Options open for Group 1 winner Atishu
Dual Group 1-winning mare Atishu (Savabeel) is likely to be retired at the end of her autumn campaign, but Go Racing’s Albert Bosma hasn’t ruled out continuing on with the rising seven-year-old mare in the spring if her form warrants it.
The Chris Waller-trained Atishu has won the Queen Of The Turf Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) and Champions Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) in the past 12 months and she has “come back better than ever” ahead of a possible autumn finale, according to Bosma.
The syndicator outlined three options for the sister to Group 3 winner Mazzolino.
“One is that the syndicate retains her and breeds from her; the second is that we go to a public auction with her and sell her that way regardless of whether that’s NZB, Inglis or Magic Millions,” Bosma told this column.
“The third one is you sell down part of her and some of the guys stay involved. They’re conservations that we need to have through the autumn. Whether she’s sold or not will depend on her form.”
He added: “If she was to come back and win another Group 1, while she is six, it is hard to turn down an opportunity to go to a Cox Plate in the spring or something like that with the prize-money on offer.
“We will have the intention to be retiring her at the end of this campaign, but if she proves us wrong she could carry on.”
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Landsdowne Park’s Dave Duley is an imposing figure, but Rich Hill’s John Thompson has the wood over his fellow Waikato thoroughbred breeder, having convincingly claimed the honours in the pair’s annual Karaka bet.
As we reported last week, Duley and Thompson, whose stud is home to champion stallion Proisir (Choisir), the exciting Japanese shuttler Satono Aladdin (Deep Impact), Ace High (High Chaparral) and Shocking (Street Cry), have a friendly wager as to which farm sells the highest-priced yearling by one of the Rich Hill stallions.
Duley, a former Super Rugby player, went in confident about his chances of going back-to-back, but he knew his fate early in the sale despite having a highly sought after colt by Satono Aladdin in his own draft set to go under the hammer on day three of Book 1.
However, Thompson had the sister to the Group 1-placed Japanese Emperor by the same sire, a prized attraction last Sunday. The buying bench agreed, with Thompson selling her for $900,000 to Chris Waller and Guy Mulcaster.
Duley’s opinion of his Satono Aladdin colt was in many ways justified, selling for $460,000 to Ballymore Stables, Paul Moroney and Catheryne Bruggeman on the final day of the Book 1 sale, but the figure fell well short of the $900,000 mark set by Thompson’s filly, the second highest-priced yearling sold at Karaka this week.
To celebrate their Karaka spoils, Thompson and his wife Colleen are making restaurant reservations for themselves and Duley and his partner Jude – on the Landsdowne Park credit card.
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The Kiwis are known for their parochialism – just think of the All Blacks and the Black Caps – but when it comes to investing in broodmares, Little Avondale’s Sam Williams has looked beyond his home country to add diversity to his portfolio.
And the investment is paying off with Williams and his wife Catriona selling a Savabeel (Zabeel) colt out of Alam Mo Na (High Chaparral) for $525,000. Williams bought the former Kris Lees-trained mare privately.
“I have said about buying these mares, I have bought about ten mares in the past five years with international pedigrees,” Williams revealed.
“I’ve purely been trying not to buy New Zealand pedigrees, so I have bought them in England, America and a lot in Australia.
“Most have been sprinter-milers to go to Per Incanto as he goes well with Danehill blood. He doesn’t have it, hence I’ve been targeting Danehill-line mares.”