Karaka the Shop Window for New Zealand’s Top Stallions

[Wandering Eyes]

The progeny of New Zealand’s top stallions consistently make their mark across Australasia and Hong Kong, and there is no better place to secure this season’s crop of their yearlings than Karaka 2026.

ALMANZOR

Almanzor 

Cambridge Stud’s Almanzor has been in incredible form in recent weeks, with four new Group winners since November 22 including his latest Group One winner.

Having previously made his mark as a classic sire through the deeds of Group One Victoria Derby (2500m) winner Manzoice, Almanzor has shown a different kind of influence through these last few weeks. First Five (NZ) triumphed in the Group One Telegraph (1200m) at Trentham and the Group Three J Swap Sprint (1400m) at Te Rapa, while Qali Al Farrasha (NZ) took out the Group Two Auckland Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (1400m), Lux Libertas (NZ) won the Group Two Manawatu Challenge Stakes (1400m) and Mary Shan (NZ) captured the Group Three Great Northern Challenge Stakes (1600m).

Almanzor has sired 29 stakes winners overall among a total of 347 winners from 653 runners. He has become a regular presence among the top half-dozen on the New Zealand sires’ premiership, including a career-best third spot in 2024-25 with 41 winners and $2.88m in stakes.

Almanzor has sired 81 winners in Australia, seven of them at black-type level, and there have been four winners from only nine runners in Hong Kong.

Almanzor had a total of 35 yearlings sold at Karaka 2025 for an average of $151,214. His yearlings have sold for up to $675,000 in the Karaka sale ring.

The catalogues for Karaka 2026 feature 24 yearlings by Almanzor in Book 1, nine in Book 2 and two in the Summer Sale.

Lot 74 is a three-quarter-sister to Almanzor’s Victoria Derby winner Manzoice.

Lot 114 is a full-brother to Mary Shan, who prior to her recent Group Three victory had placed in the Group Two Eight Carat Classic (1600m), Group Two Soliloquy Stakes (1600m), $1m Elsdon Park Aotearoa Classic (1600m) and Listed Matamata Cup (1600m). She also ran fourth in the Group One Levin Classic (1600m).

Lot 500 is a half-brother to the Group One Doomben 10,000 (1200m), Kingsford-Smith Cup (1300m) and Canterbury Stakes (1300m) winner (The) Bostonian (NZ) (Jimmy Choux).

Lot 534 is a half-brother to promising two-year-old Harvey Wallbanger (NZ) (Home Affairs), who has followed his impressive debut victory with black-type placings in the Group Two Eclipse Stakes (1200m) and Listed Counties Challenge Stakes (1100m).

Lot 236 is a half-brother to the promising two-year-old Spellbound (NZ) (Per Incanto), who has placed in the Listed Counties Challenge Stakes (1100m) since the catalogue went to print. Their dam Xpression (NZ) (Showcasing) was herself a Group Two winner and Group One placegetter and has produced two stakes performers from three foals to race.

Lot 243 is out of Group One Queensland Oaks (2400m) placegetter Zenella (NZ) (Zabeel) and is a half-brother to the Listed winner Miss Ella (NZ) (Iffraaj).

CONTRIBUTER

Contributer

A significant void was left in New Zealand’s stallion ranks when Mapperley Stud announced the untimely death of Contributer in September 2024 at the age of 15.

The son of High Chaparral retired to Mapperley after an eight-win racing career that was headed by Group One triumphs in the Group One Chipping Norton Stakes (1600m) and Ranvet Stakes (2000m).

Contributer has sired 131 winners from 222 runners, with 12 stakes winners including Lion’s Roar (NZ) in the Group One Randwick Guineas (1600m) and Campionessa (NZ) in the Group One Zabeel Classic (2000m). Campionessa also won four Group Two races including the Peter Young Stakes (1800m) at Caulfield.

Contributer’s progeny have been stakes winners over distances ranging from 1200 metres (Maria Farina (NZ) in the Listed Stewards’ Stakes) to 2500 metres (Campionessa in the Listed Metropolitan Trophy).

Yearlings by Contributer averaged $123,750 in Book of Karaka 2025, and they have sold for as much as $260,000 in previous years.

