s been up for a while. She’s had quite a long season. But Sam and the team have done a great job keeping her going so well for that long.
“She had that setback with the Sistema, but we didn’t panic. It’s great to see her get a Group 1 win. She’s a very tough filly and is going to make a lovely three-year-old as well. She’s not very big, but she’s all heart.
“She wasn’t expensive, costing less than $200,000, and you can’t go wrong buying the Waikato Stud product. I think Super Seth is the next big thing in New Zealand.”
Walker was also delighted with Hostility. The blue-blooded colt by I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) out of multiple Group 1 winner Shillelagh (Savabeel) was a record-breaking $1.65 million purchase from the Ready to Run Sale in November. The Sires’ Produce Stakes was only his second start, having run second on debut earlier this month.
“His run was full of merit too,” Walker said. “To have your second run in a Group 1 race and put in a performance like that, he’s a special horse in the making.
“We’ll have some decisions to make around the three-year-old plans for La Dorada, Hostility and Return To Conquer, but we’ve got all winter to do that. It’s a big team effort with David, Karyn [Fenton-Ellis], Sam, Reece [Trumper] and Nicole [Shailer]. We’ll sit down over the winter and work it all out. They’re beautiful horses.”
The Sires’ Produce Stakes brought Walker and Bergerson back level with Stephen Marsh in terms of Group and Listed winners this season. The rivals went into Saturday’s meeting tied on 13 stakes wins each, and Marsh briefly moved ahead with Kiwi Skyhawk’s (Contributer) victory in the Manawatu Classic (Gr 3, 2100m).
Meanwhile, Saturday’s Group 1 triumph was a welcome breakthrough for McNab, who has endured a run of second placings at the elite level with La Crique (Vadamos) in the Zabeel Classic (Gr 1, 2000m), Herbie Dyke Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) and Bonecrusher New Zealand Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m), plus Dubai Gold (Pride Of Dubai) in last week’s New Zealand Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m).
“It’s a good feeling,” McNab said of Saturday’s win. “It’s been a bit of a frustrating, heartbreaking run. The season’s been going really well, but those Group 1 races and million-dollar races are the ones you really want to win. It’s nice to do that today.
“This filly is an absolute star. There’s not much of her, but she has great ability, great heart and just a great will to win.
“She’s not the best at cornering. She sort of pops herself out. She did that at Matamata and again today. She got lost for a little bit, but then she was brilliant down the straight. To get across the line for David and Te Akau today is very special.”
La Dorada is out of Gold Fever who won three races including, like her daughter, the Matamata Breeders’ Stakes in 2017, for Te Akau, with the operation having purchased the daughter of Savabeel for $110,000 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in 2016.
Gold Fever herself is out of Group 2 winner Gold Rocks (Oratorio), who is also the dam of Group 2 scorer Gold Rush (So You Think) – dam of Listed winner Gold Bullion (Savabeel).
Gold Rocks also produced the dual stakes winner Calaverite (Lonhro) – the dam of Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Golden Mile (Astern), while another of her daughters, Gram (O’Reilly), produced Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Major Beel (Savabeel).