Kiwi first-season sires such as Super Seth, Hello Youmzain and Sword Of State have captivated the Karaka buyers’ bench in the last few years, and Windsor Park Stud’s exciting newcomer Profondo has the profile to continue that trend at Karaka 2026.
Profondo will be strongly represented throughout the 100th National Yearling Sale, with 37 of his first-crop yearlings catalogued for Book 1, 25 for Book 2 and five for the inaugural Karaka Summer Sale.
A son of Japanese super-sire Deep Impact and the Group Three Widden Stakes (1100m) winner Honesty Prevails (Redoute’s Choice), Profondo has always been earmarked for big things. He was purchased for A$1.9m as a yearling.
Profondo lived up to that pedigree and price tag on the racetrack, winning the stallion-making Group One Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) at Randwick in only his third career start. Other names on the roll of honour for that race include gun sires Savabeel in 2004 and Dundeel in a quinella with Proisir in 2012.
Profondo also finished second in the Group Three Gloaming Stakes (1800m), third in the Group One Winx Stakes (1400m) and fourth in the Group One Rosehill Guineas (2000m) and Group Two Tramway Stakes (1400m).
Retired to Windsor Park Stud in 2023 at an introductory service fee of $17,500, Profondo served a full book of 177 mares in his first season.
A selection of the foals from that first crop went through the Karaka sale ring during the NZB National Weanling Sale in June, where Profondo finished as the leading sire by average with $62,500 across four weanlings sold.
Now the stage is set for an exciting yearling sale debut. Windsor Park will themselves offer 21 of Profondo’s first-crop progeny at Karaka, while Profondo yearlings also feature in the drafts of Mapperley Stud, Landsdowne Park, Inglewood Stud, Carlaw Park, Wentwood Grange, Curraghmore, Trelawney Stud, Pencarrow Stud, Kilgravin Lodge, Leanach Lodge, Beaufort Downs, Rich Hill Stud, Cambridge Stud, Ardsley Stud, Woburn Farm and HGT Bloodstock Ltd.
“He’s a stallion who’s always had a huge amount of support,” said Windsor Park’s nominations manager Nick Hewson. “That comes from his profile and also the fact that he’s an absolutely magnificent physical specimen.
“He’s by Deep Impact out of a Redoute’s Choice mare that won at Group level as a two-year-old, and he sold for big money as a yearling and won the Spring Champion Stakes in only his third start.
“Breeders have really been drawn to all of those attributes and he’s served big books all the way through. His first weanlings were well sought after earlier in the year, and now he’s got some beautiful yearlings heading into the sales series,”
“We’re selling some outstanding Profondo yearlings in our Karaka draft. From working with them and seeing them every day, I’ve seen that they’ve got wonderful attitudes and he’s really stamped a lot of his physical qualities on them as well. I think they’ll be quite precocious.”
Notable progeny of Profondo in the Karaka 2026 catalogues include:
- Lot 139, a filly whose half-sister Stolen Dance (NZ) (Alamosa) won 10 races including the Group One Thorndon Mile (1600m), Group Two Cal Isuzu Stakes (1600m) and Group Three Great Northern Challenge Stakes (1600m).
- Lot 156, a colt out of stakes-winning American mare StaySmart (Stay Thirsty) from a prolific black-type family.
- Lot 316, a half-sister to last month’s Group One New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m) third placegetter Shoma (NZ) (Contributer).
- Lot 440, a filly out of a full-sister to the dam of multiple Group One winners and sires St Mark’s Basilica and Magna Grecia.
- Lot 457, a filly out of a half-sister to the dam of Group One winner Sepals (Calyx).
Australian-based first-season sires
While Profondo is the only New Zealand-based first-season sire to feature in Karaka 2026, he is joined in the catalogues by a well-credentialled group of rookie stallions from the other side of the Tasman.
- There are 10 yearlings in the Book 1 catalogue by Anamoe, who was Australian Horse of the Year in 2022-23 and won 14 of his 25 starts including the Group One Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m), Caulfield Guineas (1600m), Rosehill Guineas (2000m), Winx Stakes (1400m), George Main Stakes (1600m), Might And Power Stakes (2000m), Cox Plate (2040m), Chipping Norton Stakes (1600m) and George Ryder Stakes (1500m). He earned more than A$11m.
- Artorius is the sire of one yearling in the Book 1 catalogue. He won three races including the Group One Blue Diamond (1200m) and Canterbury Stakes (1300m), beating champion mare Imperatriz (I Am Invincible) in the latter. He also placed in the Group One Platinum Jubilee Stakes (1200m), July Cup (1200m), Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) and Caulfield Guineas (1600m).
- Snitzel stallion Best Of Bordeaux has one first-crop yearling catalogued for Book 1 and one for Book 2. He won three of his eight starts including the Group Two Silver Slipper (1100m) and Roman Consul Stakes (1200m), and he ran second in the Group One Golden Slipper (1200m) and third in the Group One Manikato Stakes (1200m).
- Hitotsu has one yearling catalogued for Book 2. He won four races in a brief but remarkable career, including an extraordinary Group One treble in the Victoria Derby (2500m), Australian Guineas (1600m) and Australian Derby (2400m).
- There are four Book 1 yearlings by In The Congo, a young stallion with impressive racetrack and pedigree credentials. He won the Group One Golden Rose (1400m) and placed in the Group One Galaxy (1100m), but perhaps more significantly, he is a half-brother to the freakish Autumn Glow (The Autumn Sun) – the winner of all of her eight starts to date including this season’s Group One Epsom Handicap (1600m) and the A$10m Golden Eagle (1500m). While there is a half-sister to Group One winner War Machine (NZ) (Harry Angel).
- Jacquinot is represented by three yearlings in Book 1. He won five races including the Group One Golden Rose (1400m) and CF Orr Stakes (1400m), and he placed in the Group One Blue Diamond (1200m).
- Book 2 features one yearling by the Group Two Todman Stakes (1200m), Group Three Breeders’ Plate (1000m), Group Three Red Anchor Stakes (1200m) and A$1m Golden Gift (1100m) winner Sejardan.
- Dual-hemisphere Group One winner State Of Rest has six first-crop yearlings catalogued for Book 1. His 13-start, five-win career included triumphs in the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes (2000m) at Royal Ascot, the Prix Ganay (2100m) at Longchamp, and a defeat of fellow freshman sire Anamoe in the Cox Plate (2040m).
Karaka 2026 will take place at the Karaka Sales Centre from January 25 to 29, with Book 1 on January 25 and 26, Book 2 on January 27 and the new Karaka Summer Sale on January 29.
