King of Karaka counts down to one of his favourite racedays
Fresh from claiming the title of leading buyer at Karaka for the 18th time, Te Akau Racing principal David Ellis is turning his attention to one of his highlights of the racing calendar at Te Rapa this Saturday.
Both Ellis and his wife Karyn Fenton-Ellis are former chairs of the Waikato Racing Club, and Te Rapa’s Gr.1 Herbie Dyke Stakes (2000m) and Gr.1 BCD Group Sprint (1400m) raceday features a prestigious race named in honour of their contributions – the Gr.2 David & Karyn Ellis Fillies’ Classic (2000m).
The $275,000 feature for three-year-old fillies has carried the Ellis name since 2020, and the stable has recorded two victories during that period with Amarelinha (2021) and Self Obsession (2022).
Te Akau will be represented in the 2026 edition on Saturday by last-start winner Born To Be Royal, who was bought by Ellis for $260,000 from Karaka 2024. In addition to her recent victory over 2000m at Matamata, the King’s Legacy filly has placed in another five of her eight career starts, including the Gr.2 Matamata Breeders’ Stakes (1200m) and last month’s Gr.2 Sir Patrick Hogan Stakes (2000m).
“It’s a very special race meeting for Karyn and I every year, and we’d love to win the race that carries our name again,” Ellis said. “I think we’ve got a really strong chance in it this year with Born To Be Royal, and we’d especially like to win it with her because our good friend Butch Castles has a share in the filly with us.
“Cameron George also has a share in both that filly and also Towering Vision, who will be a leading contender in the Waikato Guineas (Gr.2, 2000m), so he has a couple of very good chances on what should be another fantastic raceday at Te Rapa.”
Ellis is more than satisfied with his results from the 100th edition of the National Yearling Sale at Karaka, where he extended his long reign as leading buyer. NZB’s Book 1 statistics credit him with 17 purchases from that top-tier session for a total of $4.26 million. He finished $545,000 ahead of the second-placed Chris Waller Racing/Mulcaster Bloodstock (10 purchases for a total of $3.715 million).
Although Ellis was underbidder on a couple of yearlings on his wishlist – most notably the $1.1 million sale-topping colt by former star Te Akau racehorse Sword Of State – he came away with a range of yearlings priced from $40,000 (a Circus Maximus filly in Book 2) up to $475,000 (a Home Affairs colt out of stakes-performed Te Akau mare Special Memories).
“It’s great to be leading buyer again, although I always say that the competition is not to see who buys the most, but who buys the best,” Ellis said. “That’s what we’re aiming to do when we go to these sales every year.”
Ellis has a proud record in that regard too, famously purchasing eight of the last 10 winners of the Karaka Millions 2YO (1200m) including the subsequent multiple Group One winners Melody Belle, Avantage and Probabeel.
Te Akau reached 100 Group One victories when Return To Conquer took out the Sistema Stakes (1200m) at Ellerslie last March, and 61 of those successes have come from horses bought at Karaka. Other notable Ellis yearling purchases include the likes of Darci Brahma, Burgundy, Xtravagant, Heroic Valour, Cool Aza Beel, Maroofity and King’s Chapel.
That track record is a hard act for the new batch of yearlings to follow, but Ellis sees all the right signs among his latest intake.
“It was a very successful sale at Karaka with an extremely competitive buying bench, and we were made to work hard for our purchases,” he said. “I couldn’t be happier with the yearlings we’ve bought. We missed out on two that we had on our list, but we got all the rest.
“My vet Doug Black came around and saw all the horses with me the other day, and both he and I think that we’ve done extremely well with the horses we’ve managed to bring home.
“We bought across a wide range of prices, so there’s many different levels available for people to get involved and buy shares at. Interest has been pretty strong so far – Karyn thinks they’re selling the best they have been for three or four years.
“All up, we bought 15 at Magic Millions and 21 at Karaka, so that’s a lot of horses to try to sell all the shares in. We buy them all on spec too. So it’s a big job every year, but one that we really enjoy.”
