Ellis comesout on topinaspiritedwar

Skywas the limitwith this filly

David Ellis saved the best for last.

The Te Akau Racing boss bought 14 yearlings at Karaka yesterday, but made a big late splash when he came out on top at a first-day high of $740,000 in a spirited bidding war on the Stravinsky-jesmond’s Gift filly, offered by Cambridge Stud.

‘‘She was the filly of the sale for us,‘‘ Ellis said. ‘‘She’s a beautiful filly, a lot of class.

‘‘She’s got an international pedigree, and to get a filly of her quality, you’ve got to pat that money. I wouldn’t have stopped for a fair way on her. I had quite a bit more left.

‘‘She’s a filly I’d like to think could run in the Matamata Breeders’ Stakes next year. ‘‘She’s by a sire that consistently leaves precocious fillies. She’s a filly that we’ll definitely aim for the Filly of the Year series at three. It’s a series which adds value to their pedigrees and we’ve won that series four times in the last six years.’’

Ellis bought six fillies yesterday, but said he had his eye on several top colts today. ‘‘I’ve bought what I wanted on the first day,’’ he said.

‘‘Prices will improve tomorrow. Breeders, in some cases, have set unrealistic reserves and I think we’ll see that come down on the second day.’’

Earlier, Sir Patrick Hogan was happy to sell his star High Chaparral-diamond Like filly at Karaka yesterday, but he would have been just as happy to take her home.

Initially, the filly was passed in at $600,000 to gasps of disbelief from a packed auditorium but, after a cordial discussion with leading Sydney trainer Gai Waterhouse, the filly was sold for $650,000.

‘‘When she got passed in and the crowd went ‘whoa’, I wasn’t disappointed at all. In fact, I had a wide smile because she was coming back home,’’ Sir Patrick said.

‘‘It was a firm $650,000 reserve, and nothing under. I know what she is. She’s a beautiful filly and it’s hard to get into a family like this.

‘‘It’s the Tristalove line of the Diamond Lover line of the Eight Carat family. The only way to get into a family like that is through Cambridge Stud and that’s why I was so firm on the reserve.

‘‘I’m bringing some top class fillies along to sell this year, but I ain’t giving them away.’’

Sydney bloodstock agent James Harron inspected the her again for Waterhouse after the filly was passed in.

‘‘We thought she was the filly of the sale, both physically, and with the pedigree to match. When you convert it back to Aussie dollars it’s less than half a million,’’ he said.

Harron said the $2 million ZabeelDiamond Like colt, since named Zephyron, which topped a previous Karaka sale, is shaping like a Group performer in Australia with the potential to add further value to the pedigree.

Sir Patrick said he had rated the Jesmond’s Gift filly on a par with the Diamond Like filly.

‘‘he Jesmond’s Gift filly is classy, and Coolmore were under-bidders. They hung around to be on her, so that just shows.’’

Cambridge Stud earlier sold a Zabeel-dawninsky colt for $420,000 to Sydney trainer John Hawkes, and a Zabeel-better Alternative filly for $400,000 to Bahen Bloodstock/malua Racing.

The other $400,000 lot was a High Chaparral-barrachdail Lass colt, a three-quarter brother to dual Group 1 winner Monaco Consul, offered by Cambridge’s Windsor Park Stud and knocked down to Perth bloodstock agent John Chalmers.

Windsor Park’s Rodney Schick said: ‘‘He was a lovely colt, very much like his three-quarter brother. That was certainly a good price for him.’’