Trans-Tasman Group One winner Prowess became the fifth mare to break the million-dollar barrier on Gavelhouse Plus when she sold for $1,452,500 on the online platform on Thursday evening.
Prowess has followed in the footsteps of the $1,202,500 purchase Spanish Whisper, $4,100,000 record-breaker Avantage, $1,750,000 buy Baggy Green and $1,100,000 purchase Amarelinha.
There was huge anticipation in the lead-up to the sale of Prowess, whose spectacular victories in the Vinery Stud Stakes (2000m), Bonecrusher New Zealand Stakes (2050m) and Karaka Millions 3YO (1600m) made her the best-performed daughter of Proisir to be offered in a public auction.
Bidding hovered around the $800,000 mark for most of the auction’s final day on Thursday, but it came to life within the final 10 minutes as major studs on both sides of the Tasman joined the fray. Bids were exchanged in quick succession throughout an action-packed 20 minutes before the elite five-year-old was knocked down to an Australian buyer for $1,452,500.
Prowess won eight of her 12 starts and more than $1.5 million in stakes for an ownership syndicate headed by Dean Skipper, who watched on with delight as he prepared to depart from Queenstown for an Australian holiday.
“We’re absolutely stoked,” Skipper said. “It’s a great result for us and a great result for her, and now she can go on to the next phase of her career and get every opportunity to succeed.
“Going into this auction, anything was going to be a bonus. We buy horses to race, not sell. We had our fun with her and got a fantastic return, along with some memories that we’re going to have forever. So to cap it all off with this auction result tonight, we’re just really stoked. We couldn’t have asked for anything more.”
“It was obviously an honour to be able to sell her for Dean and Janie Skipper,” said gavelhouse.com general manager Haylie Martin.
“She was a $230,000 buy at Karaka through Roger James and Robert Wellwood and they’ve had a wonderful adventure racing her. With her racing and sale proceeds they’ve now usurped $3,000,000 so it’s a great result.”
“As always we are grateful to the purchaser and also Cambridge Stud who got the mare on the market at the million mark and were strong throughout.”
Prowess was trained during her top-class racing career by Roger James and Robert Wellwood. Earlier this month, James described her as one of the finest horses to have graced his Cambridge stable.
“I’ve been lucky to have a number of high-class horses over the years, and she was right up in the very top category,” James said.
“Her career was just highlight after highlight. She scored a scintillating win against an elite field in the Karaka Millions, then became the first three-year-old filly to win the New Zealand Stakes at weight-for-age in more than 30 years. And then, of course, she carried on across to Sydney and dominated the Vinery. She was something quite special.
“On top of what she showed on the racetrack, she was just a fabulous horse to do anything with and is an exquisite physical specimen.”