Gerry Harvey, businessman who owns and breeds, gave yearling sale attendees food for thought as two passed-in horses from him grabbed back-to-back feature races at Randwick.
His homebred mare Chidiac had won the Country Championships Final (1400m) just 35 minutes before colt Campione D’Italia seized the Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m).
Campione D’Italia is jointly owned by Harvey and a star-studded team led by Henry Field’s Newgate Bloodstock, with the colt having failed to sell at reserve earlier.
“I passed it in, and Henry Field and I had a talk. I said, ‘I want six hundred (thousand dollars) mate’, and he said, ‘I’ll give you five hundred’ and I said, ‘get lost’. Then I thought I better do it,” Harvey said.
“It’s a very exciting day because we just had the country winner as well. We passed it in for $25,000. No-one wanted it.
So if you want to buy a horse from my horse studs, always buy the passed-in ones. Never buy in the ring. You’ll do much better buying a passed-in one.”
As a Snitzel son, Campione D’Italia boosted his future stud career with the Group 1 result, building on a sharp fourth from behind in the Golden Slipper (1200m).
Chris Waller, trainer, pointed to the improved draw and the colt’s evolution as the game-changers.
“Today was his fourth career start and each run has got a little bit better, a little bit better,” Waller said.
“His run in the Golden Slipper was amazing. He just got too far back. It was no-one’s fault, and the horse is just learning all the time.
He got a lovely draw today, and that was the difference between having him in the firing line or going back like he was last start.
It was good to see him knuckle down and get the job done.”
Waller is mulling the Champagne Stakes (1600m) next, a race stablemate Militarize won three years ago after the Sires’.
“Militarize, he won the Sires’ and then he won the Champagne, so I’ll have a talk to the team and see what they suggest,” Waller said.
“We’ve got to nurse him a little bit, so we’ll see how he comes through it.”
Campione D’Italia ($4.20) scored by three-quarters of a length from Miss Chanel ($15), with Fireball ($18), another Waller runner, third by the same.
Fireball could head to the Champagne Stakes if he bounces back well.
Track Sires’ Produce Stakes form on racing betting markets via trusted Australian betting sites.
