Poser provides special start to big week for Pertab

Media Release - Sunday November 13

With his second Ready to Run Sale draft about to go through the Karaka sale ring, Matamata horseman Kurtis Pertab could hardly have hoped for a better start to one of his most important weeks of the year.

Pertab celebrated his second career success as a trainer on Saturday at Tauranga, saddling Poser for an impressive victory by two and a half lengths. But the circumstances surrounding the Ocean Park mare’s big win made this result particularly memorable.

Matamata horseman Kurtis Pertab at Tauranga on Saturday Photo: Trish Dunell

“That was a special result considering what she’s been through,” Pertab said. “She was bred and raced by Mary Chittick, and we broke her in as a yearling and gave her four trials and her first race.

“After that, the plan was always that she would go to Graham Richardson and Rogan Norvall – that’s where Mary usually sends her horses. She raced fairly for that stable, but then ended up being leased down to Andrew Carston in the South Island and never showed anything down there.

Advertisement

“They sacked her and put her up on Gavelhouse, and I was able to buy her back for $500.

“That was her first start for me, 260 days after she last raced, and it’s two years since she originally left our stable. So that was really satisfying. It’s always good when things come together like that.”

The son of respected horseman Paul Pertab, Kurtis had his first winner with Stuff Of Dreams in late September.

“I have about 25 horses in work right now,” he said. “We do a lot of breaking in and pre-training, and we also trial and sell about a dozen horses a year. But then it’s nice to have a couple of others alongside them that we can race and have a bit of fun with.”

Pertab offered his first Ready to Run Sale draft in November of last year, selling six of the nine two-year-olds he offered. He netted a total of $405,000 and average of $67,500, with a top price of $150,000 for a son of Sacred Falls.

“I was pretty happy to come away with six out of nine sold from my first draft,” Pertab said. “Obviously we couldn’t get to Karaka for the sale last year, so I’m really looking forward to that this time around. I’m actually driving up that way right now (on Sunday afternoon). It’s something I can’t wait to experience.”

Pertab will offer a six-strong draft this year and is pleased with the depth and variety on offer. Among them is Lot 211, a Sacred Falls colt who is closely related to Darci Brahma and Burgundy and was bought by Pertab for $32,500 from Book 1 of Karaka 2022 in March.

“I’m stoked with how this year’s draft is shaping up,” Pertab said. “The whole lot of them breezed up in under 10.7 seconds, so I couldn’t be happier with that result.

“There’s some exciting sires represented, with Astern kicking goals in Australia at the moment, Sweynesse getting some good winners in Hong Kong, and Sacred Falls obviously needs no introduction. I think it’s a nice, balanced draft that will hopefully appeal to a few buyers.”

The 2022 New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale will be held at Karaka on Wednesday and Thursday, with selling kicking off at 11am each day. NZ Racing Desk

Advertisment
More Reading...
Kiwi Bred Atishu Set to Shine Again at Flemington
Group One-winning mare Atishu will be seeking redemption in Saturday’s Gr.1 Empire Rose Stakes (1600m) at Flemington after finishing runner-up in the race last year to Pride of Jenni.
Derby déjà vu for Busuttin
Trent Busuttin believes the stars have aligned in his quest for a second Gr.1 Victoria Derby (2500m) title at Flemington.
Derby Dreaming, Who is Bred to Stay?
The Group I VRC Victoria Derby at Flemington on Saturday is worth a whopping $2 million and the testing trip of 2500m means a lot of horses are not going to see it out strongly and this looks a competitive year with a Group I winner coming down from Sydney that has a picket fence next to his name and plenty of locals to take him on, so let’s see what the pedigrees have to say.
Invincible Spirit Retired at Age 27
The Irish National Stud has announced the retirement of Invincible Spirit, the sire of 22 individual Group I winners worldwide, including leading European sire Kingman, and also in Australia he has had a profound influence as the sire of our reigning champion sire I Am Invincible.
Speed is What Sells
There are two Group I events for three year-olds at Flemington on Saturday and both are worth $2million, but the profile of the horses engaged, many of them being colts, couldn’t be more different starting with their purchase price.
New Group One Connected Foals
With Yulong Stud publishing a fantastic photo of first foal for Montefilia by Alabama Express we thought it a good time to highlight a few more foals with Group One connections that have hit the Foal Gallery in the past couple of weeks.
Kia Ora-bred graduates make an impression in Hong Kong
Kia Ora Stud had reason to celebrate on Thursday 31 October after waking up to news of two graduates’ success in Hong Kong overnight.
Golden Eagle – Find the Winner
The $10million ATC Golden Eagle (1500m) is a race that has gone from strength to strength since being first run in 2019, so we’ve taken a look at what’s happened so far in our quest to narrow the 20 strong field in search of this year’s winner.
Juvenile Trial Watch – Randwick
The barrier trials at Randwick on Friday morning featured two heats for juveniles won by a filly that placed in the Group III ATC Gimcrack Stakes and a colt from an outstanding producer that has had six foals to race all winners!
Sires With Winners - Thursday October 31
Here is the full list of 35 stallions which had winners throughout Australasia today with winners and result details.