Following the retirement of his stakes-winning mare Casino Princess, Cliff Goss turned to New Zealand Bloodstock’s Ready To Run Sale in search of another filly, which he found early on day one in the form of Lot 25.
Goss was in the spotlight over the past 12 months courtesy of the daughter of Casino Prince, who won the Listed Tauranga Classic (1400m), and post-retirement was sold to Windsor Park Stud via gavelhouse.com.
At the Ready To Runs, the nonagenarian horseman was on the lookout for progeny of Almanzor and soon settled on a filly by Cambridge Stud’s prominent sire, out of a Keeper mare in Lady Aroha, a half-sister to Gr.2 City Of Auckland Cup (2400m) winner and Group One performer Zarius.
“There was a combination of everything, she breezed up very well and she had a good pedigree,” Goss said.
“She was a very relaxed filly walking around before her breeze-up, I always like to see them walking around casually, not jumping around too much. She ticked all the boxes really.
“It’s a bit of a buzz there (at the sales), everyone is trying to buy a horse and it’s whichever horse suits the person. For me, I wanted an Almanzor because he was a champion two-year-old sire. He’s left a lot of speed horses and you’ve got to have that.
“I always preferred colts or geldings, but after I had Casino Princess, I thought she was a good filly, so I’ll settle for another one and hopefully I can find one like her. This filly was the only one I wanted right from the very start, I watched her breeze-up at least 20 times and I thought yes, this is the one.
“I said to myself that I would go to $50,000 and I got her for $45,000, so it was good.”
Goss indicated the filly will now enjoy a break at his daughter and son-in-law, Cherry and Brent Taylor’s Trelawney Stud, before looking for a possible autumn two-year-old preparation.
“She’ll probably be an autumn two-year-old, I’m going to put her out at Trelawney Stud for about a month for a nice freshen-up, then I’ll bring her in and see if she’ll be ready for that,” he said.
