January 14, 2014Wheel Keeps Turning For Newhaven Park
Wheel Keeps Turning For Newhaven Park
Newhaven Park Stud, its place in Australian breeding history well documented, wrote a new page at the Gold Coast this past week when its name again became synonymous as an industry leader.
Newhaven Park’s reputation was built on a succession of leading local and imported sires including three-time Australian champion Wilkes, Luskin Star, Marauding and Zeditave and the phenomenal racing success of its home-breds such as Encounter, Burst, Research, John’s Hope, Prowl, Arborea, Grand Armee, Vivarchi, Euphoria, Drum, Assertive Lass, Pontal Lass and Chlorophyll.
There was a time when Newhaven Park was perennially the leading vendor at the Sydney Easter Sale when its yearlings sold for record prices.
However the famous brand endured changing fortunes over the past 30 years as it moved from being one of Australia’s most successful family-owned thoroughbred farms to a publicly listed stock exchange company diversifying in hotels – and back again.
Owned and managed all along by the Kelly family, the Boorowa farm in southern NSW has gone down a different path over the last 10 years as it scaled back from being a leading stallion station servicing outside clients to breeding from its own select broodmare band that is among the best in the land.
The Kelly-owned mares, representing some of the stud book’s greatest families, are now serviced by the top sires in Australasia. The resulting progeny make up the high profile drafts Newhaven Park now sends to the major yearling sales with the results at the Magic Millions a glowing endorsement of its modern day policy.
Newhaven Park consigned the $1 million sale topping Redoute’s Choice colt and sold the Magic Millions 2YO Classic winner Unencumbered – a colt that owes its pedigree to Vinery Stud.
The stud ended a memorable four days by also selling the second top-priced colt of sale, the More Than Ready colt which made the top price of $600,000 at Saturday night’s final select session
Newhaven Park’s John Kelly admitted the results marked a full turn of the wheel for stud and family.
“We would never have dared to dream of such a result selling both the Hades colt for $1 million and then Unencumbered coming out and winning the feature race,” he said.
“It is has been a humbling 24 hours. As most people in this industry know there are a lot of ups and downs so these times are really rewarding for all of our staff, our clients and our family.”
The twist to the Newhaven Park tale at the Magic Millions was seeing the millions dollar sale topper knocked down to another Kelly family, American newcomers Jon and Sarah Kelly from Rancho Sante Fe in California.
The unreal coincidence is that Newhaven Park is under the management of John and Sarah Kelly.
The California Kellys were attending their first Magic Millions sale but have been regular visitors to Australia for 40 years and are successful owners in the US and Europe where they race up to 60 horses.
They commissioned Gai Waterhouse to spend up to $1 million on their pick of the sale with happy results.
“He is from a beautiful mare so he is very well bred and he meets the criteria that I set up for acquisitions, so I am very pleased to buy him,” said Jon Kelly.
The Kellys were coaxed to the Gold Coast by Magic Millions boss Vin Cox, who met them eight years ago when he was a freelance bloodstock agent representing Kentucky’s Keeneland Association in Australia.
Hades, the dam of their sale topper, is a city-winning daughter of Encosta de Lago from Waterhouse’s former champion 2YO filly Hasna.
The colt’s year-older unraced brother, named The Iliad and trained by Peter Moody, won his first trial in November.
Hades also has a filly foal by Redoute’s Choice and is again in foal to him as Newhaven Park pursues the cross that has produced G1 winner Musir and classy young sire Beneteau.
Unencumbered, by Vinery’s 1999 Magic Millions winner Testa Rossa from the More Than Ready mare Blizzardly, was a bargain for his alert trainer Bjorn Baker from the 2013 Gold Coast Magic Millions sale.
Baker swooped on the colt after he was passed in at $75,000 short of his $90,000 reserve and bought him privately for $70,000.
Unencumbered has since won five of his six starts and $1,783,850 prize money.
Blizzardly, a daughter of the Marscay mare Concise, was bred by Vinery and won the Listed Keith Mackay Stakes at Randwick and was G2 placed in the Magic Night Stakes.
She was acquired by Newhaven Park for $240,000 in 2011 after she was at offered at the Inglis Easter Broodmare Sale in foal to More Than Ready.
Newhaven Park will be offering Blizzardly’s yearling filly by Bernardini at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale in April. She also has a Commands filly foal on the ground and was covered last spring by Denman.
The $1 million colt helped Redoute’s Choice top the sire averages at the Magic Millions, with his 10 lots selling for an average of $286,500, edging out Fastnet Rockwho had 30 yearlings sell for an average of $270,167.
Saturday night’s Newhaven Park session topper is the third foal of the stakes placed Polaway (Giant’s Causeway), a daughter of Golden Slipper Stakes winner Polar Success (Success Express).