Photo: Angelique Bridson
Manawatu dairy farmers Mark and Tania Stratford had a result to savour on the opening day of the New Zealand Bloodstock Ready To Run Sale when their homebred colt by Harry Angel out of Ocean Spray fetched $425,000 to the bid of Hong Kong trainer Mark Newnham and Sweetbriar Equine.
The attractive bay was sold from the draft of Curraghmore and after breezing in an easy 10.75, drew plenty of interest.
The Stratfords purchased Fastnet Rock mare Ocean Spray for just $4,250 and after seeking the advice of Regan Donnison, formerly of New Zealand Bloodstock and now General Manager of Matamata Racing Club.
“I’m a bit emotional,” Mark Stratford said. “We milk 220 cows on 80 hectares near Palmerston North.
“My grandfather always used to talk about Ian Bradbury and the Bradburys who used to train at Woodville. But we were brought up quite poor, so we never had the money to get involved in breeding thoroughbreds.
“And we had ups and downs in our lives, so once we had some money, I thought, ‘you know, we can do it’ and I've been wanting to do it for years.”
Photo: Angelique Bridson
Stratford purchased the mare online and turned to Donnison for advice.
“I pick out what I like and he will say OK or no. With her, he said to me, ‘you could be on to something here because she'd won twice in Sydney, so give her a go’. We got her cheap,” Stratford said.
“Regan suggested Harry Angel.”
The Stratfords also sought guidance from Curraghmore’s Gordon Cunningham who recommended the Ready To Run Sale for the November foal.
“The thing I think about Gordon is, I just respect how honest he is and he works for you. He's not in there for glory. He's just in there to help you out,” Stratford said.
“The colt had to mature because his birthday's actually tomorrow and Gordon looked at him and said, ‘let’s Ready to Run him’.
“I'm so proud that he's going to Hong Kong to a great trainer in Mark Newnham and we'll watch him with a lot of eagerness.”
