Three outstanding Group winners from the all conquering Te Akau Racing operation will be star acts at May's Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale at the Gold Coast.
The trio, Group One winners Captured by Love and Quintessa and recent stakes winner My Lips Are Sealed, will be offered as elite breeding prospects through the Newgate Consignment for Te Akau.
"Te Akau is delighted to present three outstanding broodmare prospects at this year’s Magic Millions National Sale, with two further mares online (International Virtual Section)," Te Akau's Principal David Ellis CNZM said. "They are mares with proven performance, quality pedigrees and the physical attributes we believe are so important when selecting future broodmares."
"Barry Bowditch and his team run one of the very best sales operations you will find anywhere in the world, and it is a sale where we have had tremendous success over many years - both buying and selling."
"We’ve been fortunate to source some exceptional horses through this sale, including Princess Coup, who we purchased for $300,000 and who went on to win in excess of $4 million, and to sell for $3 million at this sale."
"Then of course star mare Imperatriz, who we also purchased for $360,000 - she won over $7 million and then set a Southern Hemisphere broodmare record when selling for $6.6 million at this sale two years ago."
"It's a sale we have great confidence in, and we believe these mares will be very well received," Ellis added.
Quintessa, a daughter of Shamus Award, is a Group winner on both sides of the Tasman and has twice been successful at racing's elite level.
She won the Group One Levin Classic at three, having earlier that season swept the Group Three Gold Trail Stakes. A brilliant Melbourne campaign was next where she won the Group Three Cockram Stakes, was a nose second in the Group Two Alister Clark Stakes and twice fourth in Group Ones.
She returned to New Zealand next and scored a brilliant win in the Group One Proisir Plate at Ellerslie. The field was a crack line-up with those behind her including top liners La Crique, Legarto and Waitak.
"Quintessa is a dual Group One winning mare with a tremendous turn of foot and always displayed a very strong will to win," Ellis noted. "She was a high class performer winning six races and over $1.1 million in stakes."
"There's a lot of quality about her - she's by Shamus Award and has a lot of her sire about her - strength, athleticism and toughness. Her Group One wins in the Levin Classic and this season's Proisir Plate, particularly her sublime performance from last to first, really showcased her ability. She's a genuine, tough mare who was a real competitor at the top level."
Gold Coast Yearling Sale purchase Captured by Love has spent her racetrack career running against the best.
A four time winner at two from six starts - she was third at Group One level in the other two - Captured by Love was one of the best of her generation both at two and three.
The daughter of Written Tycoon won three straight features as a juvenile - the Group Two Challenge Stakes, Group Three Taranaki Classic and Group Two Matamata Breeders Stakes.
After three eye catching placings in Group races at three she beat Alabama Lass and co when an easy winner in the Group One New Zealand 1000 Guineas at Riccarton. In her current four-year-old season she has won two of her past four starts including a soft two length success in the Group Three Canterbury Breeders Stakes.
"Captured By Love is a magnificent, scopy Written Tycoon mare and a real standout physically - exactly the type you want to take into the breeding barn," Ellis said.
"She showed tremendous tenacity and courage on the track, winning seven races including the Group One, and was a stakes winner from two through to five. She was also Group One placed as a juvenile in both the Sistema Stakes and Sires' Produce Stakes, and her consistency at the highest level really highlights her quality."
"She's a mare with a terrific race record, great constitution, and all the attributes and bloodlines to make a top-class broodmare."
The blue blooded mare My Lips Are Sealed is sure to find plenty of fans when she goes under the hammer late next month.
The daughter of Ace High won the Group Three Phar Lap Trophy at Trentham in emphatic style, a two length success. Two starts back on Valentine's Day this year the love for My Lips Are Sealed continued when she won the Listed Lisa Chittick Champagne Stakes at Matamata.
My Lips Are Sealed is from an unraced Tavistock half sister to Only Words (dam of Chat, Holy Snow), Gibraltar Campion and the dam of Babylon Berlin and Darci Be Good.
"My Lips Are Sealed is a lovely mare and very typical of the High Chaparral sire line," Ellis pointed out. "She has great length, strength and presence, and all the makings of a quality broodmare."
"She was a dual stakes winner on the track and showed a great attitude and consistency throughout her racing career."
"She’s a mare we think will really appeal to breeders looking for that classic strength and soundness in a broodmare prospect."
The trio of outstanding Te Akau Racing mares will be part of a quality packed Newgate Consignment.
"From a very young age, I have admired David Ellis as one of the absolute elite operators in our industry," Newgate's Managing Director Henry Field said. "It goes without saying that we are honoured to be consigning these exceptional mares on behalf of Te Akau at the 2026 Magic Millions National Sale."
"There will be very few better groups of racemares offered anywhere in the Southern Hemisphere, headlined by Captured By Love and Quintessa," Field added. "Both outstanding Group One winners with real upside."
Entries are closing Friday for the National Broodmare Sale. Anyone with questions should reach out to a Magic Millions Bloodstock member or lodge an entry online here.
