3 minute read
Howley, Williams and Smith secure Wentworth Grange-consigned colt for $360,000
Almanzor’s (Wootton Bassett) first southern hemisphere crop of yearlings could not have been better received by buyers and on Monday the stallion was subject to another good result at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale when trainer Liam Howley teamed up with New Zealand bloodstock agents Andrew Williams and Bevan Smith to purchase a colt by the Cambridge Stud shuttler for $360,000.
This is the second good result for the son of Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj) at the Sydney sale, having had another of his sons purchased by Haras d'Etreham and Cambridge Stud for $400,000 during the opening session of the sale on Sunday and overall he has had five yearlings sell for an aggregate of $970,000, recording an average of $194,000.
Catalogued as Lot 309, Monday’s headline colt was offered by New Zealand-based Wentwood Grange and he is out of Listed-placed mare She Is Stryking.
The colt’s third dam is Listed winner Fashion Victim (Rory’s Jester), while further afield the yearling hails from the same family as Group 3 scorer Celestial Show (Serheed).
The bidding opened at $40,000 slowly smashing through the $300,000 barrier and Howley said that always pulls a buyer into a false sense of security, but that he and the team had rated the colt would make around the figure he eventually realised.
“I don’t know why they start so low sometimes, I reckon it’s just to get the heart going and make you think you’re going to get it a lot cheaper than you do,” said Howley. “We knew what he was worth and we had set a figure probably just above that and thankfully he has landed on the mark.
“He really is a wonderful athlete, he carries himself beautifully and he vetted out clean which is tough to do at these sales. You often have a few on your list and the vet knocks them off pretty quickly. But he was perfect and I can’t wait to get him going.”
The first crop of Almanzor have proved popular in the southern hemisphere with three of his yearlings selling for a gross of $1,520,000 at an average of $506,667 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, while at the New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale he had 42 lots sell for a gross of NZ$8,130,000 at an average of NZ$193,571.
Howley expressed his admiration for the yearlings by the stallion and said he was happy to have finally secured one for this stable.
“You just can’t fault the Almanzors as types. The moment they walk out of the box you are starstruck by them, everyone of them here to do are all good. They made their money on the Gold Coast, they were outstanding and made their money there, and probably more than we could pay there - but I can’t wait to get this bloke home.”
Explaining the partnership, Howley continued: “Andy Williams has been a great mate of mine for a long time and Bevan Smith has come on board, they are good friends and they have some good clients behind them and I’ll throw a few of mine in and we will have a good time racing.”