Nine yearlings from Contributer’s final full-sized crop will go through the ring in Book 1 of Karaka 2026. There are also six of his progeny in Book 2.

Lot 306 is a full-sister to Contributer’s Group One-winning daughter Campionessa and is also a half-sister to the Listed winners Leedox (NZ) (Time Test) and Tennessee (NZ) (Per Incanto).

Lot 468 is a colt out of a three-quarter-sister to the five-time Group One winner and high-class sire Pierro.

OCEAN PARK

Ocean Park

Himself a $150,000 yearling purchase from Karaka 2010, Ocean Park (NZ) went on to win five Group One races including the Cox Plate (2040m) before retiring to stud at Waikato Stud. He has continued his excellence in that new career, with 363 winners from 600 runners including 25 at stakes level.

Ocean Park has sired Group One winners from 1400 to 3200 metres, headed by Tofane (NZ) with her quartet of triumphs in the All Aged Stakes (1400m), Stradbroke Handicap (1400m), Tattersall’s Tiara (1400m) and CF Orr Stakes (1400m). Others to win at the elite level include Kolding (NZ) in the Epsom Handicap (1600m), All Aged Stakes and George Main Stakes (1600m), along with Kovalica (NZ) in the Queensland Derby (2400m).

The latest additions to that stakes-winning list are three-year-old fillies Tellum (NZ) and Ohope Wins (NZ). Tellum scored an impressive front-running triumph in the Group Two Eight Carat Classic (1600m) at Ellerslie on Boxing Day, while Ohope Wins powered home from off the pace for an emphatic victory in the Group Two Sir Patrick Hogan Stakes (2000m) at the same venue on New Year’s Day.

Another exciting prospect is the Allan Sharrock-trained four-year-old Komocean (NZ), who improved her career record to three wins from four starts with a four-length runaway at New Plymouth on December 31.

Ocean Park’s progeny averaged $113,889 in Book 1 of Karaka 2025. His yearlings have sold for up to $450,000 at Karaka.

Five yearlings by Ocean Park will go through the ring in Book 1 of Karaka 2026, followed by another five in Book 2 and one in the Summer Sale.

Lot 222 is a full-brother to Kovalica, who has turned his $110,000 purchase price at Karaka 2021 into more than A$4.37m in prize-money. His seven wins include the Queensland Derby, the Group Two Q22 (2200m) and the Group Two Queensland Guineas (1600m), and he has twice placed in the Group One Doomben Cup (2000m).

Lot 418 is a three-quarter-brother to the triple Group One winner and A$6.6m earner Kolding, who himself was purchased for $170,000 from Karaka 2017.

PER INCANTO

Per Incanto

Little Avondale Stud’s Per Incanto has saved some of his very best results for Australia, where he has been represented by multiple Group One-winning sprinters Jimmysstar (NZ) and Roch ‘N’ Horse (NZ), along with fellow Group One stars Gringotts (NZ) and Little Brose.

Per Incanto has sired a total of 460 winners from 694 runners, with 35 individual black-type winners including nine at Group One level.

Another emerging talent who looks close to joining that Group One list is Evaporate (NZ), who has had 19 starts for six wins, eight placings and A$2.76m in stakes. His wins include the Group Two Stutt Stakes (1600m) and Group Three Carbine Club Stakes (1600m) and Sandown Stakes (1500m), while he has run second in the Group One Toorak Handicap (1600m), third in the Group One Caulfield Guineas (1600m), third in the Group One CF Orr Stakes (1400m), second in the $3.5m NZB Kiwi (1500m) and third in the A$10m Golden Eagle (1500m).

Per Incanto had 22 yearlings sell during Karaka 2025 last January, averaging $158,864 with a top price of $375,000. His yearlings have previously sold for up to $500,000 at Karaka, while two of his two-year-olds sold for $750,000 and $700,000 at the NZB Ready to Run Sale in November.

Karaka 2026 features 22 yearlings by Per Incanto in Book 1, along with eight in Book 2 and one in the Summer Sale.

Lot 100 is a half-brother to the dam of Evaporate. The colt is also a full-brother to the Group Three winner Belluci Babe (NZ) (Per Incanto).

