De Armas (NZ) Completes Big Week For NZB Online Yearling Sale

Graduates of NZB’s National Online Yearling Sale have scored Group victories at Flemington on each of the last two Saturdays.

A week after Soverato (NZ) (Vadamos) won the Group Three Tesio Stakes (2040m), De Armas (NZ) (Ardrossan) completed the double with an outstanding performance in Saturday’s $300,000 Group Two HKJC World Pool Wakeful Stakes (2000m).

Elsdon Park offered De Armas during NZB's 2025 National Online Yearling Sale on Gavelhouse Plus, where Benner Racing bought her for $16,000. She has now had seven starts for three wins, a placing and A$508,668 in stakes – almost 40 times her purchase price.

Johno Benner trained De Armas to win two of her three starts as a two-year-old last season including the Listed Counties Challenge Stakes (1100m). She then finished fourth in the $1m TAB Karaka Millions 2YO (1200m) before OTI Racing bought a majority share of the ownership and transferred her into the stable of Chris Waller.

After a fifth on her Australian debut in late September, Waller threw De Armas in at the deep end and she finished second in the Group One Flight Stakes (1600m) and fourth in the Group One Thousand Guineas (1600m).

Saturday’s Wakeful presented a new challenge, stepping up to 2000 metres, but De Armas showed she was right up to the task.

Jockey Blake Shinn took up a midfield position in ninth as the field became widely strung out behind a strong pace.

Shinn unleashed De Armas down the outside after rounding the home turn, and she soon dashed to the front.

With Shinn keeping her up to the task through the closing stages, De Armas crossed the finish line a length and a quarter clear.

“She had it won at the 400 metres, albeit doing a few little things wrong, but her class shone through,” Shinn said.

“She’s still not an easy ride by any means. She really was quite unbalanced getting around the turn. I was really trying to coach her to get on to her right leg, her offside leg, just to balance out. It took me a little bit to get her to change, but she won authoritatively and ran the distance out nicely.”

The Wakeful is recognised as a key lead-up to the Group One VRC Oaks (2500m) on Thursday, but it was reported after Saturday’s race that De Armas is more likely to be set for a return to New Zealand to contest the $4.5m NZB Kiwi (1500m) at Ellerslie on March 6.