Written by Jessica Owers
So much of the sport of racing is wheeling and dealing, and when it works out it’s a fine thing. For Cambridge-based trainer Ross McCarroll, it’s working out nicely at the moment with the chocolate-coloured, undefeated 4-year-old mare Yonce (NZ) (Proisir).
At Caulfield on Wednesday, in the last event of the day, the imported Yonce made it three lifetime starts for three wins with a narrow victory in the 1400-metre The Mary Bell. She was a 0.2l winner at odds-on.
In the dying stages of the race, the mare was headed by the Berwickshire Bloodstock horse Ayahuasca (Tavistock {NZ}), but she crept back in touch to land the win and it was a tenacious effort by all accounts.
“The better ones I’ve had have done that,” said McCarroll, speaking to TDN AusNZ. “They fight back and they’ve got a bit of heart, so you’d like to think that will stand to her.”
McCarroll watched on from his Cambridge sidelines on Wednesday, his vested interests in the mare going right back to her yearling days in 2019.
Passed in, best dressed
Yonce caught the attention of McCarroll at the 2019 New Zealand Bloodstock Premier Yearling Sale. The filly was in Book 2, a clean brown horse by the Rich Hill Stud resident Proisir from the Zabeel (NZ) mare Ziva.
Ross McCarroll | Image courtesy of NZ Racing Desk
Ziva was an Australian-bred half-sister to the dam of So Si Bon (So You Think {NZ}). She’d had moderate sale results and that continued when Yonce went through the ring on behalf of vendor Woburn Farm. The filly was passed in with a reserve of NZ$30,000.
But McCarroll liked what he saw.
“She was pretty correct and her x-rays and scopes were clean,” the trainer said. “She was a good type and she reminded me of a good horse we used to have years ago in Signet Ring, who was a top 2-year-old. She was a dead-ringer of her and that was probably why I liked her so much.”
“She (Yonce) was a good type and she reminded me of a good horse we used to have years ago in Signet Ring, who was a top 2-year-old.” - Ross McCarroll
Yonce entered McCarroll’s Cambridge yard where she was third in a 2-year-old trial in 2020 and third again in a trial the following November. Despite promise, she didn’t race for McCarroll in New Zealand.
“She went shin-sore after her first trial and we turned her out, then we brought her back in, trialled her and she went a little bit sore again,” the trainer said. “So we backed off which was when we received the offer for her from Australia.”
Ozzie options
Yonce’s first trial at Waikato in July 2020 caught the attention of leviathan owners Ozzie Kheir and John O’Neill. From across the ditch they offered good money for the mare, and McCarroll sold 50 per cent.
Yonce (NZ) as a yearling | Image courtesy of New Zealand Bloodstock
But what was it about that initial trial that grabbed their interest?
“She missed the start and ran third, but she was only beaten a head and a neck,” McCarroll said. “She was under a stranglehold and the horse that won that day ended up running fourth or fifth in the Thousand Guineas here in New Zealand.
“She really wasn’t asked to do anything at either of her trials down here. She was just there for education.”
Yonce (NZ) wins The Mary Bell at Caulfield
Yonce headed to Ballarat, to the care of Ciaron Maher and David Eustace in January 2021, exactly a year ago, but it took a while for the mare to appear on any track. She first raced last December in a 1200-metre debut at Mornington, which she won convincingly.
“Apparently she didn’t settle in that well over there, so they backed off her and decided to give her more time,” McCarroll said.
Since then, Yonce has hit her straps.
Ciaron Maher
After Mornington, she raced at Sandown on January 5 and won over 1400 metres. She won again this week, making it nearly $113,000 in earnings in a narrow five weeks.
For McCarroll at home in Cambridge, it’s been anything but bittersweet. He has enjoyed every minute of watching his mare win in Melbourne, and he’s far from disenchanted about losing her to Australia’s riches.
“Have you tried to race a horse in New Zealand?” he said. “The stakes money here is absolutely ridiculous, and the horses I’ve sent over there that are up to the class can win so much more money and they’re so much easier to place with weights.”
"The stakes money here (New Zealand) is absolutely ridiculous, and the horses I’ve sent over there (Australia) that are up to the class can win so much more money and they’re so much easier to place with weights." - Ross McCarroll
McCarroll added that Yonce is more than up to her tasks.
“I think she’s stakes class,” he said. “They’re talking about running her over 1600 metres at Flemington in February next time out. It’s obviously up to them where she goes, but that’s what’s been mentioned.”
