Queensland raider Beau Dazzler (NZ) (Ardrossan) is enjoying the lush green paddocks of Waikato Stud for the next month before returning to Australia where he will be aimed at a Group One target over the winter carnival.
Purchased by trainers Tony and Maddysen Sears, in partnership with bloodstock agents Paul Moroney and Catheryne Bruggeman, for $85,000 out of Mapperley Stud’s Karaka yearling sale draft last year, Beau Dazzler was the sole Australian representative in last Saturday’s $1 million TAB Karaka Millions 2YO (1200m).
The son of Ardrossan had previously been twice runner-up and won the Listed Phelan Ready (1000m) at Eagle Farm prior to his New Zealand debut.
He ran on to finish seventh in the Karaka Millions 2YO behind exciting filly Velocious (Written Tycoon), and his trainers were pleased with his performance, believing he will be suited over further ground.
“We are stoked with how the horse ran. He took a lot of ground off them to what seems to be quite a leaders bias (on Saturday), there were not a lot of horses making up a lot of ground,” Maddysen Sears told Racing.com. “To see him hit the line like he did, I think it cements what we think of the horse. 1200m is really not his go, he is a 1400m to a miler.
“We couldn’t be happier with the horse, he has got home safe, so that is the main thing.”
Beau Dazzler will fly back to Australia and rejoin the Sears’ Charlton barn next month, where he will be set for the Gr.1 JJ Atkins Stakes (1600m) at Eagle farm on June 15.
“He is having a month off at Waikato Stud and then he is coming back to Australia, and we will get him ready for the JJ,” Sears said.
“We believe that (mile) is more his go, but when the opportunity was here to have a crack at the Karaka Million, we thought ‘why not?’”
Sears has remained in New Zealand to attend New Zealand Bloodstock’s National yearling sale at Karaka where she hopes she can secure another yearling of Beau Dazzler’s ilk.
“We are looking for a more two-year-old type that has the scope to then go on further,” she said. “I believe they are putting in a lot more dash to the New Zealand horses and I think there is a lot of opportunity to be had buying horses here.”
