North Taieri stallion Ghibellines completed a brilliant week when Canterbury galloper El Gladiador ran away from his rivals to win the Dunedin Guineas at Wingatui on Saturday.
There were no signs of the indifferent performance the Karen and John Parsons-trained 3yr-old turned in in the Gore Guineas when instead he led all the way to win the listed 1500m feature for rider Tina Comignaghi.
Last week a Ghibellines colt out of the Monashee Mountain mare Cherry Creek sold in the premier section of the national yearling sales at Karaka for $100,000.
White Robe Lodge studmaster Wayne Stewart described the young sire’s week as a resounding success.
"It’s very exciting," Stewart said.
"It’s a great thrill for everybody and it has been a massive week for us."
White Robe Lodge proprietor Brian Anderton had been expecting the stock of Ghibellines, who made a steady start to their season as 3yr-olds, to really come into their own.
"Brian kept saying to me it will be after Christmas when he [Ghibellines] will really hit his straps," Stewart said.
"And to be fair, it is what our stallions do.
"Once their stock get over more ground and have that maturity, especially with the sort of mares that we have and the climate that we breed in, that is what you should expect.
"And once they get up over a mile or 1500m that is when you are going to see the best of them."
The stallion had three more yearlings in the remaining sections of the Karaka sale that fetched $35,000 and $6000.
Another was passed in for $40,000, before further negotiations started.
Ghibellines went within a nose of siring both the Gore and Dunedin Guineas winners.
His 3yr-old filly, Live Drama, was narrowly beaten in a thrilling finish in the first leg of the Southern Guineas Triple Crown.
The final leg, the Southland Guineas, will be run on February 15.
Comignaghi put her hand up immediately after her Dunedin Guineas victory, and blamed herself for Live Drama getting too far off the pace in the Gore Guineas.
The Argentinian-born jockey made sure that would not happen with El Gladiador when finding the lead and then rating him perfectly in front, though that was not how she saw it.
"I didn’t ride him very good — I think I got too far back and he ran home really good," Comignaghi said.
"I think he is ridden better this way.
"He has been getting back a bit and he is quite a laid-back horse, so I thought I would go forward out of the gates."
El Gladiador relished the change of tactics and was travelling beautifully on the home turn.
"I was concerned about a couple of horses, but at the top of the straight I was travelling really good," Comignaghi said.
"He felt really good all the way to the finish, and he seems to handle any ground."
Tears Of An Angel, who tracked him throughout held second, a length and a-half from the winner.
All About Magic ran in to third, another length and a-half away.
The favourite, Bronte Beach, got too far back and in a tricky spot before the turn, and ran sixth.
