Riverrock Farm has announced they have sold the majority share in promising stayer, Horace.
The 3-year-old gelding by Preferment has won two of his seven starts, the most recent over 2000m at Cambridge was in impressive fashion, drawing away from the field in the closing stages to win by 4 lengths.
Chad and Aliesha brought Horace (or Zeke as he’s known at home) as a weanling through the 2019 New Zealand Bloodstock May sale. The colt caught Chad’s eye as something that might have a bit of potential and was quick to get results on the board, winning just his second start and becoming the first winner for Preferment in New Zealand.
“He fit the type of horse I like, the type that is going to take a bit of time. He was a bit slow maturing and that’s what I like in potential staying horses. I knew if we gave him a good amount of time to mature, it’ll pay off in the end and it’s looking like it’s going to” says Chad.
While he’s come into his own over the longer distances, there was a period of time where it looked like he might favour a shorter trip, but his runs weren’t quite stacking up to what he’s capable of.
“Some of the runs weren’t as good as they should have been. I trained him as a bit of a sprinter after he won over 1200m, but once we worked out he was going to be more of a stayer and started training him that way, he turned a corner and is showing a lot of promise” Chad explains.
“I think we’ve just started unlocking his potential. His last run at Cambridge showed a glimpse of what he’s capable of."
As for those that have brought into Horace, it’s a case of coming full circle for Linda Huddy and Francis and Christine Cook, of Mystery Downs.
Prominent Queensland owner, Linda Huddy was part of the ownership group who raced Preferment, and Francis and Christine bred Horace before selling him through the Brighthill Farm draft as a weanling.
Horace will head to Flemington to be trained by Mike Moroney who has also took a small share in the horse and is looking forward to seeing how he matures over the coming months.
“I’ve been following him for a while. Right from his first race at Riccarton, he always looked like he was going to be a really nice horse and once he won over 2000m we made a move to purchase a share in him.” Mike explains.
“He looks like he’ll make it into a really nice stayer and there are some nice staying races over here with a lot of good prizemoney.”
“He’s still got a bit of maturing to do and should keep improving. He’s an exciting type and if he continues to show the improvement we think he will, we’ll target him to some of those bigger staying races” says Mike.
“It’s fitting he’s going to Mike, as he’s the first horse we’ve sold to him, and he was named after my grandfather and Aliesha’s grandfather (being Mike’s dad) so it’s nice to be able to keep it in the family,” says Chad.
We’re looking forward to watching Horace perform on Australian soil and hopefully, this will be a fairy-tale ending and full-circle moment for his new owners.