Well-related New Zealand private purchase, Selica, was a strong debut winner at Moe on Tuesday for Cranbourne trainer Mick Kent, landing the MBSS Security Maiden Plate (1217m) in effortless fashion.
The three-year-old daughter of Makfi is a half-sister to Group One performer Wyndspelle and comes from the same family as Gr.1 Doncaster Handicap (1600m) winner Brutal.
Selica is entered for both the Gr.1 Thousand Guineas (1600m) and Gr.1 VRC Oaks (2500m) this spring.
“I left her in the Thousand Guineas,” Kent said. “The fillies don’t look great at the moment, I saw that race on Saturday (at Caulfield) and I didn’t think they looked great.
“She had a really big base to her. It’s a bit of a rush I guess, but you live the dream and see where she ends up.
“We’ll give her a bit of a fly in something better now and see where she goes.”
Selica had trialled twice in New Zealand for trainer Cody Cole, finishing second at her first trial at Cambridge behind Saone, who was also purchased privately and is nominated for Sunday’s Gr.2 Schweppes Thousand Guineas Prelude (1400m) for trainer Lindsey Smith.
Selica then won her next trial at Te Aroha, defeating subsequent stakes-placed juvenile Ranger before being sold to Australia via bloodstock agent Phill Cataldo.
“At her first trial she ran second to Saone at Cambridge and she found the line well and then she won really well at the Te Aroha trials a few weeks after that,” Cataldo said.
“She pulled up a little bit shin sore so Cody decided to stop on her and that’s when I sold her to Mick Kent and OTI.
“The fact she was a half-sister to Wyndspelle made it a little bit easier, because Mick had trained Wyndspelle when he ran third in the Kennedy Mile (Gr.1, 1600m).
“Mick has been really patient with her and Cody always had a big rap on her as well and obviously, he is a good judge.
“It’s a family I knew and it all just fitted into place. I had an inkling how good Saone was and her trial at Te Aroha confirmed how good she was.” Out of the High Chaparral mare Western Star, Selica was bred and initially raced by Sue Hart before being sold across the Tasman.
