'I've been coming here for 40 years and have never been hotter on a horse'

An emotional Roger James was dreaming of Cox Plate glory after paying NZ$900,000 (€560,000/£470,000) for a ‘faultless’ colt by The Autumn Sun at the New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Yearling Sale during the last of three Book 1 sessions, which saw trade surge and set the platform for a competitive Book 2 market.

Seven of the 13 yearlings to make NZ$500,000 or more were sold on day three, propelling trade to NZ$63.1 million, a figure which has already surpassed the aggregate of last year’s combined Books 1 and 2 sales, and was comparatively up 24 per cent.

And it was Kiwi trainer James and his training partner Robert Wellwood who stole the headlines, purchasing two of the top four lots of the session.

Senior trainer James had been pacing the spacious Karaka complex for days leading up to the colt’s turn in the ring and, while he remained composed during the auction process, he had to take time afterwards to gather his thoughts.

Once calm, James was elated to have the colt in his keeping, the most expensive yearling he had bought in his decades in the industry.

“I have been coming to these sales for probably 40 years now and I don’t think I’ve been hotter on a horse ever. I just loved him from the day we saw him,” said James, visibly moved by what had just transpired.

“I just can’t explain it, I can’t remember having bought or bid on a horse of his quality, there’s not a box he doesn’t tick.

“Sally [Gumbley] and Robert, who are my other set of eyes, were as hot on him as I was. We thought it was going to be hard to do, but it is quite amazing the support [we’ve had].

“I have been pretty tense as I’ve never been to this level to buy a horse and in the last hour before he went through the ring, I probably wasn’t very good company.”

By Arrowfield Stud’s anointed son of Redoute’s Choice in The Autumn Sun, whose first-crop yearlings have sold for up to NZ$950,000 at the Australasian sales so far this year and whose three lots sold at Karaka averaged NZ$426,667, the colt is the ninth foal out of Pristino, making him a three-quarter brother to Group 2 winner and New Zealand three-year-old filly of the year Dijon Bleu.

He was bred by the CT Grammer and Robinson Family Trust and placed with Landsdowne Park to be prepared for the Karaka sale.

“When we rolled onto the grounds this morning we knew that he was popular. Every good judge in Australasia was looking at him, so we knew we had a horse we were going to get some money for, but we never expected NZ$900,000,” said Landsdowne Park’s Dave Duley.

“Roger, he is a very, very good trainer … and he has a special horse.”

Duley has been associated with Pristino “since day one”.

“All of us were involved in planning the mating. To us it was the perfect cross and the result is the best walking colt I have ever seen,” Duley said.

“He was very popular and his purchase price was way beyond the reserve.”

Duley hopes the sale of the colt can also be the catalyst for the Ohaupo farm to be a regular seller at the top end of the market.

“We want to be at that next level and we’re just lucky to have clients who are sending us lovely horses, but without lovely horses, it’s hard to be there [top of the market],” he said.

“I used to play a bit of rugby and I’ve never been so nervous … It is a different feeling as you have no control [in the vendors’ box].

“I got an adrenaline rush from it as well and that’s what I love, I love selling and preparing nice horses.”

James trained his first Group 1 winner Tidal Light in 1987 and in the 35 years since he has added another 16, the most recent two in partnership with Robert Wellwood.

Four of those Group 1s were courtesy of top-class mare Silent Achiever, the 2012 New Zealand Derby winner who would claim a further three Group 1s during a glittering race career, but it is a race she ran third in in 2014 that James has ambitions of winning with his prized colt.

“I have said for a long time that one race I would like to win before I retire is the Cox Plate. I got beaten a neck with Silent Achiever,” he said.

“I have seen him five or six times and you can overdo it and over think it, but we had a pretty strong consensus from day one and it was just a matter of thinking how we could put it together.

“I’ve been gratified by the support that I have had, really.”

James and Wellwood also bought a Savabeel filly, the second-to-last lot through the ring, for NZ$625,000 from Haunui Farm.

The filly is the first living foal out of the stakes-placed mare Symphonic, herself a sister to the stakes-placed Tralee Chorus, and a three-quarter sister to Australian Oaks and New Zealand Oaks winner Daffodil. The family also features Group 1 winner Aegon and Go Racing’s Sydney Group 3 winner Atishu.

James and Wellwood bought seven yearlings for a combined NZ$2.165m.

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