Pearce Racing return to lucrative well
Co-trainer Ben Pearce reinvested into a family that has served him well when he snapped up a colt by Pierata (Pierro) for $220,000 at the Magic Millions Perth Yearling Sale on Thursday.
Catalogued as Lot 110 and offered by Gold Front Thoroughbreds, the colt is out of Listed winner Prim And Proper (Alfred Nobel) meaning he is a brother to Perfectly Proper, the filly Pearce saddled to finish second in the Magic Millions WA 2YO Classic (RL, 1200m) on February 15.
Pearce, who trains in partnership with his brother Daniel, bought Perfectly Proper for $42,500 at the Perth Winter Yearling Sale last year and he drew similarities between the siblings who are now destined to be stable companions
“They are very similar, but we think the colt is bigger and stronger. She’s a nice style of filly, but being the first foal she’s a little bit more petite – the colt has got a bit more strength about him,” he said. “We were going to go to $250,000, so we just scraped in.
“The filly [Perfectly Proper] we thought we got for steal, she was in the main sale and she cut a leg and so she had to be withdrawn and then she ended up in the winter sale so I think she went for a lot less than what she should have.
“Then coming off of what she’s done I think it’s justified to pay that sort of money for this colt.”
A few lots later, Pearce etched his name on the buyers sheet once again when he beat off fierce competition from Parnham Racing to secure a colt by Playing God for $400,000.
“He’s a lovely colt. He’s one that we had very high up on our list. We said we wanted him and we’re pretty happy to have him in the stable,” said Pearce. “We’ll be syndicating him. There’s a bit done already and we’ll be looking for people to join us.”
Pearce said he was keen to get his hands on a yearling by the ‘sensational’ Playing God, having enjoyed stakes success with one of his sons in the shape of Lord Vampi.
“We had Lord Vampi, who won the JC Roberts Stakes last year, Playing God is doing sensational things as a sire. We think the mare, having that bit of speed on her side and a bit of two-year-old form in that family, I think that crosses really well with Playing God.”
Offered by Yarradale Stud, the grey youngster is out of the dual-winning mare Super Stardom (War Chant) and she herself was bought by the Gidgegannup-based operation for $10,000 at the Magic Millions Perth Winter Thoroughbred Sale in 2019.
Pearce finished the day as the second–leading buyer having spent $795,000 on four yearlings and he said he felt the sale had been a strong edition.
“It has been strong on the nice ones. The good horses are selling really well. You can’t train horses if you don’t have them,” he said.
“We’ve only got two so far and we’ve just bought them. A few emails are coming through straight away so that’s always a good sign. Hopefully by the end of the day we can have a fair chunk done.”
Like Houston, Magic Millions managing director, Barry Bowditch, was pleased with the day’s results and was looking forward to Friday’s action which gets underway at 10am (WA time).
“It was a very successful Book 1 for the Perth Yearling Sale in 2025,” he said.
“It’s our second–highest grossing Book 1 here in Western Australia – that is fantastic for the breeders here.”
“The local buyers really do get in and support their own. They’ve got a great product over here – they get behind the market and love the Westspeed bonuses.”
“To have an average of almost $90,000 and a clearance rate of 86 per cent and a gross of $13.4 million – these are really good numbers.
“We had more individual buyers than we did last year – all in all it was just a really solid day’s trade.
“Playing God has had a super sale and rightly so. He’s an outstanding sire.
“We have another lovely group of horses to go through tomorrow. We have 160 lots catalogued from 10am and there are plenty who would have fit into today’s sale really well.”
Sale results – Book 1
2025 – 2024
Catalogued 190 – 192
Offered 177 – 180
Sold 152 (85%) – 143 (79%)
Aggregate $13,343,500 (- 6%) – $14,182,500
Average $88,368 (-10.8%) – $99,178
Median $70,000 (-12.5%) – $80,000
Top Lot $450,000 – $625,000