$775,000 Churchill Colts Stars at NZB Ready to Run

The second session of the NZB Ready to Run Sale in New Zealand this week was topped by a stunning Churchill colt from Bagitol that sold for $775,000 providing a sensational pinhook result for Riverrock Farm’s Chad Ormsby.

He purchased the good looking son of unraced Pierro mare Bagitol from the Twin Hills draft at Inglis Premier in Melbourne for just $25,000 and was ecstatic when he sold to Hong Kong based Patella Bloodstock after breezing up in 10.42 seconds.

“We honestly couldn’t believe we were getting such a high-quality colt for that price in Melbourne earlier in the year,” Ormsby said.

“We rated him so highly from the moment we first saw him, and he’s turned out exactly how we hoped he would. There’s so many stages where things can go wrong in this business, but all the way through his preparation, he’s just kept on developing. He’s really become the horse we always thought he’d be.”

The colt won a trial at Waipa on October 1, after which Ormsby took a big risk and turned down a significant offer to purchase him privately and his faith has been rewarded.

“He trialled really well before the breeze-ups, and we knew after that performance that we had a pretty special individual,” Ormsby said.

“We turned down good money after that trial. It was a lot of money and not easy to say no to, especially for a small operation like ours with only about 10 horses every year.

“It’s an amazing result and it’s just a credit to the horse, he’s an absolute weapon of an animal.”

Churchill had another good result on the first day of the sale when a gelding from Latest Plan (USA) made $375,000 for Leanach Lodge when bought by Magus Equine. He was also a pinhook winner bought for just $30,000 at Karaka Book 2 by Phil Cataldo Bloodstock.