Lot 296 is a filly out of an unraced Savabeel mare who is a half-sister to multiple Group One winner and sire Grunt (NZ) and full-sister to the Group Two winner Zayydani (NZ) (Savabeel).

Lot 425 is out of the Group One Railway Stakes (1200m) winner Fleur De Lune (NZ) (Stravinsky). This filly is a full-sister to this season’s Group Three Sweynesse Stakes (1215m) winner Twain (NZ) (Per Incanto).

Lot 466 is a half-brother to four winners including the seven-race winner Running Glory (NZ) (Kermadec), who finished second in Hong Kong’s Group Three Centenary Vase (1800m).

PROISIR

Proisir

The last few years have seen progeny of Rich Hill Stud’s Proisir play a starring role both on racetracks and in the sale ring, where there have been price tags of $1.6m, $1.1m, $850,000 and $700,000 for his yearlings at Karaka 2024 and Karaka 2025.

Proisir was added to the Rich Hill Stud stallion roster in 2015 at an introductory service fee of $7,000, and his remarkable rise has seen that figure soar to $70,000. He is the sire of 253 winners from 405 runners, with 23 individual stakes winners including Group One stars Levante (NZ), Legarto (NZ), Waitak (NZ), Prowess (NZ), Dark Destroyer (NZ) and Pier (NZ). Legarto, Prowess and Dark Destroyer were all themselves purchased from Karaka as yearlings.

Proisir is the only stallion not named Savabeel to finish at the top of the New Zealand premiership in the last decade, taking top honours in 2022-23. He finished second to Savabeel in the both of the two following seasons, and he currently holds top spot again so far in 2025-26.

Karaka 2026 features a bumper contingent of Proisir yearlings, with 54 in Book 1 and nine in Book 2.

Lot 28 is a colt out of the multiple Group Two winner and Group One placegetter Our Abbadean (NZ) (Lookin At Lucky).

Trelawney Stud offers Lot 94, a colt that is a half-brother to dual Group One winner and sire Grunt (NZ) along with Group Two winner Zayydani (NZ) (Savabeel).

Lot 202 is out of a half-sister to the multiple Group One-winning sprinting star I Wish I Win (NZ) (Savabeel).

Pencarrow Stud’s draft features a filly catalogued as Lot 365, who is a half-sister to last season’s Group One Queensland Derby (2400m) winner Maison Louis (NZ) (Super Seth).

Lot 387 is a full-sister to the multiple Group One winner Prowess as well as fillies that have fetched $1.6m and $1.1m at Karaka 2024 and 2025 respectively. All of these fillies have been offered by Hallmark Stud.

Lot 459 is a half-sister to the Group One New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m) and Railway Stakes (1200m) winner Crocetti (NZ) (Zacinto).

SATONO ALADDIN 

Satono Aladdin

Rich Hill Stud has had outstanding success tapping into Japan for its stallion prospects, most notably with the high-class Pentire siring 16 Group One winners. Lightning might be striking twice with Satono Aladdin.

The son of breed-shaping Japanese champion Deep Impact had a high-quality racetrack career of his own, winning eight times from 29 starts including a Group One triumph in the Yasuda Kinen (1600m) as a six-year-old. The Rich Hill Stud team didn’t have to wait as long as that for Satono Aladdin’s progeny to make a Group One impact.

Satono Aladdin has sired 229 winners from 389 runners, with 13 individual stakes winners. His New Zealand record stands at 38 winners from 76 runners, with 17 winners from 31 runners in Australia and four winners from just nine runners in Hong Kong.

Pennyweka (NZ) headlines Satono Aladdin’s list of progeny with her classic double in the Group One New Zealand Oaks (2400m) and Australian Oaks (2400m). Firestorm (NZ) has won five races including the Group Two Millie Fox Stakes (1300m) and ran second in a photo finish to the Group One Coolmore Classic (1500m).

Tokyo Tycoon (NZ) was New Zealand’s champion two-year-old of 2022-23 and won the $1m TAB Karaka Millions 2YO (1200m).

