It’s been a good 24 hours for Mike and Debbie O’Donnell of Fairhill Farm with not one, but two Group winners produced from their NSW farm at Mulbring.
Former Hong Kong galloper Master Fay displayed a touch of real class when he scored a dominant victory in the Group III Brighthill Farm Concorde Handicap (1200m) at Ellerslie.
The Chad Ormsby-trained six year-old son of Deep Field was a $100,000 purchase out of the Highden Park Book 1 Sale draft at Karaka in 2019 by Ormsby as a pinhooking prospect but didn’t make it back to the sales ring and was sold to Hong Kong interests following some impressive trial wins.
He performed well in Hong Kong, winning his only start at Sha Tin in 2021 for trainer Caspar Fownes before soundness issues struck and he was eventually retired back to New Zealand by his owner who gave permission to Ormsby to try again with him if he stood up to a racing preparation.
Ormsby was patient with the well proportioned gelding giving him three trials in preparation for his New Zealand raceday debut over 1200m at Tauranga earlier this month which he won in fine style.
Stepped up to stakes company on Saturday, rider Vinnie Colgan bounced him away nicely from an inside gate to trail pacemaker Imwonderfultonight before dashing clear early in the run home to register a comfortable victory over the late closing Petrucci.
Ormsby cut an emotional figure as he accepted congratulations after the race.
“He is a horse who we managed to secure at Karaka and after we sold him we followed his career up in Hong Kong,” Ormsby said.
“He could have been anything but unfortunately he didn’t get to his best and we managed to get him back through the late Stuey Hale.
“To get him to a race like this has been a lot of hard work from a lot of people. and I was emotional before the race, let alone now.
“There are so many people to thank, but it’s just great to see what the horse can do as there is a lot ahead of him if we can hold him together.
“This was a good field but he got in on a light weight so we thought it was here for the taking.
“He is a day by day prospect as he is not the soundest so we will look after him as you have seen today what he can do.”
Colgan had been doing it hard to get down to the 53kg weight carried by his mount and was glad the race had panned out in his favour.
“It’s been a long day and I’m glad this ride was race two,” he said.
I’ve been on a pretty lean diet since Wednesday, mostly vegetables and no bread or nice food.
“This was well worth it as he is very smart, he is lightly raced and he did that well.”
Master Fay is now unbeaten in three starts with just under $262,000 in prizemoney earnings.
Master Fay is the 28th stakes-winner for Newgate Farm’s now retired Deep Field and was a successful weanling to yearling pinhook having been sourced from the Fairhill Farm draft at the 2018 Inglis Australian Weanling Sale for $72,000 by Bleakley Bloodstock.
Bred by Fairhill Farm’s Mike O’Donnell, he is the best of three winners from Keeping Score, a metro winning half-sister by Keeper to Group III winner Zacielo and to the dam of Group I winning sprinter Mercurial. Keeping Score is now in foal to Acrobat.
Fairhill Farm sold a weanling full brother to Master Fay last year for $180,000 at the Inglis Australian Weanling Sale and he is to be re-offered by Alma Vale/Kitchwin Hills Partnership at Inglis Premier as Lot 328.
In recent years, Fairhill Farm have taken to selling their entire draft as weanlings and Master Fay is the second Group winner in 24 hours bred and sold by the farm joining two year-old filly Hayasugi, who won the Group III MRC Blue Diamond Preview on Friday at Caulfield.
