Written by Keely Mckitterick
Each day of the 2023 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale, TDN AusNZ will find a ‘value buy’, an opportunity that has been spotted even in this hot sale market. In this edition, we look at Lot 294.
Lot 294 – Zoustar x Beirut (Lonhro) (colt) - $90,000
Buyer: Henry Dwyer Racing
Vendor: Two Bays Farm
Ballarat-based trainer Henry Dwyer was happy to front up the $90,000 for the Zoustar colt he described as “physically, a $300,000 horse.” Dwyer knows the family well, having inherited the colt’s dam, Beirut, late in her career and he added a valuable black-type victory to her CV when she took out the G3 Spring S. on her final race start.
The daughter of Lonhro won eight races in total, including five in succession for Dwyer, who admitted, “I would have loved to have had her for a season longer; she was coming into her peak.”
Lot 294 - Zoustar x Beirut (colt) | Image courtesy of Inglis
“She’s (Beirut) had two foals so far, and I wasn’t that interested in them, but this colt is the best type I have seen out of the mare to date,” Dwyer told TDN AusNZ.
As it turns out, this is a family Dwyer knows incredibly well, having trained the colt’s close relation, the speedy Snitty Kitty, a daughter of Snitzel. She won the G2 Caulfield Sprint S. and placed in the G1 Oakleigh Plate.
“The colt is slightly off-set, and buyers would see that as a flaw, but it is a flaw I am willing to work with as it is a familiarity trait; both Beirut and Snitty Kitty were slightly off-set, it didn’t stop the family, and I hope it won’t stop him.
“The colt (Lot 294) is slightly off-set... both Beirut and Snitty Kitty were slightly off-set, it didn’t stop the family, and I hope it won’t stop him.” - Henry Dwyer
“And, if you are going to get a discount like that for a colt that should have made a lot more, I am more than happy to take the punt,” added Dwyer.
With Widden Stud’s Champion Sire Zoustar, a son of Northern Meteor, averaging $477,361 across the sale season, with the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale still to come, $90,000 most definitely appears value.
“There was a Zoustar filly out of Snitty Kitty that physically I didn’t think was a stamp on this colt, and she made a fair bit more,” said Dwyer.
Henry Dwyer | Image courtesy of Racing Photos
“Typically, we have seen the best Zoustars being a big, strong, bay and brown colt type, and that is exactly what he is and looks like.
“Generally, the family takes some time; I think this colt is physically forward enough, so we will just put him through the normal system and see how he goes.”
