Super-talented Sedaka for sale on gavelhouse.com

[Wandering Eyes]

A cruel blow for syndicators Go Racing has paved the way for a special opportunity for buyers on gavelhouse.com this week.

The latest 46 Lot online auction features Sedaka (NZ) (Savabeel), who boasts an outstanding pedigree and lived up to those bloodlines on the racetrack.

In a racing career that was limited to a single preparation, Sedaka had nine starts for a win, three seconds and a third.

The Stephen Marsh-trained filly scored a maiden win in her second career start in October of last year, then stepped up to the big time and performed with credit against an elite crop of three-year-olds.

She finished second in the Group Two Royal Stakes (2000m), sixth in the Group Two Waikato Guineas (2000m) and second in the Group Three Sunline Vase (2100m). Her final start of the season came in the prestigious Group One New Zealand Oaks (2400m), where she ran a close fifth behind the top-class filly Pennyweka (NZ) (Satono Aladdin).

Go Racing had held high hopes for Sedaka’s four-year-old season, but a spring setback unfortunately brought a premature end to her racing career.

“She was incredibly talented and did it all on one single preparation,” Go Racing manager Albert Bosma said.

“She placed at Group Two and Group Three level, then ran an outstanding fifth in the Oaks, all while racing against a particularly strong crop of three-year-olds.

“She had come back in outstanding order this spring and her trials had been enormous. Stephen Marsh told us that she was a genuine Group One mare in the making. She was meant to kick off on the first day of the carnival at Hawke’s Bay on Saturday. But unfortunately that wasn’t to be and she’s had to be retired. Racing can be a tough game sometimes, and it always seems to happen to the very good ones.

“It’s hugely disappointing for all involved, but we have no doubt that she’ll make a fantastic broodmare prospect.”

Sedaka was bred by Kevin Hickman and has a quality pedigree behind her, which is illustrated by her price tag of $125,000 when Go Racing secured her as Lot 27 from last year’s Valachi Downs Unreserved Young and Racing Stock Dispersal on Gavelhouse Plus.

She is by eight-time champion New Zealand sire Savabeel, while her dam O’Carol (NZ) (Rip Van Winkle) won three races and is a half-sister to the multiple stakes winner and Group One-placed Odeon (NZ) (Zacinto).

The pedigree page features more than a dozen other black-type winners, including the elite racehorse and globally influential sire Storm Cat.

“Sedaka was a beautiful filly when we bought her, and she’s really developed into a lovely mare,” Bosma said. “She’s by Savabeel, she has a great pedigree and she showed a huge amount of ability on the track, so she has a lot going for her.”

Bosma also pointed out that Savabeel is producing exceptional results from matings to mares by Rip Van Winkle. That emerging cross has so far been represented by four runners, including two stakes winners and Sedaka’s multiple Group placings.

The biggest success of the cross to date has been Noverre (NZ), who scored scintillating wins in the Group One New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m) and Group Three War Decree Stakes (1600m) and now stands at Waikato Stud.

The other stakes winner is Mr Maestro (NZ), whose four wins include the Group Three Caulfield Classic (2000m) and Listed Super Impose Stakes (1800m). He was also runner-up in the Group Two Autumn Classic (1800m) and fourth in the Group One Victoria Derby (2500m).

“That Savabeel-Rip Van Winkle cross has been incredible, producing two stakes winners from four runners including Noverre, who won the 2000 Guineas and now stands at Waikato Stud,” Bosma said. “Sedaka could easily have won at stakes level too, so it’s an extraordinary record.”

Another recently retired multiple stakes performer in the sale is Proisir mare Contagious on account of Roger James and Robert Wellwood. From the Zabeel mare Quella Finale, she was runner up as a juvenile in the Listed Futurity Stakes leading to second in the Gr.2 Lowland Stakes and third in the Gr.2 Sir Tristram Fillies Classic in her classic year.

Also included in the catalogue is youngstock, racing prospects, broodmares with covering sires including Embellish, Ghibellines, Ocean Emperor, Ocean Park, Vanbrugh and Vadamos. A stallion share in El Roca and a nomination to Time Test is also available.

Bidding in the sale is set to close, starting with Lot 1, from 7pm (NZT) on Monday 18 September.

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