De Armas Sold to OTI Racing, Heads to Waller's Sydney Stable Sunday

De Armas, a juvenile filly by Ardrossan trained in New Zealand by Johno Benner, has been sold to OTI Racing and is set to join Chris Waller’s Sydney stable, with sources saying she will head to Australia on Sunday. The filly has a record of three starts for two wins, including the Listed Counties Challenge Stakes over 1100 metres, and was last seen finishing a luckless fourth in the Karaka Millions 2YO (RL, 1200m).

Race form underlines her appeal to buyers. De Armas was described in supplied reports as a near five-length debut winner, with other accounts calling it a five-length victory on debut, and she backed that up with a Listed success at 1100 metres. In the Karaka Millions she endured “a wide passage throughout” yet still “savaged the line” and recorded the fastest closing 400 metre and 200 metre sectionals in the race, a performance noted despite “covering ground” wide.

Benner framed the sale as a pragmatic decision after the Karaka Millions. “OTI have been interested in her the whole way through, but post Karaka Millions, we decided to sell her early, simple as that,” Benner said, adding that “She goes to Chris Waller and will head to Australia on Sunday.” Benner also emphasised the filly’s temperament and potential, saying “They've got to train on as three-year-olds, but she's definitely very good and a lovely filly to have around, but money talks” and “She's got a great brain and hopefully she acquits herself really well.”

Phill Cataldo, the bloodstock agent who secured De Armas for OTI, highlighted the filly’s consistency in preparation. “Every time she has been out she’s shown brilliance,” Cataldo said, and confirmed she “had three trials, one before she raced and the other two between runs and blitzed them on all three occasions.” Cataldo added that the filly “spaced them on debut, then two months later won easily at Listed level going right handed for the first time” and that “the rub of the green went against her in the Karaka Millions, covering ground but she was still good enough to run the fastest closing 400m and 200m sectionals, which was a top performance under the circumstances.”

De Armas’s origins underline the transaction’s commercial upside: Benner bought her as a yearling for $16,000 at the 2025 New Zealand Bloodstock National Online Yearling Sale, where she was sold by Elsdon Park. OTI Racing, described in the supplied material as a prominent Australian syndicate, secured the filly through Cataldo; no sale price for the current transaction was disclosed in the reports.

The move puts De Armas under the care of Chris Waller’s Sydney operation, signalling OTI’s intent to campaign the filly in Australia as she progresses toward her three-year-old season. Sources consistently note the filly’s Sunday departure but did not provide a calendar date or further campaign details.