Stud cuts fee to keep blueblood purring

To sire a Group I winner from your first crop of foals is a big milestone for any young sire and for Purrealist it became a reality during the Brisbane Winter Carnival when his high class son Hawkspur captured the BRC Queensland Derby.

The Chris Waller trained three year-old reeled off a string of impressive wins claiming the Group III Rough Habit Plate and Grand Prix, before his three length Derby triumph, ending the season with more than $657,000 in prizemoney.

His emergence has really put the spotlight on his sire Purrealist, who has had an interesting career path and now finds himself at Chatswood Stud after the downsizing of Tony and Deslee Santic’s Makybe operation.

Bought for Makybe and partners from the 2006 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale by respected bloodstock agent John Foote for $700,000, Purrealist is a blue-blood being a half-brother by Tale of the Cat (USA) to champion miler Racing to Win.

At the time, the colt was the most expensive yearling by Tale of the Cat sold in the Southern Hemisphere by quite a margin.

Sent to Danny O’Brien and given the name Purrealist, the powerhouse colt quickly showed he was well worth the money.

Second in the Listed MRC Vain Stakes and third in the Group III VRC Danehill Stakes, Purrealist stepped up to the mark in the Group III MRC Guineas Prelude at 1400 metres to score a powerful win that stamped him as one of the favourites for the Group I MRC Caulfield Guineas.

History will show Australian Horse of the Year Weekend Hussler the winner of that Caulfield Guineas from another subsequent Horse of the Year in Scenic Blast, but we will never know how Purrealist would have fared as his Guineas Prelude win was to be his final start.

Purrealist was injured shortly after and retired to Makybe Stud as their foundation sire and produced a first crop of 85 live foals at a fee of $8,800.

His first yearlings sold well at the sales in 2011 and from his first handful of starters emerged slick metropolitan winning two year-olds Pure Hustle, Pure Whisper and Anjea, so it seemed Purrealist was well and truly on his way.

As can often happen with young sires, that early flurry of success failed to translate into anything meaningful and without the public backing of a major stud farm following the sale of Makybe, Purrealist gradually slipped from the commercial radar, but has now rebounded strongly.

He was the sixth leading second crop sire in Australia last season by winners and earnings and had the highest winner to runner strike rate of his peers.

“He is still owned by the same syndicate that raced him and they do support him with some of their own mares, but this year we have decided to drop his fee to $5,500 and get him a bigger book of around 100 mares,” said Greg Willis of Chatswood Stud.

“If we had known he would get the Queensland Derby winner, we wouldn’t have dropped that low, but this is a good thing and it should ensure he gets solid numbers of quality mares.”

Tara Madgwick - Winning Post 6/9/2013