Bloodstock agent Andrew Williams won a spirited bidding battle to secure a well-related Proisir gelding for $650,000 on the opening day of the NZB Ready to Run Sale at Karaka on Wednesday.
Offered by Riversley Park, the gelding was catalogued as Lot 79 and is out of the unraced Carlton House mare Miss Vegas. That makes him a full-sister to this season’s Gr.3 Northland Breeders’ Stakes (1200m) fourth placegetter Vegas Queen, while Miss Vegas is a half-sister to the dam of emerging Australian star Gringotts. The Ciaron Maher-trained Gringotts has won eight of his 16 starts including the Listed Members’ Handicap (1600m) in Brisbane and this month’s A$3 million The Big Dance (1600m) at Randwick.
Further down the pedigree page, second dam Operavega is a half-sister to the dam of the legendary Winx.
Williams, who secured the high-priced juvenile in partnership with Hong Kong Bloodstock, acknowledged the pedigree credentials but was more taken with the gelding as a physical specimen.
“Obviously Proisir is a very good sire, and there’s a very special horse in the family in Winx,” Williams said. “Gringotts has delivered some big results lately too, so there’s good horses throughout the family.
“But he’s just a beautiful individual. He’s been one of the standouts from when we started inspecting here on Sunday. We kept on gravitating back to the Riversley barn and seeing him.
“He did everything well and, to me, really stood out on the sale grounds. He breezed up beautifully as well, running a good time by himself, and he obviously vetted very cleanly.
“It’s just great to be able to buy a horse like this. He’ll go back to the paddocks in Cambridge now, have a bit of a break post-sale and grow out a bit. He may end up starting his racing career in New Zealand or Australia.
“His ultimate destination is going to be Hong Kong, but you never know – he could make a Karaka Millions or The NZB Kiwi (1500m) horse beforehand.”
