Ellis catches another Shark

Te Akau Racing principal David Ellis has had plenty of success at New Zealand Bloodstock’s Ready to Run Sale and he is hoping his latest acquisition can reach similar heights.

Ellis purchased triple Group One winner Gingernuts at the sale in 2015 for $42,500 and went to $230,000 to secure current stable star Te Akau Shark a year later.

The Rip Van Winkle gelding has won five of his six career starts-todate, including the Gr.2 Coupland’s Bakeries Mile (1600m) at his last-start, and Ellis went to $152,500 to secure his three-quarter brother at Karaka yesterday.

“I thought it was really fair (price), we would have gone a bit more,” Ellis said. “When you buy a horse at this sale for $150,000 that has been broken in and educated you have got to be happy.”

Ellis said there are striking similarities between the two sons of Rip Van Winkle and he believes his latest acquisition can develop into a similar animal as his brother.

“Even though he is not a chestnut, he is absolutely identical to Te Akau Shark in every other way,” Ellis said.

“He is a very lovely colt with a lot of class and (comes from) a family that is really going places. He’s not a two-year-old, but he’s a real 2000 Guineas colt I think. We’ll just put him up on our website now and syndicate him. We’ve got no firm owners in the horse yet.”