NZ Racing Desk 29 June 2026
A select offering of 17 mares in the National Online Breeding Stock Sale on Gavelhouse Plus continues an exciting period of evolution and growth for Milan Park.
Tony Rider’s operation is having a landmark year, from the A$1.8 million sale of triple Group One-winning homebred mare Provence to the recent purchase of the neighbouring internationally renowned nursery The Oaks Stud.
There have also been numerous additions to the Milan Park broodmare band in recent times, and the need to make room for that new blood has created some exciting opportunities for buyers on Gavelhouse Plus.
“Tony is always developing the Milan Park broodmare band,” stud manager Grant Bennett said. “Since the sale of Provence, he’s already gone out and reinvested in new mares from Australia and new bloodlines to replace her.
“With our purchase of The Oaks Stud, we’re also coming into a period of significant restructuring over the next 12 to 18 months.
“So you could call this a reduction sale, trying to stay on top of our broodmare numbers. But that doesn’t mean we’re only selling mares from the very bottom end.
“We’ve put some good mares on the market on gavelhouse.com in the past, such as the dam of the Group One winner Pulchritudinous and the dam of the Wellington Cup winner Manzor Blue. And this year’s draft is as strong as any we’ve offered before.
“There are some quality mares from really good families. There are mares that are in foal to top stallions, and we’re offering them either with no reserves or with reserves that are well below the stallions’ service fees. So there’s plenty of exciting opportunities for buyers among this draft.” Among the notable inclusions are two mares in foal to the late, great Savabeel – Vitani and Real Divine. Another two mares, Cashmere and Miss Martini, are in foal to the former Waikato Stud and now Coolmore-based stallion Super Seth.
“As we know, Savabeel sadly passed away recently,” Bennett said. “And there are only a limited number of mares in foal to him this season, so the two mares that we’re selling are quite a rare opportunity to be involved with one last crop of Savabeel foals. With Super Seth no longer standing in New Zealand, we’re offering a couple of mares in foal to him as well.” There are also mares in foal to Rider’s stallion The Chosen One, along with exciting names from both sides of the Tasman such as Capitalist, Doubtland, Little Brose, Ocean Park and Sword Of State.
“Tony holds a number of stallion shares, and he’s very strategic in deciding his matings,” Bennett said.
“He’s very passionate about breeding foals to be good racehorses, and that’s what he chooses his matings based on. “One that you could single out is Fillygizalook. She’s a winning half-sister to the Oaks winner Pulchritudinous and is in foal to Capitalist, who’s a Golden Slipper winner. So that’s an attractive prospect.
“Sundaze is a half-sister to the Group One winner and Golden Slipper runner-up Oohood, and closely related to King’s Legacy, and this is also a family that we’ve had success with this season with Magill running second in the Karaka Millions 2YO. Sundaze is in foal to the Blue Diamond winner Little Brose.
“There are plenty of other highlights. Alpine Julz is the dam of a Hawke’s Bay Guineas winner. Bree has just retired off the track and is a half-sister to three black-type performers.
“Dragon Robe is a half-sister to four stakes winners including the Group One winner Hasahalo. Nerissa is a full-sister to Oceanex and has four other stakes-performed siblings. So there are some really good opportunities here – genuine opportunities to buy into some strong families.”
The 92-Lot catalogue for the 2026 National Online Breeding Stock Sale is now available to view online on Gavelhouse Plus.
Bidding opens at 10am (NZT) on Friday 3 July and closes from 6pm (NZT) on Wednesday 8 July.
