The Oaks for $ale

[Murray Fish]

Breeding and Bloodstock

Rowe On Monday - The Oak

By Tim Rowe - 

Iconic Kiwi stud The Oaks has hit the market as owner Dick Karreman celebrates another Group 1 win, while Qatar Racing’s David Redvers talks up with another stallion investment and a former Singapore trainer embarks on a new era.    

  The Oaks Stud in Cambridge is on the market. (Photo: The Oaks Stud)

The Oaks on the market

Queenslander Dick Karreman has raced a host of top-class horses over the years.

There’s been champion mare Seachange - a dominant force in New Zealand racing in the mid-2000s and who is notably the second dam of Coolmore’s colt Storm Boy - and there’s been Recite, Artistic, Risque, Devise, Keepa Cruisin and Catalyst, just to name a few, all of whom have won elite races for The Oaks Stud owner.

But Karreman’s latest racetrack star, Saturday’s New Zealand 2000 Guineas winner Savaglee, also holds special significance for the businessman who largely avoids the media and is rarely seen, either at the races or at Karaka where his prominent nursery The Oaks Stud is a vendor at the annual New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale.

As usual, Karreman wasn’t at Riccarton to watch the Pam Gerard-trained colt in action on Saturday. He prefers to leave that to The Oaks Stud’s general manager Rick Williams, the man who selected the colt from the Waikato Stud for $400,000 at last year’s Karaka sale in the hope of turning him into a stallion.

Coming five years after Karreman’s brilliant but injury plagued gelding Catalyst won the 2000 Guineas, the emergence of Savaglee coincides with changes that are in the air at The Oaks Stud.

The billionaire businessman has quietly listed for sale his 202-hectare The Oaks Stud, a valuable piece of land that is located on the edge of Cambridge, which he has owned since 2002.

“He (Karreman) has got a family situation that he has to sort out, and that's why it's part of a super fund, and the land is owned by the super fund, but there's a number of plans we've got going on between us at the moment,” Williams told The Straight.  

“But it’s very satisfying, obviously. He wanted me to buy a colt, and I got lucky, but he was thrilled. 

“He didn't come over, unfortunately, but obviously, when you get a classic winner of any sort, you're rapt and he's come through the race really well.”

Williams will consult form analysts and ratings gurus to help him, Karreman and Gerard determine exactly where to head next preparation with Savaglee.

Enhancing the colt’s value as a stallion prospect is high on the agenda.

Rick Williams (centre) celebrates the win of Savaglee. (Photo: NZ Racing Desk)

The inaugural NZB The Kiwi at Ellerslie on March 8 could be a possibility but the lure of the Group 1 status attached to the Australian Guineas at Flemington a week earlier may be too hard to ignore.

“He ran the third fastest Guineas of all time (1:33.86 seconds), so you could say, ‘well, how good were they, the ones he beat?’” Williams says. 

“We'll find out as these horses race on, but you can only win, and when you win in a good time, you've got to start looking at other options.

“Obviously, he's worth a certain value, because it’s New Zealand Group 1 and a Classic Group 1, but he's worth a hell of a lot more for them to get one in Aussie, so we'll see.”

The Oaks Stud will continue to be an active vendor for the foreseeable future. (Photo: The Oaks)

For Williams, it’s business as usual at The Oaks Stud with about 30 yearlings likely to be offered at Karaka next January under the farm’s distinguished banner despite a possible sale of the farm hanging over them.

“The property market is pretty quiet at the moment, so it's no surprise (about a lack of interest). It's a difficult time to be selling,” Williams said.

“But I'm not surprised with that, and Dick isn't worried. He certainly doesn't need the money. He's got plenty of assets.

“It's just a matter of which ones you sell off to square things up with his family. He's got plenty of plan Bs and Cs.”