PIC: The late much lamented Bill Feiss and Mark after Vincent’s Auckland Cup win.
Like most young stallions in the early stages of their career Vincent (Bill) is still establishing his commercial value.But Jean Feiss who bought and raced him with her late husband, Bill; and Mark- who had such affection for the horse we did not see the best of but saw enough to know how exceptional he was- have the faith and have it strong.
All Stars bought two Vincent yearlings on Wednesday with Nathan taking over the stable bidding. Jean decided to take one of them after missing on one of the lots she liked and she also bought another Vincent later on her own account.
Nathan’s first call was a colt from Love the Odds (Bettor’s Delight) and it would be a surprise if his eyes weren’t drawn further down the page where the name of Amore Vita appeared, Nath having had considerable success with that filly at G1 level in Victoria before returning home. Italian Lad, a speedy member of the All Stars team sold to the USA is another name close up. It is the family further back of Van Glory Vanadium and Bellajilly and it keeps producing.
Jean’s choice fell on a brown colt Franco Summer from the Somebeachsomewhere mare Summer Change and her first foal. The colt has a nicely balanced pedigree and his granddam
Dancingonmoonlight raced with distinction in NZ Australia, Canada and the US in her early career running into the dominant filly,Tupelo Rose, in the G1 features here. She was a tough campaigner running up 100 starts but leaving 7 winners so far from 11 foals.
Nathan’s other purchase, for stable clients, looked a snip at $19k, a half-brother to Franco Nisbet and closely related to Franco Nelson.
Vincent has a few hills to climb to siring stardom-but at least he’s got the best backers on his side.
Mark summed up the sale series by saying “We got most of what we wanted. Not so many lots bought as usual but we will have bigger numbers of non sale horses coming in and we went to keep our numbers to a manageable level with four or five gallopers added to to the mix. It was much like most sales, high demand at the top end but some good buys going in the middle range.”