Guy Lowry has worked with enough good racehorses to know that very few of them are the perfect physical specimens.
Not only does the Group One-winning Kiwi horseman have an eye for a quality thoroughbred, but he’s got a knack of seeing past would-be issues that often scare others away.
In recent years, he’s made a fruitful habit out of taking a punt on young horses with minor ailments, including ATC Derby contender Immediacy (NZ) (Immediacy).
Lowry paid a modest $15,000 for the son of Tarzino out of Book 2 at Karaka in 2022.
A concerning endoscopy scared most buyers away, but Lowry loved his pedigree and type enough to think that if the youngster’s throat improved with time, as they often do, he would make a nice horse.
Improve it did and fewer than 12 months later, Lowry sold the colt for $200,000 to Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young at the NZB Ready To Run Sale.
“He was always going to be a project for the ready to run sale,” Lowry said.
“He was a beautiful, big, raw-boned horse, but he was a three on the scope, so nobody wanted him.
“That can obviously frighten a lot of people, but we saw an opportunity to take advantage of that and we took a chance on the horse.
“That was probably why we got him so cheap, but when we started to do a bit of work with him, things obviously changed and he passed his scope with flying colours come the ready to run sale.
“He had a good pedigree and I’d done a bit of research about some of the others out of the mare.
“We had a half-sister ourselves at the time and she’d won a couple of races and we had a high opinion of her.
“Chad (Ormsby) broke him in, we spelled him and then put him back in work and got him up to three-quarter pace, then he (Chad) did the work at the end and did a great job with him.”
Immediacy won his first three starts for Busuttin and Young, including the G2 Autumn Classic (1800m) by three lengths, before his first defeat at the hands of Riff Rocket in the G1 Rosehill Guineas (2000m) at his previous start.
As well as the progressive three-year-old, Lowry also sold exciting prospect Jimmysstar (NZ) (Per Incanto) to Australian connections last year.
The son of Per Incanto won two of his first three starts in New Zealand and his former trainer said he’s enjoyed watching him go through his grades for Ciaron Maher.
“There have been a few horses racing well over there (Australia) that we’ve had a bit to do with,” he said.
“We do a lot of trading and we enjoy it when they train on.
“We sold Jimmysstar to Ozzie Kheir.
“We get a big kick out of seeing horses like Immediacy and Jimmysstar kick on in Australia.”
