Prowess’ sister shines bright on the final day at Karaka
The dual Group 1-winning mares trainers James and Wellwood snap up the daughter of Proisir for $1.1 million
After watching the sister to their superstar mare Orchestral (Savabeel) sell for a record-breaking $2.4 million at the New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale on Monday, Roger James and Robert Wellwood shelled out $1.1 million for the sister to another of their superstar mares in Prowess (Proisir).
Offered and bred by Hallmark Stud, the filly is out of the placed mare Donna Marie (Don Eduardo), who the operation purchased for $20,000 at the New Zealand Bloodstock National Weanling, Broodmare & Mixed Sale in 2014.
As well as Prowess, the mare has produced three further winners including the stakes-placed Ajay Tee (Foxwedge), while her other daughter by Proisir (Choisir) topped last year’s edition of the sale when she sold to Moody Racing for $1.6 million and she was also offered by Hallmark Stud.
Donna Marie’s yearling will sport the red and white colours of Colin and Helen Litt, the owners of Orchestral, and James said he couldn’t fault the youngster.
“From the first time I saw her, I thought she was exceptional. They just don’t come as balanced. I couldn’t fault her,” he said.
“Orchestral’s owner [Colin Litt] asked me to rate her out of ten, and I said ten. I couldn’t knock her in any respect, and so you shouldn’t be able to at that money.”
James and Wellwood bought Prowess herself for $230,000 at the same sale in 2021 and the trainers both agreed Tuesday’s session topper would be seen earlier than her dual Group 1-winning sister, who didn’t make her debut until the April of her juvenile career, a 1200-metre contest she duly won by nine lengths.
“Prowess was a big, rangy filly that we had to wait for. This one is so balanced – you could imagine her doing things at the tail end of her two-year-old year and then being very competitive as a spring three-year-old,” James said.
“Her attitude is bombproof. I saw her the other day. She was tired and almost dead on her feet, she’s been so popular, but the minute she was asked to walk, she had an overstep of about nine inches. She’s one filly that’s just going to give her guts for you.”
Regarding the price, James said they were on their last legs and admitted he had found the market over the past few days ‘tough.’
“We weren’t keen to keep going,” he said. “We’ve found the sale very tough. I think it’s probably a reflection on the New Zealand prize-money. We were trying to buy three to syndicate, and normally we’d look at 200 to 250 [thousand], and we didn’t even get a bid in. We don’t think we’re usually wrong with values, but we were this year, and I think it’s a reflection on our increased stakes.”
Dual Group 1 winner Orchestral stormed back into form in Saturday’s Aotearoa Classic (Listed, 1600m) at Ellerslie and James issued an update on the daughter of Savabeel (Zabeel) on Tuesday.
“She’s come through the race really, really well. She had a light trot and canter this morning and had her tail in the air going off the track. You love to see that after a run. She’s on her way up,” he said.
Not since 2018 have multiple lots realised seven figures at Karaka and Wellwood said it is very hard to know what the well-bred lots are going to make.
“It is always hard to know how much these high-end fillies are going to make, obviously she’s a full-sister to Prowess, who we won a couple of Group 1s with, they are always competitive, people all around the world are looking at them, so it’s very hard to value those fillies and were very fortunate to be able to get her on what was our last bid,” he said.
“She has the same athleticism as Prowess, but she was probably a bit bigger than this filly and she might come a little bit earlier than Prowess did. This filly, Prowess and the filly that sold last year are all a bit different, but all lovely fillies and I’m sure the Baker family are happy with the family too.”
Hallmark Stud’s Denny Baker was understandably over the moon with the result.
“The filly has all the physical attributes to make a runner. She has balance, she is good from hip to hock and has good hocks. She also has a deep girth, a flat shoulder, long forearms and a long rein. Her x-ray and scope reports were excellent. In other words, she fits an old saying as all these things suggest she is less likely to fail,” he told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“We had her on the market at $300,000 and we were very excited when she went past the million. You might check with Roger James but by all accounts he had a leaning towards our filly over the Symphonic filly which they bid on yesterday [Monday].”
Later on in the day, Dean Hawthorne, acting on behalf of GSA Racing’s Jonathan Munz, purchased another daughter by Rich Hill’s Proisir for $850,000.
Offered as part of the Curraghmore consignment, the filly is out of the unraced Tavistock (Montjeu) mare Golden Hind, who is herself a half-sister to New Zealand 1,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Planet Rock (Fastnet Rock) and Group 3 scorer Ringo (Fastnet Rock).
“She will be for the GSA racing team and where she goes, we don’t know. I mean, we had three cracks here, we went up to about $1.8 million on the sale topper and a million on the next one and this filly we rated right up there with those top ones,” Hawthorne said.
“I think she’s a nice sort of miler filly, 1400 – miler. I mean Tavistock mares throw speed. I think once she matures, because she’s an earlier foal, she’ll come earlier than what we think. Not saying she is going to be a flying two year old, but I think she’s gonna be a lovely Guineas filly, which is what we’ve bought her for, to win a Guineas.”
After missing out on Monday’s sale topper, Hawthorne was delighted to get his hands on this well-credentialed filly.
“I have got a nice one [Proisir filly] here. I thought she was probably my top physical Proisir filly – she was a belter and we love Tavistock mares,” he said.
“Unfortunately we got into a bidding duel with Ronnie Wanless which isn’t good for the health, but she’s a lovely, lovely filly. The granddam she did the job, we know good Tavistock mares are and we’re happy to get her.”
Curraghmore finished Book 1 as the leading vendor by average (with three or more lots sold) selling 18 yearlings for an average price of $322,222 and Gordon Cunningham was delighted to finish with Tuesday’s result.
“She’s a high quality filly with good maturity whose looks are evident in her bloodlines being by Proisir from a Tavistock mare out of a Zabeel mare – we were looking forward to offering her,” Cunningham said of the Proisir filly.
“Despite being very popular, she fetched a bigger price than we might have anticipated. That’s the beauty of auctions. Two very good judges, Dean Hawthorne and Ron Wanless, were on her and both decided they wanted her and I would love nothing better than for her to confirm her owners’ belief by becoming a top filly on the racetrack.”