Photo: Trish Dunell
Kiwi vendors Wentwood Grange are returning to the Gold Coast Yearling Sale with the cream of their 2025 crop.
The Hawkins family, whose previous graduates include Group One winners Quintessa, Manzoice, She’s Licketysplit, I Am A Star, Kolding and Sacred Elixr among others, will present three lots under their Wentwood Grange banner, two fillies and a colt.
It’s officially the second draft to be sold by Wentwood Grange at the feature Magic Million’s sale, following their Gold Coast debut in 2019.
“That year we took a draft of two horses,” said Wentwood Grange’s Sean Hawkins. “One was Easifar who was a Listed winner and the other was Ace Sovereign who won three races in Singapore.
“We also prepared Group One winner Manzoice for the sale but that was during the Covid-19 outbreak, and we couldn’t get over there, so he was sold under Bhima.”
Based in Cambridge, in the heart of New Zealand’s fertile Waikato region, Wentwood Grange is home to a broodmare band of over 120.
The Hawkins family support a range of stallions across Australasia, and they’ve been intentionally breeding for the Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
“Our hope is always to get a yearling to suit the Australian market,” Hawkins said. “We assess our foals from as early as two weeks-old and we get an inkling that they might be a forward enough type to target this sale with pretty early on.”
The first of Wentwood’s three lots to go through the ring this year will be Lot 23 a filly by Coolmore’s multiple five-time Group One-winning, World Champion Three-Year-Old, European Champion Two-Year-Old and Cartier Horse of the Year, St Mark's Basilica out of the So You Think mare Thinkyoucandance.
“She’s just a ripping type that will suit the Australian market,” Hawkins said.
“St Mark's Basilica is a fabulous mover with a big strong shoulder and we’re very excited to be one of the first to showcase a yearling by him in Australasia, as they sold very well in the northern hemisphere.”
Photo: Trish Dunell
The second is Lot 142, a colt by Cambridge Stud’s first season sire, Sword of State out of Alloro.
“We went to Sword of State with the hope that we might get a yearling for this sale, he was a Champion Two-Year-Old, and a great sprinter and he will suit the Australian market too,” Hawkins said.
“Alloro is from the family of two-year-old Group One winner Sacred Elixir who we also sold. We were keen to inject some more speed into the mare and this colt has a huge powerful hind quarter and we’re excited to sell one of the first Sword of State yearlings too.
Photo: Trish Dunell
Their final lot of the sale (Lot 803) is not a horse they bred, but a pinhook in partnership with friends Brooke Hawthorne and Ryan Stacey.
“She’s a filly by Pierata out of Princess Siri,” Hawkins said. “Pierata’s doing a nice job, he’s had five stakes performers from his first crop of two-year-olds and this filly is another that we think is well placed at this sale.
“She’s a very powerful filly with a great shoulder and being out of an Exceed and Excel mare she should be a nice early type too.”
The Wentwood Grange trio will depart Auckland on December 27, and they’ll be available for inspection from January 1.
Following the Gold Coast Sale Wentwood Grange will be selling at Book 1 and Book 2 of the Karaka Sale and the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale in Sydney, their drafts of 2025 can be viewed here.
