Photo: Trish Dunell
Toowoomba trainers Tony and Maddy Sears teamed up with Paul Moroney Bloodstock and Catheryne Bruggeman to purchase the top lot on Day 1 of Book 2 at the New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sales when going to $220,000 to secure a stunning colt by Time Test.
Presented by Leanach Lodge, the brown colt enjoyed a significant pedigree update since the catalogue went to print, with his half-brother Pendragon now the winner of the Gr.2 Auckland Guineas (1600m) and runner-up in the Karaka Millions 3YO (1600m) for trainers Michael Moroney and Pam Gerard.
The father-daughter training combination were in attendance at Karaka for the first-time last year, where they purchased six yearlings, one of whom is the Listed winner Beau Dazzler who finished seventh in last Saturday’s Karaka Millions 2YO (1200m), charging through the line late.
“We bought a few last year and they look like they’re OK, so we’ve decided to come back and load the gun again and get a few more good ones hopefully,” Tony Sears said.
“We waited all day hoping that we could get him for under $250,000, which we have, and I bought him for a client in Australia.
“Most people would say that he’s a lovely type of horse and Paul Moroney told us early yesterday that he thought he was one of the picks of the sale in Book 2. We just go along with what he says, he’s never too far wrong.”
Sears was able to lean on Moroney and Bruggeman’s knowledge of the family, with the duo having purchased both Pendragon and a Zacinto half-sister last year. The pair are out of the Pour Moi mare Kerre.
“Paul said he’s thrown a lot to Sadler’s Wells and he was very keen on him,” Sears said. “He thought he was a great looking colt and we’re looking 12 months ahead when we think he’ll develop into a beautiful animal.
“We were active in Book 1 and bought a couple of nice Ocean Parks. We paid a bit of money ($150,000) for one of them and we happened to buy a cheap one ($40,000) yesterday.
“We also managed to purchase a Redwood filly ($75,000) this morning, who was another one on our list and now we’ve bought this colt. We’ll see how we go [on Thursday and Friday].”
Leanach Lodge Principal Ross Mackay was pleased with the result and said the Time Test colt had been well-admired all week.
“We were certainly hoping for that sort of money. His reserve was a fair bit under there but there had been a fair bit of activity, and he was busy all week,” Mackay said.
“He behaved like and absolute trooper, he ploughed through his work and was fantastic all week. He is a beautiful colt and it was a dream result getting the pedigree uplift prior to the sale.”
The colt was bred by Cambridge horseman Brett McDonald and his partner Tanya Donaldson, who purchased the colt’s dam for just $3,300 from the Valachi Downs Unreserved Reduction Sale via Gavelhouse Plus.
“They own the mare and were lucky enough to buy her a couple of years ago,” Mackay said.
“They had a good result last year with a Zacinto filly which we sold to Moroneys as well.
“They obviously knew what Pendragon was capable of doing and the Zacinto filly had a trial last week and looks pretty smart as well.
“This colt was another level again and had that little uplift on the page. He was a perfectly clean colt, lovely x-rays and great scope and was everything we could have dreamed for.
“Collectively he was as busy as the whole draft.”
Despite the highlight lot, Mackay said it was a buyers’ market with good opportunities to capitalise on the significantly bolstered New Zealand prize-money.
“We’ll be selling some horses at value after what we have seen today. We have another 11 to sell over the next few days and we have some quality colts and lovely fillies,” he said.
“It’s a great opportunity with the (enhanced) stakes to get behind it and get our mates back into racing. It’s a good opportunity to buy and it looks like people will be buying at value.”
