The Wellington real estate entrepreneur co-bred and owned a majority shareholding in Tavistock gelding Werther, who progressed under the care of Wairarapa trainer Andrew Campbell to winning the Gr.2 Championship Stakes at Ellerslie and finishing second in both the Gr.1 South Australian Derby and Gr.1 Queensland Derby.
However, Heptinstall and his fellow owners agreed they couldn't rebuff an offer of "more than $1 million Australian" at the end of his three-year-old season.
Under the guidance of leading trainer John Moore, Werther has emerged as a Horse of the Year contender in Hong Kong after brilliant Group One wins in the Hong Kong Derby and last Sunday's Queen Elizabeth II Cup.
"I've got absolutely no regrets about selling him," Heptinstall said. "I get asked that a lot funnily enough. It's really simple. I raced the father and still have shares in him. I own the mother and I've got a sister, a half-sister and a full brother - and the mare's in foal. I've got a lot of horses and I just have to sell - that's just the nature of it. Nobody could have foreseen what was going to happen with this horse."
Heptinstall revealed that an agreement had been reached with a Hong Kong buyer to purchase Werther for $150,000 after his maiden win but that sale fell through because he was 10kg lighter than the buyer wanted him to weigh.
"It just goes to prove, it doesn't matter how big you are, it's the size of the fight in you that matters," Heptinstall said.
"We used to call him the sardine because there wasn't much of him and there still isn't even now. It's never stopped him running. His development to his four-year-old year has been just incredible.
"I don't know if it would have worked out the way it has for us anyway because we were potentially going to race him in the spring after the Queensland Derby and we might have brought him back a little bit earlier than John Moore did, the way the racing works up there [in Hong Kong]. Who's to know if he'd stayed injury free down here?"
Heptinstall said he was still getting the same thrills from Werther's wins in
Hong Kong as if he was still in the ownership."If you'd seen me after he won the Derby, I had people hanging off my shoulders and leaping off me and I was leaping the highest," he said.
"And on Sunday [after he'd won the QE II Cup], it was exactly the same watching the race here with my wife - and all the other owners are the same. The residual value on him for us is enormous.
"I'm thrilled for the stallion more than anything. As I said, we're still massively involved with the stallion - and with Tavistock, it's just unbelievable what he's doing."
Werther has become the fourth Group One winner for Cambridge Stud stallion Tavistock after Volkstok'n'barrell, Tarzino and Tavago. - NZ Racing Desk
