The team that sourced Magic Millions 2YO Classic winner Sunlight struck again for a More Than Ready colt at the Inglis Melbourne Premier Sale this week.
Trainer Tony McEvoy and Blue Sky Bloodstock (FBAA) agent Julian Blaxland paid $220,000 for the chestnut colt that Vinery Stud catalogued as Lot 377 at Oaklands.
More Than Ready sired him from Adelaide 2yo stakes winner Extension Of Time (Dash For Cash). She was also runner-up in the 2007 Thousand Guineas Gr.1 at Caulfield.
The Premier Sale coincided with four up-and-coming winners by the Vinery legend in Australia and Hong Kong starting with regally-bred 3yo filly Readycatgo on Tuesday.
“She had been trialling nicely,” trainer David Pfieffer after she saluted as a odds-on favourite first-up at Kembla. “She was a little wayward in the straight but had the class required to win.”
Readycatgo cost $180,000 at the 2016 Inglis Easter Sale and is a half-sister to the Pfieffer-prepared stakes winners Gai’s Choice and Atmospherical and the John Camilleri homebred Peron.
Direct Action launched a More Than Ready treble on Wednesday in a 2yo maiden at Ipswich. “He was well beaten first-up at the Gold Coast but got run off his feet,” trainer Stuart Kendrick said after the barrier-to-box victory. “He’s been working very well and we will look at a city race now.”
Kendrick paid $85,000 for Direct Action from the Vinery draft at the 2017 Inglis Classic Sale. More Than Ready got him from Absolvent, an Encosta de Lago half-sister to Todman Stakes Gr.2 winner Krupt.
Perth businessman Bob Peters has been a More Than Ready supporter from the outset and he has another potential black-type winner in Sally’s Realm. She sat three-wide with cover at Ascot on Wednesday before powering home in the Glenroy Chaff Hcp (1400m).
“Bob has a few fillies in the stable being set for the 3yo stakes races and I think Willie (Pike) might pick this one,” co-trainer Grant Williams said. “We were confident after that good run first-up and I really liked the way she hit the line.”
Peters bought Sally’s Realm for $320,000 through Belmont Bloodstock (FBAA) from Vinery at the 2016 Gold Coast Magic Millions. She is a full-sister to More Than Ready stakes winner Better Than Ready.
More Than Ready gave Hong Kong newcomer Michael Freedman and first-time owner Simon Liu a timely kick with Fortune Booth in the Yew Hcp (1200m) at Happy Valley on Wednesday.
“I thought he fitted the right profile for Hong Kong,” Freedman said. “He carries his head a bit high, which isn’t ideal, but he had been running in good races in Australia and he’s a nice big, strong horse.”
Fortune Booth raced as Taj Mahal in Sydney where he won at Warwick Farm for Paul Snowden before finishing close up in a couple of Group 3 events at the 2016 Randwick spring carnival.
His dam Gunawati (Galileo) won at Moonee Valley and is a half-sister to Blue Diamond Prelude Gr.3 winner One Last Dance. Her latest More Than Ready colt has been catalogued (Lot 159) for the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale on April 10.
FORTUNE BOOTH
Owner Simon Liu and Michael Freedman celebrate at Happy Valley
Photo / SCMP