Bred by Price, wife Kelly and brother-in-law Michael Hall, the plucky Azamour filly provided them with their inaugural success at the elite level as breeders when she stormed along the rail to snatch a courageous victory in the A$500,000 feature.
The victory capped a top day for the Price family who had also scored at their
home track earlier with promising staying mare She's Prismatic. "It was quite a day alright and one you can normally only dream of," admitted Price.
"It was great to get the win with our horse at Matamata but we were glued to the television when
Aloisia went around as we thought she was a big chance in the race.
"We always thought she had the ability to get to the top level but to see her win like that was such a thrill and has given us such a boost for the future."
Aloisia is from the Perfectly Ready mare Queen Boudicca who Price bought for $39,000 at the 2010 Karaka Select Sale. Placed in the Gr. 2 Matamata Breeders Stakes she was retired at the completion of her four-year-old season and mated with the ill-fated shuttle stallion Azamour to produce Aloisia as her first foal.
"We bought and raced Queen Boudicca who was a pretty handy juvenile but probably didn't reach her true potential during her career," noted Price.
"We weren't really in the position to breed from her so we tried to sell her at the National Broodmare Sale but she didn't reach her reserve so we ended up taking her home.
"In the end we decided to give breeding a try so we went and saw Nick and
Anne-Marie King at Brighthill Farm as they had just had Azamour arrive at their
property."He was a wonderful specimen, with a great race record and had been going well as a sire in the Northern Hemisphere so we decided to give him a go with Aloisia being the result."
Another disappointing result at Karaka, this time at the 2016 Select Sale, saw Aloisia head home after being passed in before joining Price's stable later in the year to commence her two-year-old career.
"We weren't going to give her away at Karaka so when she didn't reach her reserve we took her home," he said.
"At the time it was a little deflating but looking back now you could say it was the best thing that could have happened.
"She showed us plenty early on and kicked off with a nice fifth before she ran second to Bell du Nord at Wellington.
"At that stage we had plans to run her in the Manawatu Sires' Produce Stakes but we got a call from Phill Cataldo who said he had a buyer for her in Australia if we were looking to sell.
"We ummed and aahed about it but really the best commercial decision we could make was to sell and hope she could do something special in Australia as we knew it would help make her dam as a broodmare.
"She has well and truly done that now so we have got a very exciting time ahead of us."
The potential displayed by Aloisia has seen her owners, OTI Racing, come knocking at the Price door again, this time purchasing her half-sister Wyetta after the filly finished third on debut at Pukekohe last month.
"They obviously know just what they have with Aloisia so they made an offer for Wyetta which we have accepted as well," noted Price.
"Again, it was a business decision as Queen Boudicca is still a young mare so hopefully we can get another filly from her in the future that we can retain for breeding purposes ourselves."
Price is hopeful that result can be achieved in 2018 with a mating to Brighthill's new sire Preferment who is standing his first season at the farm in 2017.
"Queen Boudicca produced a Dalghar colt last Monday and she will go to Preferment for her next mating," he said.
"Her Swiss Ace colt will be go the Karaka yearling sale in January so we have high hopes for him as he is a lovely type.
"In the meantime, we are hoping Aloisia can step up to the Victorian Oaks next as we would love to experience the same feeling we had on Saturday as that's something that takes a lot of beating." – NZ Racing Desk
