Paul King bought a colt by the stallion Maurice for $210,000 at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale.
Paul King of Orbis Bloodstock had to beat off strong competition from Ciaron Maher for a colt by the first-crop of Arrowfield Stud shuttler stallion Maurice (Screen Hero) at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale on Tuesday, eventually taking the colt home for $210,000.
Paul Messara said he was delighted with the result and said the colt was the image of his multiple Group 1-winning sire.
"To be honest, he is an image of his father," said Messara. "I don't think we've had a horse on the farm that is closer to their sire than he is. He is an absolute spitting image and a fantastic example of what the stallion can produce. He's out of a Not A Single Doubt mare and we know that works here."
Messara said he was pleased with the way the market has responded to the stallion's first crop and was buoyed to see all the good judges on his yearlings in the sales ring.
"They have sold really well and good judges have been all over them. I guess the great thing going forward is that the buying bench, the true professionals in our industry, have such a high opinion of his progeny.
"They have been all going to top-end stables and that helps.
"There was spirited bidding on him all the way through. There were four people on him all the way and Ciaron Maher was the under-bidder.
"He is going to Kim Waugh, so we are delighted."
Catalogued as Lot 574 and offered by Arrowfield Stud, the colt is out of winning Not A Single Doubt (Redoute's Choice) mare Zing And Swing.
Zing And Swing herself is out of Zest (Marauding) who also produced Group 3 winner Zestful (Redoute's Choice) and the dam of Group 2 winner Military Rose (General Nediym).
Zest is a three-quarter-sister to Cloister (Marauding) - the dam of multiple Group 1 winner Melito (Redoute's Choice), while this is also the family of Group 1-winning sire Zeditave (The Judge).
Maurice won six Group 1s - three in his native Japan and three in Hong Kong - and is widely regarded as one of the best horses to come out of Asia. His yearlings have been well received at the sales in Australia and he finished the Classic sale with 12 yearlings selling for an aggregate of $1,178,000 at an average of $98,167.
King said he was really taken with the colt and said he still had some maturing to do and expects him to be more of a three-year-old than a two-year-old.
"He is a very athletic looking colt, great walker and a great attitude. I think he's got a bit of maturing to do and I think he looks more of a three-year-old than a two-year-old, but I just loved the horse all over.
"He looks very similar to his dad and I just hope he has the same ability.
"This is the first yearling we've bought by the sire and it will be interesting to see how they perform. I loved him as a racehorse himself, he was a very tough horse which is typical of a Japanese-bred. We will just wait and see how he progresses through and he will tell us when he is ready to run and when he is not."