Sacred Satono (NZ) is a seven-race winner including the Group Three Counties Bowl (1100m) and Group Three Bonecrusher Stakes (1400m) and has placed in the Group One Telegraph (1200m) and Tarzino Trophy (1400m).

Lantern Way (NZ) and Magic Carpet (NZ) have won two of the last three runnings of the Group Two Hawke’s Bay Guineas (1400m).

Satono Aladdin had 41 yearlings sold at Karaka 2025 for an average of $147,683. His yearlings have sold for as much as $900,000, and he had two-year-olds sell for up to $675,000 at the recent NZB Ready to Run Sale.

Satono Aladdin is the sire of 54 yearlings in Book 1 of Karaka 2026. There are also 14 of his progeny in Book 2 and one in the Summer Sale.

Lot 192 is offered by Ardsley Stud and is a full-sister to their dual Oaks winner Pennyweka. Half-brother Notabadspillane (NZ) (Time Test) has placed in the Group Three New Zealand Cup (3200m) since the catalogue went to print.

Wentwood Grange’s Satono Aladdin colt catalogued as Lot 521 is a half-brother to the 10-time Group One winner Mr Brightside (NZ) (Bullbars).

Lot 549 is a half-brother to the Group One George Ryder Stakes (1500m) winner and A$6m earner Gringotts (NZ) (Per Incanto).

Lot 553 is a half-sister to the multiple Group One winner and Sydney Group Two winner Belclare (NZ) (Per Incanto).

Lot 73 is a half-sister to Madison County (NZ) (Pins), who won the Group One New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m) and Group One Levin Classic (1600m) and was runner-up in the Group One Australian Derby (2400m).

Lot 105 is a colt out of Sayyzel (NZ) (Snitzel), an unraced half-sister to Australian Group Two winners Shanwah (NZ) (Too Darn Hot) and Excelida (Exceed And Excel).

Lot 131 is out of the Group Two Cal Isuzu Stakes (1600m) winner and Group One placegetter Sinarahma (NZ) (Darci Brahma).

Jamieson Park’s colt catalogued as Lot 187 is out of the Group One Thorndon Mile (1600m) winner Thee Auld Floozie (NZ) (Mastercraftsman), who is the dam of the stakes-performed Just A Floozie (NZ) (I Am Invincible).

Lot 292 is a half-sister to the multiple Group winner and Group One Queen of the Turf Stakes (1600m) placegetter Annavisto (NZ) (Reliable Man).

Lot 462 is a filly out of a stakes-performed three-quarter-sister to the multiple Group One winner Lucia Valentina (NZ) (Savabeel).

Lot 530 is a filly out of an unraced full-sister to the Group One Cox Plate (2040m) winner El Segundo (NZ) (Pins).

SAVABEEL

Savabeel

With 11 of his yearlings selling for $800,000 or more at Karaka through the last decade, and almost two dozen of his NZB National Yearling Sale graduates going on to Group One glory, Savabeel has been a colossus of the Karaka sale ring in recent years.

The Waikato Stud kingpin’s extraordinary career was honoured with induction into the New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame in 2025. Savabeel boasts 10 Grosvenor Awards for champion New Zealand sire by domestic progeny earnings, 10 Dewar Awards for combined Australian and New Zealand progeny earnings, and nine Centaine Awards for combined progeny earnings worldwide.

Overall, Arion Pedigrees statistics credit Savabeel with 1036 winners from 1419 runners including 154 individual stakes winners. No fewer than 35 of his progeny have won at Group One level. Those elite performers range from the 1200-metre heroics of freakish sprinter I Wish I Win (NZ) to the supreme stamina of Derby, Oaks and Cup winners such as Orchestral (NZ), Sangster (NZ), Major Beel (NZ), Scarlett Lady (NZ), Savvy Coup (NZ), Amarelinha (NZ) and Savaria (NZ). Many of his other progeny have excelled at a mile, like Atishu (NZ), Probabeel (NZ) and Shillelagh (NZ).

