Sale of Sacred Falls colt lifechanging event for Leahy
WELLINGTON: This year has been a lifechanging one for many, and Finbarr Leahy has been no exception.
The Cambridge trainer sold lot 54, the Sacred Falls halfbrother to stakes winner Stella Di Paco, for $525,000 to a client of Matamata trainer Graham Richardson at New Zealand Bloodstock’s Ready To Run Sale at Karaka yesterday.
Leahy purchased the colt out of Cambridge Stud’s New Zealand Bloodstock book 1 yearling sale draft earlier this year for $80,000, and he was overwhelmed with yesterday’s result.
“It is going to take a while to sink in, but it’s fantastic,” Leahy said.
“This year has been lucky for me at the moment, but for my wife and kids it is going to be lifechanging for them, it’s fantastic.
“You always hope, you always have dreams, and today they have been fulfilled.
“He has been popular. He has been in and out of his box more times than any other horse on the complex, so that is always a good sign.”
The colt is a full brother to Viva Chef, whom Leahy trained in New Zealand before he was exported to Hong Kong where he recently recorded his first victory.
“I was lucky enough to have the full brother [Viva Chef] and it was kind of Gary Carvell to send him to me to train,” he said.
“I won a trial with him and I thought this horse has gears. Luckily, he won in Hong Kong the other night.”
Leahy was impressed with what he saw when viewing his half brother at Karaka earlier this year, and he decided to follow his gut feeling and buy the colt.
“You take a chance and if you like a horse you sometimes have to go with your gut feeling.
Luckily enough, this time it has paid off,” he said.
“A couple of times it hasn’t but this time it has, so we are delighted.”
The colt was offered through Sam Beatson’s Riversley Park draft, with which Leahy usually partners with to pinhook yearlings.
“Myself and Sam and Ben Foote usually go shares in them, we go thirds,” Leahy said.
“This year the boys decided not to come in with me and it worked out well for me in the end.”
Richardson was pleased to secure the colt for his client and he said they were yet to decide where his future lay.
“I bought him for a very loyal but very private client from Hong Kong,” Richardson said.
Richardson labelled the colt’s sire, Sacred Falls, as a major selling factor.
“He [Sacred Falls] is flying,” Richardson said.
“It is sad that he has passed. Most of them just need a bit of time, but they are nice, athletic horses.”
Richardson was also pleased for the vendors and New Zealand Bloodstock in what has been a trying year. — NZ Racing Desk