Private Harry’s ‘beautiful’ half-sister makes $220,000
Kurrinda Bloodstock’s Sean Driver believes when you’re on a good thing, you should stick to it.
So he was determined to buy the half-sister to his burgeoning star Private Harry (Harry Angel) at Inglis Classic on Monday. He just had no idea how much he’d have to pay.
On the one hand, her half-brother has won four from four and close to $1.4 million. But, such is the way with modern cash-flush racing, there’s still precious little black type on either his or his sister’s page.
That could change next month when Private Harry resumes for his first tilt at a stakes race in The Galaxy (Gr 1, 1100m) at Rosehill. But for now, the three-year-old’s biggest day out came in winning the first edition of Queensland’s newest slot race, the $3 million Sunlight 3YO Plate (1200m) last month.
So when Lot 274, a muscular chestnut filly by Captivant (Capitalist) entered the ring on Monday, Driver was poised but uncertain. The fourth offering of the morning, the filly was bred by Rheinwood Pastoral, and is the sixth foal of their mare Happy Pilgrim (Congrats). She won three sprints but her major claim to fame as per a sales catalogue is being a half-sister to two mares who were placed at Group 3 and Listed level.
“It was a strange one,” Driver said. “I didn’t know what she’d go for. Private Harry’s four from four but he’s got no black type yet. And to be frank, the page looks quite plain to the eye.
“I said, ‘Is she going to make $150,000? Will we have to go to $300,000?’ I didn’t know.”
In the end, Driver and his main trainer Nathan Doyle almost perfectly split the difference, securing the filly for $220,000.
It gives the pair not just two but three Rheinwood products from the 11-year-old Happy Pilgrim, all at Classic. Two years ago they bought Private Harry for what’s now a bargain basement $115,000. Unsurprisingly, they went back to the well to snare his half-brother by Anders (Not A Single Doubt) for $100,000 last year. Now known as Lance Corporal, he’s awaiting his first start after a recent gelding procedure.
Now they have their Captivant filly, who’s perhaps causing them the most excitement of all three at the same stage.
Driver was hopeful when he saw her for the first time, but not anxious.
“I don’t get too emotionally invested in it – I treat a horse as a horse,” he said. “Yes, we liked the family, but if she didn’t tick our boxes we wouldn’t have bought her.”
He was still relieved and delighted to find the opposite was true.
“She had an identical bum to Private Harry, identical head, identical shoulder. She probably has just a bit more physical presence in the girth, and is more precocious naturally,” he said.
Doyle concurred, saying the filly had “the same head” as her exciting half-brother but “might be a bit sharper earlier than him”.
“It’s great to take her home and race her with Kurrinda,” Doyle said.
The filly was the sixth purchase at a busy Classic sale for Kurrinda, a group capped by the $320,000 Portland Sky (Deep Field) colt they bought with Doyle from Widden Stud on day one.
Rheinwood, who retained an interest in the Captivant filly, was delighted to see another yearling out of Happy Pilgrim go to the Driver and Doyle pairing.
“There’s nothing that works more strongly for your brand than someone coming back and purchasing a third foal out of a mare,” said Rheinwood’s Kirsty Willis.
“We want repeat business. We want to be raising quality, sound horses who go on to track success and further enhance our brand – that’s what we’re striving for.”
Willis said she sent Happy Pilgrim to Kia Ora’s first season sire Captivant aiming to add precocity – something which appears to have been achieved.
“She’s a beautiful filly, not dissimilar to Private Harry in her temperament and intelligence,” Willis said. “She’s a little more forward. I think she’ll jump and run.”
Happy Pilgrim now has a November Zousain (Zoustar) colt at foot. She missed to Harry Angel later that month, but will return to him to try to repeat the Private Harry magic next spring.