Gandharvi strikes at the last minute
You can never have too much of a good thing, at least that’s the case for Gandharvi Racing’s Kuldeep Singh Rajput, whose adviser Michael Wallace signed the $600,000 docket for the Proisir half-sister to the owner’s Sistema Stakes winner Ulanova (Santos).
Gandharvi has three-year-old Ulanova in training with Anthony and Sam Freedman in Australia while Wallace and Rajput have since also acquired the fillies’ stakes-placed dam The Fairy’s Kiss (Elusive Quality) privately from breeder Philip Brown.
“She was reasonably self-explanatory. When we opened the book her pedigree caught our eye straight away,” US-based expatriate Kiwi Michael Wallace said.
“You come to the grounds and you hope she looks the way she does. We were pretty keen to acquire her if we could. We actually own the mother now and she has a Proisir foal at foot, so we are just trying to cultivate that family a little bit that’s been so successful to us.”
The Fairy’s Kiss has also produced stakes-winning two-year-old Steal My Kisses (I Am Invincible) and the stakes-placed pre-Christmas juvenile Butter Blonde (Choisir) and it is the dam’s influence that Wallace can see in the yearling.
“She does actually [look precocious] for a Proisir. She’s very fast looking, more than your average Proisir. [She’s] very similar to Ulanova, so she should get up and get going a little bit which is exciting,” he said.
“We haven’t decided what we are going to do with her yet. I’ll pick up the phone in the next hour or two and we will figure it out. You’d like to see her back here at Karaka Millions no matter where she’s trained.”
Brown, who also owns top-class Proisir mares Legarto and Levante, sold the filly through Eion Kemp’s Kilgravin Lodge draft as Lot 480.
He was thrilled that Wallace was able to add the daughter of Proisir to the Gandharvi portfolio.
“He’s got great faith in this family. It’s an old Wallace family, from Cent Home et cetera. So she’s gone to a good home and I’ve got a good price, so I’m very pleased,” Brown said.
“Proisir is the gift that never stops giving, as far as I’m concerned. There’s the racehorses, and then today we’ve got 260 for a colt and 360 for another one, so thank you, Proisir.”
Fillies sold at Karaka this week are averaging $187,000 through two days of Book 1, compared to $204,000 for the colts, and despite the differential Wallace is far from surprised about the value of the high-end fillies.
“We have seen the value of them [fillies] off the track, so they have to try and buy them where they can at the yearling sales,” he said.
“I know it seems like a lot of money, but if you get it right, it’s a relatively safe investment, especially with a pedigree like that. Your parachute is large, so there’s not much downside over a period of time.”
Wallace also bought a “dead ringer for his daddy” Justify (Scat Daddy) colt for Gandharvi from Jamieson Park for $420,000 in partnership with Sydney -based trainer Michael Freedman.