Last Saturday’s Gr.1 New Zealand Oaks (2400m) heroine Pulchritudinous could head to Sydney for the Gr.1 Australian Oaks (2400m) at Randwick next month, it just may not be with current trainer Chad Ormsby.
The Waikato-based horseman has fielded plenty of enquiries about the filly over the last week from prospective buyers throughout the world, and he is keen to strike a deal.
The daughter of Wrote was purchased by Ormsby, under is Riverrock Farm banner, out of Milan Park’s 2022 New Zealand Bloodstock Book 2 Yearling Sale draft for $32,500 as a pinhook prospect for the Ready To Run Sale later that year, however, she failed to meet her $50,000 reserve.
That initial disappointment has turned out to be one of the best things to happen in Ormsby’s training career, with the now three-year-old filly having won three of her seven starts, including the Oaks and the Gr.2 Lowland Stakes (2100m) a week prior, and nearly $390,000 in prizemoney.
Now a strong prospect for the Australian Oaks ahead of a potential Cups campaign in the spring, Pulchritudinous has become a filly in demand.
“She is really well, I am really happy with her. You wouldn’t know she has had a run, she could go again,” Ormsby said.
“There are a couple of interested parties from overseas that are interested in buying her. We will see what we can come up with there first (before making any plans).
“They are from all parts of the world at this stage – Australia, America and Japan. It is quite encouraging that a New Zealand Thoroughbred is on the map.
“Outside Orchestral, she looks the standout (three-year-old filly), and they might even meet in the Australian Oaks.
“A lot of them (prospective buyers) are looking longer term for a Caulfield Cup/Melbourne Cup sort of horse. That is the mould she fits, especially when she is running out 2400m pretty strongly.
“We haven’t got too long before we need to make a decision on whether she goes to Sydney, but it is just a matter of the process that we have got to ride with at the moment.”
Meanwhile, Ormsby said stablemate Master Fay has returned to his farm for a spell following his hit-and-run mission on the Gr.1 Newmarket Handicap (1200m) at Flemington earlier this month where he finished 10th.
“He has arrived home and is going to have a nice, decent break to letdown,” Ormsby said.
“I didn’t make too much of it (Newmarket run) as things went wrong during the race. He over-raced a bit, lost both of his hind shoes, and he had to go from the outside back to the inside. You don’t need those issues when you are running down the (Flemington) straight against those horses.”
After a three-year hiatus from racing, the former Hong Kong galloper burst onto the New Zealand scene in January when wining first-up at Tauranga before heading to Ellerslie later that month where he was eye-catching when taking out the Gr.3 Concorde Handicap (1200m) by 1-/14 lengths, giving Ormsby the confidence to test his gelding’s talents against some of the best sprinters in the world.
“He has only had the four starts and there is a lot ahead of him that we are looking forward to,” Ormsby said. “We will most likely see him back in Australia for his future racing.”
Ormsby’s immediate attention is on racing at Tauranga on Saturday where he will line-up Toa Tuahine in the Craigs Investment Partners Maiden (1400m) and last start winner Outovstock in the Sharon Hall Bayleys Residential 2100.
“Both horses are in-form,” he said. “The maidener (Toa Tuahine) is knocking on the door, she just seems to find one a little better in her last couple of starts. She is always consistent and she will run a good, solid race tomorrow.
“Outovstock is hoping to get down to the Manawatu Classic (Gr.3, 2000m) after this race. Tomorrow will be a nice trial for him, his first run over ground, but he is a horse that we have thought a lot of for a while.”