A son of the late Sacred Falls will be chasing the lucrative prizemoney on offer in Sydney following his sale to Australian interests on the closing day of New Zealand Bloodstock’s Ready to Run Sale on Thursday afternoon.
The colt drew an opening bid of $200,000 and fierce competition followed before he was knocked down for $600,000 to the New South Wales pairing of Warwick Farm trainer Bjorn Baker and Group 1 Bloodstock.
Presented as Lot 218, the youngster boasts a deep and successful pedigree and had breezed up well in 10.84 seconds to make him Baker’s pick of the sale.
“One hundred percent and we’re thrilled to get him. He’s a cracking colt and it’s exciting to get a nice horse like him to Sydney with the heaps of increases in prizemoney here in recent years,” he said.
“He’s got a strong pedigree behind him and it’s great to get a horse like him. I must say the price was a bit out of my comfort zone, but we definitely liked him a lot and I think he will be well placed over here.”
The colt’s value was significantly boosted earlier in the spring with the emergence of his Tivaci half-sister Never Been Kissed.
Trained by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott for Mark and Garry Chittick, the filly won the Gr.1 Flight Stakes (1600m) at Randwick and returned there to finish runner-up in the Gr.1 Spring Champion Stakes (2000m).
They are out of the Savabeel mare Movie, who won on three occasions, and she is a blood sister to Gr.1 New Zealand Oaks (2400m) and Gr.1 Livamol Classic (2040m) winner Savvy Coup and a three-quarter sister to the multiple Group Two winner Ocean Emperor.
It is also the family of the three-time Group One winner Probabeel and Group winners Tootsie and Legless Veuve. Bellacontte has also added to the roll of honour this season with wins in the Gr.3 Gold Trail Stakes (1200m) and the Listed O’Leary’s Fillies’ Stakes (1200m).
Baker has a close association with Jim Clarke and the Queensland-based bloodstock agent had also assisted him to secure the colt.
“I do a fair bit of work with Jim and we were lucky enough to talk to Ozzie Kheir, who has had a lot of success lately, and he will be coming into the horse so it’s all worked out really well,” Baker said.
He will wait for the juvenile’s arrival at his stable to run his eye over the youngster and then decide on his immediate future.
“It’s one step at a time and we will get the colt over here and have a good look at him,” Baker said.
The two-year-old was offered by breeder Waikato Stud through Jamie Beatson’s Ohukia Lodge draft and closed out a successful auction for them, having sold a Savabeel colt on Wednesday for $640,000 to Te Akau’s David Ellis. – NZ Racing Desk