Notably, of those 35 Group One winners, 23 are Karaka yearling graduates – Probabeel, Atishu, Lucia Valentina (NZ), Sangster, Soriano (NZ), Scarlett Lady, Orchestral, Savvy Coup, Mo’unga (NZ), Costume (NZ), Prise De Fer (NZ), The Chosen One (NZ), Diademe (NZ), Savaglee, Amarelinha, Brambles (NZ), Sword Of Osman (NZ), Nicoletta (NZ), Savaria (NZ), Cool Aza Beel (NZ), Noverre (NZ), Hasahalo (NZ) and Embellish (NZ).

There has been massive demand for Savabeel’s progeny at Karaka through the last decade. Since 2015, he has had 464 yearlings sell for a total of $117m and an average price of $253,459. Tavistock (NZ) is a distant second placegetter during this period, with 280 yearlings selling for a total of $40m and average of $144,455.

Savabeel broke new ground at Karaka 2025 with his highest ever price – and an all-time record for a filly sold at Karaka. Mulcaster Bloodstock and Chris Waller Racing went to $2.4m to buy the full-sister to Orchestral.

As always, Karaka 2026 is the place to go to secure the latest crop of Savabeel yearlings. There are 35 catalogued, all of them in Book 1.

A potential headline act is Waikato Stud’s colt catalogued as Lot 452. He is a full-brother to last season’s champion New Zealand three-year-old Savaglee (NZ) (Savabeel), who won the Group One New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m) and three Group Two races. He also placed in the Group One Australian Guineas (1600m) and Waikato Sprint (1400m).

Lot 246 is out of the stakes-winning Zoustar mare Zouzarella.

Lot 259 is a Cambridge Stud colt from a high-quality European family stacked with black type.

Lot 367 is a half-brother to the dual Group One winner Mustang Valley (NZ) (Vanbrugh).

SHAMEXPRESS

Shamexpress

Windsor Park Stud’s Shamexpress (NZ) has produced a number of high-class horses during his career, but he will now be forever linked with just one name – Ka Ying Rising (NZ).

Within the space of just a 19-race career so far, Ka Ying Rising has established himself as an all-time great of Hong Kong racing and a world-champion sprinter. He has won 17 of those 19 starts, including the last 16 in a row – just one shy of the all-time record of 17, set by Silent Witness (El Moxie) more than 20 years ago.

Ka Ying Rising has won the Group One Hong Kong Sprint (1200m) twice, the Group One Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1200m), the Group One Centenary Sprint Cup (1200m) and the Group One Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup (1400m), along with a historic first win by an overseas-trained horse in the A$20m The Everest (1200m) in Sydney in October.

Those statistics, and the breathtaking dominance of many of those performances, will themselves be enough for Shamexpress to live long in the memory. But his career is not simply limited to one horse. He is the sire of 154 winners from 236 runners, with 16 individual stakes winners. His other notable performers include multiple Group One winner Coventina Bay (NZ), dual Melbourne Group Two winner Grinzinger Belle (NZ), Group Two Foxbridge Plate (1200m) winner Sterling Express (NZ) and multiple Group Three-winning stayer Blue Sky At Night (NZ).

Shamexpress has sired 82 winners from 143 runners in New Zealand, 60 from 83 in Australia and eight from only 14 in Hong Kong.

Ka Ying Rising’s emergence has unsurprisingly led to increased demand for progeny of Shamexpress at Karaka, with an average price of $112,000 at Karaka 2025 last January. He also averaged $191,666 at the Ready to Run Sale in November.

Karaka 2026 gives buyers another select offering of Shamexpress yearlings, with four in Book 1 and three in Book 2.

Lot 82 is a full-brother to Maracana (NZ) (Shamexress), who has won five races headed by the Group Three Drinkwise Mile (1600m). She also placed in the Group Two Moonee Valley Fillies’ Classic (1600m). the yearling immediately before him in the catalogue, Lot 81, is a filly out of a half-sister to Maracana.

SUPER SETH 

Super Seth

As the first Group One Caulfield Guineas (1600m) winner to retire to stud in New Zealand in three decades, huge anticipation surrounded the arrival of Super Seth at Waikato Stud in 2020. The son of champion New Zealand-bred racehorse and influential stallion Dundeel (NZ) has lived up to and surpassed all of those high expectations.

