Owned and operated by Adrian Stanley and his partner Hannah Kettlety, the Cambridge-based Woburn Farm will offer two youngsters at the Sydney auction. One of the pair is a half-sister to Vigor Winner (Declaration Of War {USA}), who remained unbeaten when winning for the second time at New Plymouth on Saturday.

Trained by Lauren Brennan, Vigor Winner was a NZ$50,000 Ready To Run Sale purchase for Hong Kong owner Johnny Tsang and while the 3-year-old was bought out of Regal Farm’s draft, Woburn know him well.

The G2 Wellington Guineas contender spent time in their system and with Saturday’s NZ$80,000 event a much watered down version of The Everest, Stanley was happy to put up NZ$4500 to secure Vigor Winner’s slot in the race.

“There were ten of us and we divided it into ten per cent shares and it was a lot of fun,” he said. “The majority were on course at Taranaki.”

Woburn will offer his half-sibling by Iffraaj (GB) as Lot 679 during the Classic Sale.

“It was a great result for us and she’s a lovely, strong filly,” Stanley said. “She’s a precocious type we’re selling on behalf of Bob Emery, who bred her.”

The Iffraaj filly is a daughter of Savont (Exceed And Excel), who was successful twice, and is herself out of the Zabeel (NZ) mare Sarvon. She is a half-sister to the G1 Champagne S. winner Onemorenomore (Red Ranson {USA}) and from the family of the G1 Chipping Norton S. winner Casino Prince (Flying Spur).

“There’s a lot of Exceed And Excel in her and she’s the right type to be selling in Australia so we should get a result,” Stanley said.

Woburn sold at the Sydney auction for the first time 12 months ago and enjoyed excellent results.

Precious pinhook

“One of them was a NZ$90,000 pinhook by Per Incanto and we got $330,000 for him,” Stanley said. “He was a big, strong sort.”

The Iffraaj youngster has been accompanied to the sale by Lot 864, a son of Swynesse out of Drusilla (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}) with the Group 3 winners Excites Zelady (Excites) and Zelady’s Night Out (Myboycharlire {Ire}) close up in the pedigree.

“He’s a strong colt with a great walk and we’re pretty sure he’s going to attract a few people,” Stanley said.

Woburn enjoyed lucrative results at New Zealand Bloodstock’s National Yearling Sale with a top price of NZ$320,000 paid by Paul Moroney and Ballymore Stables for a Tavistock (NZ) colt out of Sarvon, the grand-dam of the Iffraaj filly on offer at Sydney.

“We had a good, strong sale. It was a tough market, but we had a lovely draft and some nice pinhooks as well,” Stanley said.

“We had a clearance rate of 83 percent and averaged $180,000 and got some good returns for our owners.

“They were very happy. We cleared 100 per cent of all of our pinhooks and made some good margins.

“We sold a Dundeel that we paid $90,000 for at the Gold Coast and turned that into NZ$180,000.

“In Book 2, we sold a colt by Benfica for NZ$95,000 to Gary Vile and we paid $20,000 for him at Magic Millions.”

Making their mark

Woburn Farm was established on the outskirts of Cambridge in 2012.

“We initially bought 30 acres, a lifestyle block, and then we purchased a neighbouring block of 60 acres which was a dairy run off,” Stanley said.

“We started from scratch and ripped everything down and joined the two properties together.”

Stanley is from a prominent Taranaki racing family with his father Noel having raced a number of top performers over the years, including the G1 New Zealand Derby winner Wahid (NZ) (Almutawakel {GB}) and the G1 Manawatu and Ellerslie Sires’ Produce S. winner Grout (NZ) (Gold Brose).

He also co-owned the G3 Manawatu Classic winner and multiple Group 1 placegetter Woburn (NZ) (Groom Dancer {USA}), hence the name of his son’s farm.

“He was my favourite horse when I was growing up,” he said.