Swettenham Stud sire Equiano finished among the first-season leaders on Day 2 of the NZB Select yearling sale on Thursday.

The Equiano colt from Victoria Belle (Zabeel) made $160,000 to the bid of Magus Equine bloodstock agent Willie Leung at Karaka.  “Equiano was a champion sprinter in Europe and I loved him as a racehorse,” Leung said.  “His colt is a beautiful walker with a good temperament and is a very relaxed individual.

“He combines the best blood from Europe with Australia & New Zealand and I was very keen to secure him for one of my VIP clients in Hong Kong.  I like to buy yearlings by first-season sires because you have a better chance spending a reasonable amount of money for the best progeny from their first crop.”

The first Equiano yearlings were also popular at the Magic Millions earlier this month.  Two of his colts made $120,000 on the Gold Coast and they will go into training with Chris Waller and Lloyd Kennewell.

His Karaka colt was bred by Sir Patrick Hogan and is the first foal of a Zabeel mare that descends from one of Cambridge Stud’s most successful families.  Second-dam Miss Danewood (Danehill) is a three-quarter sister to Randwick G3 winner Rockwood.

Third-dam Foxwood (Centaine) was a Group 1 winner of the NZ Two Thousand Guineas and fourth-dam Delia’s Choice (Sir Tristram) is a sister to Sovereign Red and Gurner’s Lane.

Equiano (Fr) was a dual winner of the G1 King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot and he has another 25 yearlings catalogued for the Inglis Melbourne Premier Sale starting on March 2.

EQUIANO – VICTORIA BELLE
Karaka colt sells to Magus Equine