Super Seth was New Zealand’s leading first-season sire in 2023-24 and followed that up with the second-season title in 2024-25. He has sired 65 winners from 118 runners, with eight individual stakes winners.

But what has really set him apart is his immediate Group One impact. His first two crops have already produced four Group One winners, and they all happened between March and June of this year – Feroce (NZ) in the Australian Guineas (1600m), Linebacker (NZ) in the Randwick Guineas (1600m), La Dorada (NZ) in the Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) and Maison Louis (NZ) in the Queensland Derby (2400m). For good measure, La Dorada also triumphed in the $1m TAB Karaka Millions 2YO (1200m) and the Group Two Matamata Breeders’ Stakes (1200m).

Super Seth’s service fee was set at $35,000 from 2020 to 2023, then rose to $45,000 after a strong run of results with his first crop of two-year-olds. His Group One gold rush earlier this year has earned a further increase to $75,000.

Super Seth yearlings have sold for up to $700,000 at Karaka, and at the recent NZB Ready to Run Sale, he had five two-year-olds sell for an average of $186,000.

An impeccably bred crop of Super Seth yearlings will go through the ring during Karaka 2026 – 40 in Book 1 and seven in Book 2.

Lot 104 is a son of the Group One-winning Savabeel mare Savy Yong Blonk (NZ).

Lot 138 is set to be a major drawcard, being a half-brother to the three-time Group One winner Provence (NZ) (Savabeel) as well as last season’s $1.5m TAB Karaka Millions 3YO (1600m) and inaugural $3.5m NZB Kiwi (1500m) winner Damask Rose (NZ) (Savabeel).

Lot 298 is a half-brother to Tuxedo (NZ) (Tivaci), who was runner-up in last season’s Karaka Millions 3YO and is among the leading contenders for the $1m Elsdon Park Aotearoa Classic (1600m) at the 2026 edition of that same Karaka Millions meeting on the eve of the sale.

Lot 382 is a half-brother to five black-type performers including Group One New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) winner Kahma Lass (NZ) (Darci Brahma). Another half-sibling, the three-year-old filly Drops Of God (NZ) (Hello Youmzain), recently won by five and a half lengths on debut at Te Aroha.

Lot 522 is out of Group Three winner Lilikoi (NZ) (Charm Spirit). This colt’s promising half-sister Passiflora (NZ) (Farnan) has had three starts for two wins and a placing.
 

TARZINO 

Tarzino

The incredible classic successes of the progeny of Tavistock (NZ) are a hard act for anyone to follow, but his son Tarzino (NZ) is putting together a stellar record of his own.

Himself the winner of the Group One Victoria Derby (2500m) and Rosehill Guineas (2000m), the Westbury Stud stallion is the sire of six stakes winners including Gypsy Goddess (NZ) in the Queensland Oaks (2200m), Jungle Magnate (NZ) in the South Australian Derby (2500m) and Willydoit (NZ) in last season’s New Zealand Derby (2400m).

But Tarzino is not merely a stamina sire. His exciting daughter Tomodachi (NZ) has won six races including the Group Three Rotorua Stakes (1400m), and in the current season she has finished third in the Group One Proisir Plate (1400m) and fourth in the Group One Telegraph (1200m).

Tarzino’s yearlings averaged $96,000 in Book 1 of Karaka 2025, and his progeny have sold for up to $300,000.

Karaka 2026 features three Tarzino yearlings in Book 1, 9 in Book 2 and six in the Summer Sale.

Lot 2 is a colt from the Westbury Stud draft and is the first foal out of the four-race-winning Snitzel mare Narrated.

Lot 638 is a half-brother to the Group Three BJ McLachlan Stakes (1200m) placegetter Baby Wong (Press Statement).

Lot 718 is a full-brother to the promising Honor Mission (NZ) (Tarzino), who has recorded a win and a placing from a five-start career to date. Their dam Commiserate (Congrats) placed in the Listed Oaklands Plate (1600m).

Karaka 2026 will take place at the Karaka Sales Centre from January 25 to 29, with Book 1 on January 25 and 26, Book 2 on January 27 and the new Karaka Summer Sale on January 29.

View the full article