The feeling of seeing sale-ring purchases go on to stardom on the racetrack is nothing new for Johnny McKeever, but the respected European bloodstock agent took special satisfaction from Feroce’s (NZ) (Super Seth) triumph in the Gr.1 Howden Australian Guineas (1600m) at Flemington on Saturday.
Feroce was bred by Sir Peter Vela’s Pencarrow Thoroughbreds Ltd and comes from the first crop of Waikato Stud stallion Super Seth. Offered by Eion Kemp’s Kilgravin Lodge at the 2023 Ready to Run Sale at Karaka, Feroce was bought for $160,000 by McKeever Bloodstock Ltd in partnership with rookie trainer Dominic Sutton.
McKeever was at Flemington on Saturday as Feroce edged out fellow New Zealand-bred Savaglee (NZ) (Savabeel) in the Australian Guineas, improving his record to three wins, three placings and more than A$1.3 million in stakes from a nine-start career.
“To be honest, it was the usual story,” McKeever said. “I came to New Zealand to see some Ready to Run Horses before heading back to Europe for the Goffs Foal Sale. I put together a list, and Dom bid on several horses. By some miracle, one of the ones on the list was Feroce and he got him. That’s racing for you, and that’s picking out horses at sales for you.
“This is just incredibly special. Dom’s father is one of my best childhood friends. Dom is just starting his training career, and in the first year of his career, he’s trained a Group One winner with a New Zealand-bred horse.
“Another special aspect of this story is that Feroce was bred by Sir Peter Vela. I’m very fond of Sir Peter. He’s been up to Newmarket a lot and we’ve got to know each other well.
“So this is very special for me for a number of reasons. It’s also very special for Waikato Stud, with their young stallion Super Seth coming through with a lovely Group One winner like that.
“It just gives me so much pleasure on so many levels. It’s just fantastic.”
McKeever has also formed a successful partnership with Kemp in recent years, purchasing yearlings throughout Australasia with the goal of re-offering them as two-year-old at the Ready to Run Sale.
“Eion has been very kind in letting me select some yearlings, mainly in Australia and some in New Zealand, to be made into Ready to Run horses,” McKeever said. “I’ve learned a lot from Eion about the Ready to Run Sale and the concept. I’m more of a traditional yearling buyer, so it’s new to me, but he’s been great to work with.”
McKeever has decades of experience buying bloodstock around the world, and he speaks highly about the New Zealand-bred thoroughbred. “I’m extremely happy with the New Zealand product,” he said. “I think it’s a different level to anything we have anywhere else in the world.”