Friday Flash – 22nd November

Fortuna has only one runner this week –  FEDERATION who contests the Class 3 1200m event at Kranji Friday 22^nd November. Now a four time winner in Singapore during 2019, this fellow is punching well above his weight – his last start win when resuming off a freshen in the Grade and trip was strong – up in weight and meets a similar quality field – nice draw from barrier 5 and a top man in Benny Woodworth in saddle – he won’t get it all his own way but presents as a strong each way chance in this

Matamata Track work this week – Fortuna Runners –

Tuesday 19^th November

Plough:

Madame Cherie (M Roustoby) galloped pairs over an easy 800 metres – she is aimed at the Cambridge trials Tuesday 26^th November

READY TO RUN Sale Update –  Fortuna acquires lovely 3yo Type Filly by Charm Spirit

Heading into the commencement of the 2019 Ready to Run Sales and wanting to buy a 3yo Type Filly, we had narrowed the field down to just two lots, Lot 165 – a Charm Spirit Filly and Lot 211, a Reliable Man Filly – as always we had set a budget and were reasonably confident that one of these two lovely types would come in at or under budget. Lot 165 came into the ring mid afternoon Wednesday, was strongly bid and was passed in at $100k, against our budget of quite a bit less than that. Undeterred we decided to see how we went on Thursday morning with Lot 211, however it was sold for $120k and we didn’t even get a chance to bid. David Ellis suggested that he go back and negotiate with the Vendor of lot 165 and I  agreed to this. David played “hardball” saying that he only had $87,500 to spend and after a bit of toing and froing – the Vendor (who is Hong Kong based) agreed – so this lovely filly is now ours – well done David

Click HERE to see link to Lot 165 sales info including an excellent Breeze up Video Clip in quick time (10.69secs). I had inspected this filly on Wednesday with Jamie and she is a strong looking filly who will develop into a lovely 3yo. And get this – she is Karaka Million Series Registered – so while she is no show of making the 2yo race this coming January, strong performances from her during the Spring of 2020 may well see her take her place in the Karaka 3yo Classic (1600m) for $1m at Ellerslie in January 2021 Here is what Jamie says about her “John – David, Mark and I identified this filly early in our inspections as a stand out type – physically correct, she breezed up strongly and has the size and scope to develop into a lovely 3yo type – she walks well and is great buying at this price.”

Charm Spirit (by Invincible Spirit), the leading first season Sire in NZ in 2018/19,  is a young stallion on the rise, while her dam Scattercat, is a race winning mare and a half sister to the Group One winning mare Captivate – this is the family of Culminate, Solstice and Solvini, a great female performing family

We are still doing paperwork for this syndicate so nothing up on the website just yet, however we are taking “expressions of interest” at this stage (on a no obligation basis), so register your interest now and beat the rush – each 1% share in “Charmaine” (her stable name) will be $1400 with ongoing payments of $36 per month per each 1% from 1 February. Note that we took expressions of interest on Khafeef recently we were oversubscribed very quickly, so if this filly appeals, make sure you register your interest

This includes cost of horse, gst, promoter fees, insurance to 31 Jan 2021 and over $9000 of working capital Please email John now or call/text 021 921 460 to register interest

Oh and get this – the Vendor has just been in touch with me and wants to retain a 10% share!!!! – how is that for a vote of confidence from him