A total of 52 yearlings, juveniles and racehorses were offered in its fifth and final dispersal, which respectively amassed north of NZ$2 million.
Valachi Downs’ General Manager, Gareth Downey described the recent period as ‘very demanding’, saying the past three weeks of selling have been ‘particularly intense’ for all involved.
“There has been a lot of work go into the past few months leading up to the selling, so there is a sense of relief as it has been a heck of a workload to get through to get to this point,” Downey told TDN AusNZ.
Valachi Downs' General Manager Gareth Downey | Image courtesy of Valachi Downs
“I want to pay tribute to the team at Valachi as this has been a difficult time, and while it has been an extreme amount of work everyone has kept fronting up and has done a fantastic job to present the horses in the best way that we possibly can.
“It was great that the main goal of this process which was to find all of these horses good homes has been achieved, and that’s the main success measure for us.”
Downey said it has been a ‘genuine honour’ to work for the Hickmans, saying it was a privilege to be involved with the property, infrastructure and quality of stock at Valachi.
“Valachi is a wonderful team to be involved with and Kevin Hickman is a very rare gentleman in our industry, he is an absolute champion of a human being,” Downey said.
“Valachi is a wonderful team to be involved with and Kevin Hickman is a very rare gentleman in our industry, he is an absolute champion of a human being.” - Gareth Downey
“So, to work for him has been a genuine privilege and while the Valachi journey is ending we will all treasure the opportunity to have worked for someone like him.”
Baggy’s offspring brings more Green
Tofane’s sister, who netted NZ$460,000, continued a recent run of outstanding sales results for the family, with her dam Baggy Green (Galileo {Ire}) selling for NZ$1.75 million last Friday and the aforementioned Tofane bringing $3.1 million at May’s Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale.
“That mare (Baggy Green) is the gift that just keeps on giving, to see the filly get appreciated like that is wonderful and well deserved, and at that figure I feel she still represents good buying,” Downey said.
“It’s incredibly hard to value horses at a stage like this when they’re not usually sold, it’s unusual for horses to be sold as recently broken-in yearlings, which makes it hard to know what price to expect.”
Lot 18 - Ocean Park (NZ) x Baggy Green (filly) sold for NZ$460,000 | Image courtesy of Gavelhouse
The filly is a ‘classy, classic style of filly’ and has given all her riders a ‘wonderful feel’ so far.
“She’s just a lovely moving filly that’s all class and based on type she’s that classic style of horse whereas Tofane was a top-class sprinter,” Downey said.
"Physically, this filly looks like more of what had been expected from the Ocean Park and Baggy Green mating while it was probably a surprise Tofane became the sprinter that she was.”
"Physically, this filly (Lot 16) looks like more of what had been expected from the Ocean Park and Baggy Green mating while it was probably a surprise Tofane became the sprinter that she was.” - Gareth Downey
The unnamed chestnut's pedigree needs no introduction, however, it is worth noting that she is a half-sister to G3 Manion Cup winner No Compromise (NZ) (Pins) and the G1 Australian Derby-placed Benaud (NZ) (Reliable Man {GB}).
Baggy Green herself is a half-sister to Group winners Funstar (Adelaide {Ire}) and Youngstar (High Chaparral {Ire}).
Glory Bound realises a brilliant result
G2 Sir Tristram Fillies Classic runner-up Glory Bound (NZ) (Tavistock {NZ}) was well sought-after, realising NZ$430,000.
“We probably thought that was about the right money for Glory Bound, she has shown very high-class ability, she’s got a very nice family behind her, and, physically, she looks like the kind of horse that we always expected she would go on to become,” Downey said.
Lot 52 - Glory Bound (NZ) sold for NZ$430,000 | Image courtesy of Gavelhouse
“We’ve always thought of her as a very high-class filly, she gives all the indications of being that type of horse (Group 1 class), so if she trains on as a 4- and 5-year-old like we expect she will, she will provide a lot of enjoyment for whoever bought her.”
Glory Bound is out of the G3 Waikato Cup runner-up The Tidy Express (NZ) (Volksraad {GB}) and hails from the family of the R. Listed Karaka Million-winning, G1 Sistema S. runner-up Dynastic (NZ) (Almanzor {Fr}).
G1 Queen of the Turf S. winner Lady Le Fay (NZ) (Thorn Park) also features in the second generation of this pedigree.
War Decree (USA) filly Val Di Zoldo (NZ) broke six-figures, with the G3 Taranaki 2YO Classic runner-up selling for NZ$285,000, while a juvenile filly by Savabeel and ayearling filly by Zoustar were the only other offerings to break the six-figure barrier, bringing NZ$125,000 and NZ$115,000 respectively.
Lot 48 - Val Di Zoldo (NZ) sold for NZ$285,000 | Image courtesy of Gavelhouse
Gavelhouse a game changer
Of the five dispersals, four were conducted via Gavelhouse Plus, with Valachi clearing its weanling stock at Karaka in May.
Downey said the online platform has been a revelation and ensured the Hickmans were able to achieve a fantastic outcome.
“The industry as a whole has become very accepting of the online platforms, logistically it a very sensible way of trying to sell a lot of horses,” Downey said.
“The Gavelhouse have been wonderful to work with; it is a bigger team effort than just Valachi so we appreciate the Gavelhouse and New Zealand Bloodstock input.”
