Adopted Kiwi Ed Stapleton Excited For ‘Busiest Southern Hemisphere Period’ At Karaka

[Wandering Eyes]

Few bloodstock agents manage to rack up the miles that Ed Stapleton puts in on a yearly basis. That's ironic, because if it wasn't for being stopped in his tracks during the Covid-19 pandemic back in 2020, Stapleton may never have made a go of it in both hemispheres. 

Now, Stapleton spends six months of the year in the southern hemisphere, where he is already up and running for 2026 after striking at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.

Attention turns to the National Yearling Sale at Karaka, which will be celebrating its 100th year on Sunday, and the Irish native will be bidding to keep the momentum going. 

He said, “We shopped at Book 2 of the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale. We targeted horses to come back here to New Zealand for the ready-to-run sale and managed to land two. We work closely with a man called Barry Donoghue, who is from Mullingar in Ireland, and came out here originally as a National Hunt jockey. He has now segued into the breeze-up game and has been quite successful from only three drafts. He teamed up with Adam Potts, Sam Haggas and some others on a Hello Youmzain colt, who they sold for NZ$700,000 last year, so that was a massive result for him.”

Stapleton added, “Looking ahead to next week, sourcing horses for the ready-to-run syndicate will be high on my agenda while I also buy horses for trainers from New Zealand, Australia and even Hong Kong. So we should have a busy few days ahead of us. The nature of my business primarily revolves around the European market but this would be the busiest 10 days of my year in this part of the world, for sure.”

There was a time when sourcing winners seemed nothing more than a pipedream for Stapleton. However, when he moved to the UK with his New Zealander wife Katie in 2014, the seeds were set. 

“I came out to New Zealand first for the Rugby World Cup in 2011 and a six-week trip turned into three years,” Stapleton explained. “I met my now-wife Katie and we actually moved to Cambridge in the UK for a few years whilst she was doing her PHD. I come from a farming background and, while I rode out for a couple of trainers when I was younger, essentially, I had nothing to do with racing until I moved to Cambridge. We rented a property very close to the National Stud in England and I just thought it was the perfect opportunity to go and learn about what I had always loved. I had come from a business development background but I left that behind and went down and asked the National Stud for a job.”

He added, “That was in 2014 and I spent a little over a season there. I met Richard Venn there and I became fascinated by the job that he did because he mixed business, which was my background, and horses, which is my passion. I asked Richard to take me under his wing and he did. I dragged him, as a technophobe, into the 21st century by building him a website and a couple of other things and he taught me about conformation and pedigrees. I still do a lot with Richard and we've actually brought a stallion or two down to New Zealand together.”

He added, “In a nutshell, we moved back to New Zealand during Covid and fell in love with the place. So I spend six months of the year down here in the southern hemisphere now. The other six months are spent in the northern hemisphere and we do business in both parts of the world. I am part of the bloodstock agents' federation down here in New Zealand and there is actually quite a good crew of Irish who are operating quite successfully here.”

There are dozens of Irish men and women who, like Stapleton, have been afforded the opportunity to flourish in New Zealand. There are distinct differences to how Stapleton runs his bloodstock business in both hemispheres, while the County Carlow native reveals he has extensive skin in the game in New Zealand. 

He explained, “I run a high-volume business where I concentrate on lower- to medium-value horses in Europe. Therefore, we concentrate a lot on the horses-in-training market up there for a host of international clients. Down here, we do a lower volume of business but the value of the horses would be worth a lot more. You'd definitely have a lot more skin in the game down here, too. I joke that, in the northern hemisphere, I take the drug dealer approach and never touch the product! You just buy and sell it. Whereas down here, we have quite a few pinhooks and we will actually be selling quite a few at Karaka as well. It's very straightforward to do business down here. I suppose there are a lot of similarities between how horses are reared in New Zealand compared to Ireland as the climate and grass is quite similar. One of the big differences is the momentum behind syndication down here as well. Syndicates are quite transparent and that attracts members from the general public. They can see clearly what the offering is and get involved.”

He added, “There is a good contingent of people who are doing well out here as well. There is Eathan Leonard, who is the Yearling manager at Haunui Farm, trainer Conor Fahey [son of trainer Pat Fahey], Derek Nolan, who operates under the banner of  Lillywhite Lodge, while Colm Murray is a Group 1-winning trainer here in partnership with Shaun Ritchie. You've also got the likes of Tommy Coughlan, who is Farm Manager at the Oaks Stud, while his sister Clodagh Coughlan looks after the marketing at New Zealand Bloodstock. There's also Gordon Cunningham of Curraghmore Stud, who has been here for more than 20 years and can be expected to have a huge sale next week and there is also Nick King, who stands stallions at Brighthill. So there's a huge cohort of Irish people doing well in New Zealand. It's a home away from home, really.”

With a view towards business Down Under and in New Zealand, these few weeks are crucial for Stapleton. Coolmore, William Haggas and a number of other familiar faces have made the trip for the 100th anniversary of the sale and Stapleton revealed there is huge anticipation bubbling ahead of the action which kicks off on Sunday. 

He concluded, “There's a massive feeling in the air for this sale. Karaka is a purpose-built facility on the outskirts of Auckland primarily built to show and sell horses and provide the best hospitality of any sales company on the planet. Anybody who comes here will attest to that. There's always a massive atmosphere here and it will probably attract more of the general public given it is the 100 year anniversary. But for anyone who has never been to Karaka, it could be compared to Saratoga or even Deauville in terms of atmosphere. It all kicks off on Saturday night with the Karaka Millions and then we get into the sale itself on Sunday. So there's huge excitement around the place.”

The post Adopted Kiwi Ed Stapleton Excited For ‘Busiest Southern Hemisphere Period’ At Karaka appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

View the full article