Earlier, Mill Park Stud’s Chris Watson’s strategic decision to send the Harry Angel (Dark Angel) half-brother to top-class middle-distance geldings Berkeley Square (Territories) and Senor Toba (Toronado) to Melbourne proved fruitful on day two of the Premier sale.
Bred by South Australia’s David Peacock and raised at South Australian nursery Mill Park Stud, the son of SA Fillies Classic (Gr 3, 2500m) placed Bahamas (Teofilo) was always going to be on the radar of Hong Kong-based buyers and it was Upper Bloodstock and Gregory Ho who won the $400,000 bidding duel for Lot 288.
“He’s from the Discreet family that David Peacock has looked after for many, many years and with her producing Berkeley Square and Senor Toba, it is a wonderful result for David again,” Watson said.
“There was massive interest from Asia and, accordingly, it has gone that way. We always thought that was most likely where he’d head.
“He was a lovely type, good, clean x-rays, a great scope, so everything worked in his favour for that result. It couldn’t have gone any better.”
Ross Lao, who runs Upper Bloodstock with Andy Lau, said the colt would be educated and pre-trained by Liam Howley at Macedon Lodge before being sent to Hong Kong to race.
“[Ho] went there and had a look and they liked the place, so we will put the horse there to grow out and get prepared [for Hong Kong],” Lao said.
“We had about three looks at him. After the first look we thought, ‘he’s a bit underdone and immature’ but after we looked at the pedigree [and inspected him again], he appeared to be a staying type with good length and a good stride on him.
“We’ll give him a bit more time to grow and develop.” Watson said the October 28-born colt, whose sibling Senor Toba is currently racing in Dubai for Hong Kong-based trainer Caspar Fownes and the Willie May Syndicate, was well-placed to maximise his value in the Victorian sale.
He said: “We thought, doing the research on the Asian interest, that there were a lot more Asian and Hong Kong buyers coming to Melbourne than most other [Australian] sales.”
Darley shuttler Harry Angel enjoyed a stakes-winning double in the northern hemisphere at the weekend, siring progressive Dubai Group 3 winner Al Dasim and Spring Cup (Listed, 7f ) winner Iconic Moment, an English 2,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1m) entrant who has won three races from as many starts.
He is also the sire of Inglis Banner (RL, 1000m) winner Arkansaw Kid, who is from Harry Angel’s first southern hemisphere crop.
Peacock has continued to support Darley stallions with Bahamas, who produced a Blue Point (Shamardal) colt last November and she was subsequently covered by Pinatubo (Shamardal) on December 8.
Her two-year-old filly Another You (Frosted) was retained by Peacock and she is in work at Ballarat with Dan O’Sullivan who also trains Moonee Valley Vase (Gr 2, 2040m) winner Berkeley Square.
Copy: ANZ Bloodstock News
