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Pearce's Reliable Man Filly Sells Harvey on Venture

Westbury Stud-bred Karaka yearling a first for WA trainer and Magic Millions supremo.

The Reliable Man filly consigned as Lot 768 in the New Zealand Bred Karaka Sale

The Reliable Man filly consigned as Lot 768 in the New Zealand Bred Karaka Sale

Courtesy of New Zealand Bloodstock

Gerry Harvey has bred and raced horses for five decades, but the larger-than-life industry figure, who owns studs on both sides of the Tasman as well as Australian auction house Magic Millions, will have a horse trained in Western Australia for the first time.

It took a Reliable Man filly (Lot 768), bred at Harvey's New Zealand farm Westbury Stud and sold during the opening Book 2 session of the New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Yearling Sale Feb. 1, for the octogenarian businessman to have his familiar royal blue with white crossed sashes on one of his horses in Perth.

By the same sire as group 1-winning fillies Miami Bound, Sentimental Miss, and Inspirational Girl, who won WA's premier top-flight race, the Railway Stakes (G1), for leviathan owners Bob and Sandra Peters; the Harvey-bred Book 2 filly was purchased by the successful Western Australian training partnership of Ben and Daniel Pearce for NZ$75,000 (US$48,366).

The top lot on Day 1 of the second Karaka catalog was the Rich Hill-sold grey colt (Lot 789) by resident sire Proisir, who made NZ$180,000 ($116,080). A colt (Lot 800) by Per Incanto sold for NZ$160,000 ($103,182), and yearlings by Shocking (Lot 700), Merchant Navy (Lot 744), and Reliable Man (Lot 695) also sold for NZ$100,000 ($64,488).

The clearance rate was reflective of the departure of many of the key buyers after Book 1, with the figure sitting at 60% Wednesday, while the average was NZ$41,525 ($26,778) and the median was NZ$32,500 ($20,958).

The metrics are up year-on-year, although that is not surprising considering last year's sale was held in March and to a closed international border. However, Day 1's figures are also up on Day 1 of the Book 2 sale in 2020, the last before the pandemic.

Daniel Pearce, who also bought a Tivaci filly (Lot 238) for NZ$50,000 ($32,244) from Waikato Stud in Book 1, was rapt to secure the Reliable Man filly who also carries the endorsement of respected WA agent John Chalmers.  

"I thought she possibly could be a mile-to-2000-meter Champion Fillies' type of horse. She's out of a Redoute's Choice mare, so there's good dam lines there," Pearce said.

"She's a lovely filly. She's a November foal, so she's going to keep developing as time goes and I am really impressed with her.

"I've been chatting to John a fair bit. I picked her out and I quite liked her, so I got John to have a look and he was really keen on her as well."

Harvey agreed to retain a 20% share in the Lot 768-cataloged filly, who is the second foal out of Flower Of Love, a two-time winner. The Reliable Man filly's 2-year-old half brother Shot of Whiskey is in training with Steve O'Dea and Matt Hoysted in Brisbane for Proven Thoroughbreds. 

Pearce said: "We're stoked to have Gerry Harvey staying in the horse. It's great to have him involved and she'll race in his colors in WA, so hopefully, we can have a bit of success for him."

The Karnup-based Pearces are third on the WA trainers' premiership this season, having prepared 40 winners, two behind Neville Parnham and 14 behind Adam Durrant, who has trained 54.

"We've been in partnership for five years now and this is our best season so far," Daniel Pearce said. 

"We've got some really nice, progressive horses coming through. Black Fantasy and Queen Alina are probably a couple of the main ones over the next 12 months. They're going to be pretty exciting to see."

Now that Pearce, who heads home to Perth today, has experienced his maiden Karaka sale, there's little doubt that he'll be back.

"I've always wanted to come here. A couple of our owners in Perth have bought here previously and they've always spoken highly of the sale and the horses bred over here," he said. 

"That was the main idea of coming here and I am really happy with what I've seen and what I've purchased."

The two fillies are expected to head to WA, via Melbourne, next week.

2023 New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale, Lot 789
Photo: Courtesy of New Zealand Bloodstock
The Proisir colt consigned as Lot 789 in the New Zealand Bred Karaka Sale

Meanwhile, the top lot Wednesday, by the probable champion New Zealand sire of 2022-23 in Proisir, was bought by New South Wales trainer Brad Widdup for the NZ$180,000 price tag.

The yearling is the second foal out of the unraced Reliable Man mare Harriet Wilson, herself a half sister to the stakes-placed Hello M'lady.

"I'm back in Sydney and I thought he would be up around that mark and NZ$200,000 would probably have pulled me up for sure, so I'm pretty happy to get him," said Widdup, who was a fixture at the Book 1 Karaka sale.

"I thought he was a bloody nice horse and I didn't care what sale he was out of. I try to not think too hard about pedigrees, but I obviously really like the sire.

"His x-rays and everything else came up well, so I was happy to go after him."

Widdup plans to let the horse regroup at Rich Hill Stud for the next fortnight before sending him to Australia to be broken in.

The trainer, whose pin-up horse is the New Zealand-bred Icebath, also purchased a Churchill filly (Lot 411) for NZ$200,000 ($128,977), and Lot 424, a Proisir filly, for NZ$240,000 ($154,773).

Widdup's latest Proisir purchase continues Australian buyers' love affair with the progeny of the rising Rich Hill sire, with at least 13 of his Book 1 yearlings and three from yesterday's session heading across the Tasman.

The international buyers again underpinned the top end of the Book 2 market.

"While it was thought Kiwi buyers would come to the fore in the opening of Book 2, it was the internationals who purchased seven of the top 10 lots," NZB managing director Andrew Seabrook said.

"It wasn't easy in the ring today; however, nice colts and fillies were still in demand. We have seen the clearance rate climb since the end of selling, with our team working hard to move horses on the ground.

"Like last year's Book 2 sale, we are expecting things to heat up over the next two days."

Day 2 of the three-day Book 2 sale starts at 11 a.m. NZ time.