Promising four-year-old Bold Mac (NZ) (The Bold One) made an auspicious debut from his new Sydney quarters when he struck first up for the Chris Waller stable at Rosehill on Saturday.
The winner of three of his nine starts in New Zealand, Bold Mac was bred by Bernie Gudsell, who races the gelding with members of his extended family.
The talented galloper had his first trial under the tutelage of Wanganui trainer Graeme Swann before being transferred to the stable of Colin Cromarty who had handy galloper Bonny Ezra (NZ) (Road To Rock) in his Waverley operation for the Gudsell family.
“I was training Bonny Ezra for Paul Gudsell when the family offered me Bold Mac as a yearling,” Cromarty said.
“Bernie, who is in his 90s, had bred him and they had tried to sell him but didn’t get anywhere with that, so the family all got together to race him with Bernie.
“I was offered him but I had a few too many at the time so couldn’t take him, so he went to Graeme Swann and he ran second in a trial for Graeme before he ended coming back to me.”
A pair of trial wins for Cromarty saw the son of The Bold One line up as a hot favourite for his first start at New Plymouth in March last year, however he reared as the gates opened and tailed the field home to finish an inglorious last of the 11 runners.
Photo credit: Race Images – Peter Rubery
“We had pretty high hopes for his first start but he disgraced himself at the start and totally missed away and that was that,” Cromarty said.
“He was quite a touchy horse as a youngster but as he matured, he started to settle down and so we took him back to the trials before we gave him his second start at Woodville and he ended up winning that pretty comfortably.
“He ran second next up then we put him away for a break and he won fresh-up at Awapuni and then he had a few placings before we gave him another little break and he won his third race for the family at Hawera in May this year.”
The Gudsell family had been fielding a number of offers for the horse during his campaign but were reluctant to sell due to the pleasure he was providing for them all, so after his win at Hawera the decision was taken to try him in Australia.
“The family weren’t keen to sell him as he was Bernie’s horse and they wanted him to get as much pleasure out of racing a good one as possible,” Cromarty said.
“When he won at Hawera he went to a 76 rating here and it meant he would probably have to take on open company or similar after that.
“The family had sent Bonny Ezra over to Chris (Waller) and he was going well so they approached Chris to see if he would take Bold Mac as well.
“Chris has said the best time to send a New Zealand horse was when they were rated below 80 as that meant they could go through the grades in Sydney if they had ability.
“When Bonny Ezra went over Paul Gudsell very generously gave me a ten percent share in him and they did the same with Bold Mac, so I have been very lucky.
“It was a hell of a thrill to see him win on Saturday and I know everyone involved with the horse got a real kick out of it.
“We got a post-race report from Jay Ford who rode him and he was very complimentary about the horse and his future prospects there.
“Apparently, he has settled in really well and they think he can certainly win more than just one race over there.
“Unfortunately, no-one could go over to be on hand at the track and I know a couple of the boys went to the All Blacks test in Wellington later in the day so I’m picking the win with the horse was the most excitement they got on the day.”
Bold Mac is out of the useful racemare Mrs Mac, a half sister to seven race winner Zumba, who has had some difficulty in the breeding barn since foaling Bold Mac, however Cromarty reported she was currently in foal to Grangewilliam Stud stallion The Bold One and set to produce a full sibling to Bold Mac later in the year.
“They have had a bit of bad luck with Mrs Mac as she has either slipped or failed to get in foal since she produced Bold Mac but I understand she is in foal to The Bold One again which is great for the family.
“Her first foal was a filly by Zed and only had the one start so if Bold Mac can do the business in Sydney, then it will certainly help make the family from a breeding perspective for both his dam and the filly they have retained.”
Bold Mac has now won four of his ten starts and over A$131,000 in prizemoney.
