Gut feeling on the money
ASTUTE trainer Graeme McCulloch has long been regarded as a good judge of horseflesh and his latest purchase could be one of his best acquisitions.
Galway Girl made it three wins in succession when she powered her way to an emphatic victory in a benchmark 74 handicap over 1650 min Devon port last Sunday.
McCulloch wanted to purchase Galway Girl as a potential broodmare but how the mare came to land in McCulloch’s Whitemore stables is fascinating, to say the least.
McCulloch and his son, and business partner, Bart
McCulloch, were prepared to spend $25,000 to secure the mare in an online auction but when the bidding reached that figure and McCulloch was the under-bidder, Bart said it was time to stop.
“I was very keen to secure this mare because she is so well bred and was still racing at the time she was put up for auc ti on, ”McCulloch said.
“After the auction had finished, I was still keen to have the mare, so I contacted the person who bought her for $25,000 and offered him $30,000 and the next day he acceptedtheoffer.
“Sometimes you just have to go with your gut feeling and it’s turned out well for us, now that she’s won three and pretty much covered the purchaseprice.”
Galway Girl has the potential to be one of the trainer-
breeder’s best investments in alongtime.
She won two in succession over 1350 min low graded events in Devonport but at this most recent outing she delivered enough to suggest she could even head to a De
vonport Cup. “This mare’s overall times and sectionals have been great and she is only going to get better as the season progresses,” McCulloch said.
“My first thought was to send her toast al lion this year but that is now on hold until next season.
“I was fairly confident she would run well over a mile (1600 m) because she’d already won at that distance interstate and that she loves the synthetic, I am seriously thinking about heading her towards the Devon port Cup .”
Galway Girl (I am Invincible-Whistling Dixie) is the daughter of a Group-winning Pins mare that won the Group 3 Eulogy Stakes over 1600 metres at Ellerslie in New Zealand where she was bred.
“This mare is exceptionally bred and that’s why I bought her but she still wants to bear ace horses owe might as well capitalise on it.
“She is a five-year-old that has had only 14 starts and when you look at her record of four wins and six minor placings, she is clearly talented.”
McCulloch said he would give the mare a couple of weeks in the paddock and bring her back for the Golden Mile (1650m) in Devon port as a lead-up to the Devonport Cup.
UNRACED three-year-old filly Northern Spirit could be one to watch when she makes her de but incoming weeks.
The Siggy Carr-trained filly won a trial in Longford on Tuesday and could not have been more impressive.
The daughter of Needs Further-Sh’bourne Spirit settled fourth in her trial but when her trainer-rider eased the filly off the rails to challenge three-wide she ran home resolutely to defeat Brandum Bay and Cleopatra’s Secret by a halflength.