Wylie Dalziel and Peter Moody will arrive at Karaka later this week for the New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale with plenty of confidence given the success they have sourced out of New Zealand in recent years.
Dalziel and Moody enjoyed considerable success buying subsequent Group 1 placed filly Harlow Gold (NZ) (Tavistock {NZ}) out of Karaka back in 2015, and ever since have been happy to put their faith in the NZ product, especially the progeny of Tavistock (NZ).
Over the past three years, they have purchased 22 yearlings out of Book 1, with 12 of them by the former Cambridge Stud stallion, who sadly passed away last month.
Peter Moody and Wylie Dalziel
Dalziel told TDN AusNZ that while he doesn't expect to secure the same volume of horses in 2020, he expects to find some real quality which will appeal to his syndication clients.
"We normally buy about seven or eight. We might not buy as many, but we will come home with at least three or four, I reckon," he said.
"We just think they produce really nice horses at affordable prices. They have got the score on the board for producing those staying type horses, your Derby and your Oaks type. That's what keeps us coming back."
"We just think they produce really nice horses at affordable prices." - Wylie Dalziel
That confidence has been enhanced by the progress their recent Karaka graduates over the past couple of years have made. Dalziel said reports on the three as yet unnamed Tavistock fillies purchased in 2019 have been very positive, while the two fillies by the stallion that have debuted from the 2018 sales, Tumanako (NZ) and Give Me Ten (NZ), have both already got wins on the board.
"With those horses, they just needed a bit of time. There is just a bit of patience needed with these New Zealand horses as opposed to trying to buy the ready-to-run type 2-year-olds," he said.
The late Tavistock (NZ)
Type rules over pedigree
Having built a strong relationship purchasing at sales in recent years, the former master trainer and the syndicator will stick to their usual strategy when inspecting ahead of this year's NZB Karaka Sale, which begins on Sunday.
"Primarily, it’s about looking at all the horses and assessing them on type. We stick to what we like and rule out any horses that we think mightn't fit the mould," Dalziel said.
"Primarily, it’s about looking at all the horses and assessing them on type." - Wylie Dalziel
"It’s all good and well to buy a well-bred horse, but if it’s got issues which are going to restrict its development later on. You need to rule those out.
"Then we look at pedigree, because prospective owners are always more pedigree driven than type. Then we make sure that the trainers are happy with them and make sure it's an affordable horse for everyone to get into.
"We'll leave the $500,000-$600,000 horses for other people to take a punt on."
Moody and Dalziel primarily look at all the horses and assess them on type
Indeed, the highest price Dalziel has paid for a yearling at Karaka in those 22 purchases in the past three years has been NZ$150,000.
"New Zealand is still very buyable. You can buy nice horses over there for less than you can get them at a market like the Magic Millions Sale, which was again a very hot sale," he said.
Dalziel and Moody purchased three yearlings on the Gold Coast, fillies by Real Impact (Jpn) and Capitalist, and a colt by Pride Of Dubai, spending a total of $270,000.
Dalziel said it was a tough market for buyers, especially syndicators, and he wasn't willing to buy on speculation.
Pride Of Dubai x Domitilla (colt) purchased by Wylie Dalziel and Peter Moody
"We just shopped mainly for orders. All of those three horses were bought for clients that wanted us to go out and buy horses for them. We didn’t put any out for syndication for this year, which we might normally do," he said.
"I thought it was really red hot, but the three we got, we were happy to get at the price we did."
Quickie ready for All-Star challenge
While it’s a crucial time of the year for acquiring the next generation of Dalziel Racing stars, the current poster boy, Mr Quickie (Shamus Award), is readying for his return in the All-Star Mile at Caufield in March.
"The horse himself is going very well. I said to Phillip Stokes, you get the horse right and we will make sure we get him in the race," he said.
Mr Quickie
While the 4-year-old is a Group 1 winner and was competitive in top level races last spring, that is no guarantee of getting him a place in the final field for the $5 million race, which is largely determined by popular vote.
"We were 15th when voting opened on Friday and we had a bit of a push over the last couple of days with a few things up our sleeve and we've got him into eighth spot, less than 100 votes behind seventh," he said.
"We want to get him into seventh spot in the next couple of days. That's where we want to keep him, to ensure he gets into the race."
The push for All-Star votes is even more crucial for Mr Quickie given the plan to target the Caulfield race first-up, meaning he won't contest any of the qualifying races and will have to rely on his previous racetrack exploits to convince the public to vote him in.
"His first-up record is very good. He was fresh in the Makybe Diva S. in the spring and if he gets out a tad earlier, he maybe could have won that at Group 1 level," Dalziel said.
"Previously, he won first-up over 1400 metres over Age Of Chivalry, who went on to place in two Group 1s. Phillip will have him a little more forward than he was in the Makybe, to make sure he produces and that he has the fitness to improve."
Last spring's campaign ultimately ended without a win, for Mr Quickie, with his third first-up at Flemington followed up with a 10th in the G1 Turnbull S. and then a very unlucky 11th in the G1 Caulfield Cup, before he missed a start in the G1 Cox Plate, eventually running second in the G2 Moonee Valley Cup on the same day.
Plenty left in the tank
Dalziel is hoping that the decision not to push on and run Mr Quickie in the Melbourne Cup will prove to his benefit this campaign.
"We wanted to go to the paddock with a run in-hand rather than take a lot out of him in the Melbourne Cup," he said.
"We wanted to go to the paddock with a run in-hand rather than take a lot out of him in the Melbourne Cup." - Wylie Dalziel
"We probably think he's more effective at 1600-2000 and that's what we will probably target this preparation, maybe up to 2400 metres, and then we can re-assess what we do for the spring.
"You’d love to go and buy 25 Mr Quickies every year. If you look at his career from the day he debuted to now, he has never run a bad race."
