Photo: Ange Bridson
After being an underbidder on the two highest-priced yearlings of the sale, Dean Hawthorne had to wait until the last hour of the Book 1 session on Tuesday afternoon to finally secure one of the fillies on his Karaka wish list.
Hawthorne went to $850,000 to purchase Lot 637. Offered by Curraghmore, the filly is by Proisir out of the Tavistock mare Golden Hind.
Hawthorne was pleased to finally have one of the high-end lots knocked down in his direction, having come up empty-handed on the $2.4 million Savabeel filly that topped the sale on Monday, as well as the Proisir-Donna Marie filly that fetched $1.1 million earlier on Tuesday afternoon.
“We’ve had three cracks here,” Hawthorne said on Tuesday. “We went up to about $1.8 million on the sale-topper and $1 million on the next one. But I thought this filly was right up there with those types of horses.”
Hawthorne bought the filly on behalf of his major client Jonathan Munz’s GSA Bloodstock.
“This filly’s a belter,” Hawthorne said. “We love Tavistock mares. We unfortunately got into a bidding duel with Ronny Wanless, which isn’t good for the health. But she’s a lovely, lovely filly and we’re glad to get her.”
Lot 637 is the first foal out of the unraced Golden Hind, who is a half-sister to the Gr.1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) winner Planet Rock as well as the Group Three winner and Group One-placed Ringo.
“I think she’ll be a 1400m to miler filly,” Hawthorne said. “You can get a fast horse out of Tavistock mares. Tavistock was a sprinter himself. I’m not saying she’ll be a real two-year-old type, but she was an early foal and she might come a bit earlier than we think. Once she matures, I’m hoping she can be a nice Guineas type of filly.”
The $850,000 filly headlined an outstanding Book 1 draft for Curraghmore, who sold all of the 18 yearlings they offered across the three days. They achieved an aggregate of $5.8 million, with an average price of $322,222.
