Coeur Volante’s traits have Ballymore going back for more Proisirs
Rich Hill’s filly by New Zealand’s champion sire sells for $170,000 at Karaka
The similarities between a $170,000 Proisir (Choisir) filly and Mike Moroney’s three-time stakes winner Coeur Volante proved irresistible for the trans-Tasman trainer at Karaka yesterday.
Ballymore’s Moroney continued his plundering of the Book 2 New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale, signing for four lots including the daughter of Rich Hill’s reigning champion sire, the second session’s highest-priced horse.
The Ardrossan (Redoute’s Choice) brother to this season’s Phelan Ready Stakes (Listed, 1000m) winning two-year-old Beau Dazzler also changed hands yesterday, selling for $165,000 to Otaki trainer Jono Benner, while fellow trainer Roger James bought another Proisir filly for $150,000 with one day to go of the 98th New Zealand sale series.
Proisir is the sire of James and co-trainer Robert Wellwood’s recently retired Group 1 star Prowess whose own sister made a sale-topping $1.6 million during the opening session of Book 1 on Sunday.
Moroney, who paid $240,000 for another filly by Proisir in Book 1, had two fillies by the champion Rich Hill Stud stallion shortlisted by his brother Paul Moroney and the agent’s business partner Catheryne Bruggeman and is taking the pair back to Australia.
Ballymore’s Book 2 filly is the fifth foal out of Polson (Northern Meteor), a half-sister to the Listed winner Zauberin (Zabeel), who was sold by Rich Hill Stud.
Mike Moroney described Lot 896 as possessing a lot of balance, “a nice amount of rein with big nostrils”.
“From the time I saw her and watched her walk up she just reminded me so much of Coeur Volante in her colour and the whole lot,” the trainer said.
“The way she walked, there’s a lot of speed about her and when she got around here [in the parade ring] she wanted to run right through the bridle and wanted to get on with the job.
“That’s what Coeur Volante is like, too.”
Moroney was unable to land as many horses as he would have liked through the first three days of Karaka, purchasing five lots in the main catalogue which prompted his heightened Book 2 activity.
Ballymore has also bought yearlings by Yes Yes Yes (Rubick), Shocking (Street Cry), Ribchester (Iffraaj), King Of Comedy (Kingman) and Time Test (Dubawi) out of Book 2 so far this week.
“Paul told me he thought they [Karaka lists] were the smallest lists he’s given me, and they have been, hence it’s been harder to buy,” Moroney said.
“We’ve missed out on a few because they’ve been too expensive. I had a real crack at the Satono Aladdin and bought him [for $460,000] and now these two [Proisir] fillies that I was buying for Australian clients and the rest will be seen here at our New Zealand stable.
“We used to be able to buy the Xcellents and the Jokers Wilds out of K1 quite cheaply, but they just weren’t here this year at all, hence we’re buying in K2 a fair bit.”
Cambridge trainers James and Wellwood, meanwhile, did their due diligence for both Books 1 and 2 of more than 1000 horses and their sole K2 purchase to date was the Palmerston North-based Beckam Equine-consigned Proisir filly who went under the hammer late on Thursday.
To be raced by an all-female syndicate of owners, the filly is the first foal out of three-time 1600-metre winner Sentito (Postponed) whose pedigree features stakes winners I’ve Got Rhythm (Rhythm) and Group 1 winner Love Dance (Kaapstad).
“We’ve checked out all the horses in both catalogues and she was a filly we identified fairly early,” James said.
“She is a smaller style of filly, but she has what I look for in any horse and that’s athleticism. People ask me what I look for and I ask them how long have they got because I have been doing it for 40 years to refine my task.
“But if I have to give it in one word I say they have to be an athlete and she was that. She is very feminine and ticked a lot of boxes, she isn’t overly big, but some of my best horses haven’t been big.”
Beckam Equine’s Anne Goldsbury was over the moon with the boutique operation’s sale ring bonanza.
“She had a lot of interest and she’s a lovely filly. We were expecting her to do reasonably well but not that well,” Goldsbury said.
“She’ll get every chance at Kingsclere Stables, and we are delighted for the owners.”
James and Wellwood also bought seven yearlings in Book 1 including a $100,000 Per Incanto (Street Cry) filly in partnership with Entain’s TAB Racing Club.
The trainer said: “We were blown away a couple of times, but it was a strong sale and we bought some lovely horses.”
Otaki trainer Johno Benner’s desire to win another Karaka Millions 2YO (RL, 1200m) also gathered pace after buying the brother to Beau Dazzler, the Tony and Maddy Sears-trained two-year-old who ran seventh in last Saturday’s edition.
Full Force (Cosmic Force) ran a slashing third for Benner in the $1 million event last weekend, ten years after the trainer tasted the ultimate success with Vespa (Elusive Quality).
“The Karaka Millions 2YO is in my opinion the most prestigious million dollar race we’ve got on the night, so I just want to get back to winning a race like that,” said Benner, who used Highden Park’s Libby Bleakley to bid on his behalf at Karaka.
“I think you have to buy the right horses and that’s something Te Akau do very well, so I am just rapt to get him.
“I would have gone a little bit more, to be honest.”
Bred by Elsdon Park owner Lib Petagna and offered through the Landsdowne Park’s Book 2 draft, the colt is the fourth foal out of Pwerfect (Pentire).
“Beau Dazzler you can just see has a lot of upside the way he rounded out the Karaka Millions,” Benner said.
“He was probably one of the runs of the race outside the first three or four and he’s got that feel he’s got that speed up to a mile. [My colt] looked like he was designed for the race.”
Benner also bought a Sun City (Zoustar) half-sister to four-time winning sprinter Inundation (Headwater) with a price tag of $130,000 on Wednesday while in Book 1 he secured a Tagaloa (Lord Kanaloa) colt for $35,000 and a son of Bivouac (Exceed And Excel) in conjunction with Pinhook Bloodstock’s Dave Mee for $50,000.
“She’s speed on speed and Sun City’s had four runners for three metropolitan winners [in Queensland], so being a half-sister to Inundation, that horse of Mick Price’s, and having the physique and type to match up I thought she was good buying actually,” he said.
“Obviously it’s just about trying to get these horses back for that million dollar race and then you’ve got the carrot of the $1.5 million race [the Karaka Million 3YO] the year after as well as The NZB Kiwi slot race and now the four-year-old race as well.
“It’s all positive, so you’ve got to try and buy the right horses and I think we’ve done that.”
The sixth and final day of selling at Karaka for 2024 starts at 11am NZ time.