A quality cast of four-year-olds will clash in Malaysia’s richest race this weekend, with a significant NZB influence throughout the 16-horse field.
Sunday’s Selangor Mile (1600m) is worth RM1m (NZ$395,000) and is marketed as ‘One Race, One Million, One Champion’.
Five of the 16 runners in the 2025 Selangor Mile are graduates of the Karaka sale ring, plus New Zealand-bred Shinjuku (NZ) (Tarzino).
ANTIPODEAN (NZ)
The number-one saddlecloth will be carried by the race’s highest-rated runner and likely favourite Antipodean (NZ) (Derryn).
Breeders Grangewilliam Stud offered Antipodean in Book 2 of Karaka 2022, where he failed to meet his $40,000 reserve. He returned to Karaka for the Ready to Run Sale later that year and was bought by Malaysian-based trainer Simon Dunderdale for $23,000.
Antipodean’s high-class career has so far produced 10 wins and five placings from only 16 starts. He has banked RM396,900 (NZ$157,015) in prize-money.
Antipodean won nine races last year including the 3YO Pacific Cup (1200m), the New Zealand Bloodstock 3YO Trophy (1400m), the Selangor Gold Cup (1600m) and Sports Toto Supreme Challenge Cup (1400m).
Antipodean was transferred to a different stable at the end of last year, and his 2025 campaign has so far produced a series of placings in the Chinese New Year Prosperity Trophy (1600m), Tunku Gold Cup (1200m) and 4YO Sprint Championship (1200m).
He has returned to Dunderdale for the build-up to the Selangor Mile, in which he will be ridden by Bernardo Pinheiro and will jump from gate 11.
“With the Selangor Mile coming up, the owner (Yee Kin Kong) probably thinks the horse needs a change of luck,” Dunderdale commented to the Selangor Turf Club this week. “I have been working him for the past month and I am happy with him. I’m happy with the draw too. It means the jockey can place him anywhere in the race.”
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While the NZB Bloodstock team are currently canvassing around the world for the upcoming Ready to Run Sale and Karaka 2026, NZB’s Director of Business Development Mike Kneebone is in Kuala Lumpur ahead of the inaugural running of the Selangor Million-dollar Mile.
“On Sunday, we have a big chance to add another NZB graduate to the impressive winning tally this season, so it is timely to visit this significant market.”
“To kick off the big weekend for Malaysia, the New Zealand High Commissioner to Malaysia, HE Michael Walsh and myself are hosting a dinner at the New Zealand Residency this week with the most influential racing people in the country,” he added.
“Selangor Turf Club have continued to improve and innovate, and the RM 1,000,000 Selangor Mile is another step forward, advancing horse racing here.
“Our buying bench for the upcoming Ready to Run Sale is shaping up to be incredibly strong, and no doubt with vendors full support to bolster the catalogue, we will see some incredible results again.
“The horses that continue to perform on the racetrack from this sale is unbelievable. Ten Group Ones this season alone is phenomenal, and the results in Malaysia are no different.”
“Last year I predicted that we would sell a million dollar two-year-old, this year we might sell more.”
The Selangor Mile will be run as Race 9 on Selangor’s bumper 12-race programme on Sunday. The scheduled start time of the Selangor Mile is 4.30pm local time (8.30pm NZT).
The 2025 edition of the Ready to Run Sale will take place at the Karaka Sales Centre on Thursday 13 & Friday 14 November with Breeze Ups to be held at Te Rapa Racecourse on Monday 13 & Tuesday 14 October.
Entries for the Sale are open now and close at 5pm on Friday 1 August. To nominate your rising two-year-olds for the 2025 Ready to Run Sale, visit NZB’s online portal at portal.nzb.co.nz.
Karaka 2026 will take place at the Karaka Sales Centre from 25 - 29 January, the iconic week on the international sales calendar marking the 100th National Yearling Sale in New Zealand. Karaka 2026 will take place at the Karaka Sales Centre from 25 - 29 January, the iconic week on the international sales calendar marking the 100th National Yearling Sale in New Zealand.
