Kiwi 3YO Pounces to Guineas Victory

Kiwi galloper Celtic Tiger (NZ) (O’Reilly) pounced on his rivals in a last to first performance in the A$100,000 Listed Goldin Farms Morphetville Guineas (1600m) at Morphetville.

Entering the race as a maiden after two starts, Celtic Tiger appreciated the step up to 1600m for the first time for trainer Mick Price, who has bigger targets in mind for the three-year-old.

“It was a good effort by Celtic Tiger and he overcame difficulties to win,” commented Price. “He is still learning but he is a strong, good eating colt who is on the Victoria Derby path.”

A regular visitor to Karaka, Price has had plenty of success with graduates of the National Yearling Sales Series and purchased Celtic Tiger from the draft of Curraghmore, a vendor he has a good history with.

“I purchased him at Karaka from Curraghmore - I am always keen on Gordon Cunningham’s drafts and I have bought many nice horses over the years that have gone on to win including Callanish.”

Ridden by Steven King from barrier 12, Celtic Tiger got back in the initial stages travelling at the tail of the field before pushing off the rail to race one-wide on the turn for home.

Charging through the middle of the field in the home straight, Celtic Tiger appeared on the scene late to dive on the line, narrowly taking victory by a nose over front-runner Ayers Rock (Nicconi) and race-favourite One For One (Duke of Marmalade) in third place.

The three-year-old gelding has earned A$71,390 from his three starts to date for owners Mr R L Harding, Mrs J E Harding, R & C Legh Racing Pty Ltd, Pendant Equine, Wright Racing and Nearco Stud Ltd.

Celtic Tiger was purchased by Mick Price Racing & Breeding at the 2014 Karaka Premier Sale for $160,000 from Curraghmore.

Bred by Nearco Stud, the son of the late Champion Sire O’Reilly is out of Miraculous Miss (Exceed and Excel), runner-up in the Listed William Crockett Stakes. Celtic Tiger is a half-brother to Avisto (Tavistock), the winner of three stakes races last year.

A full-brother to Celtic Tiger is entered in the upcoming New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale of Two-Year-Olds from Ascot Farm.

Catalogues for NZB’s Ready to Run Sale will in letterboxes next week and will be live on NZB’s website this Friday (18 September).

Five NZB Ready to Run Sale graduates won over the weekend with In Flight (NZ) (Fully Fledged), Caton (Reset), Stocky Lady (NZ) (Tavistock), Industrialist Way (Fastnet Rock) and Zataglio (NZ) (Savabeel), racing in Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong.

New Zealand Bloodstock’s Ready to Run Sale of Two-Year-Olds will be held on 18 & 19 November at Karaka with Breeze Ups held on 19 &20 October at Te Rapa Racecourse.

To request a catalogue contact [email protected] or phone +64 (0) 9 298 0055. For news and sales information visit www.nzb.co.nz.