Worldwide interest in New Zealand Oaks winner Pulchritudinous

Last Saturday’s New Zealand Oaks heroine Pulchritudinous could head to Sydney for the Australian Oaks at Randwick next month, it just may not be with current trainer Chad Ormsby.

Waikato-based Ormsby has fielded plenty of inquiries about the filly over the last week from prospective buyers throughout the world, and he is keen to strike a deal.

The daughter of Wrote was purchased by the trainer, under his Riverrock Farm banner, out of Milan Park’s 2022 New Zealand Bloodstock Book 2 Yearling Sale draft for NZ$32,500 (£15,500/€18,000) as a pinhook prospect for the Ready To Run Sale later that year, however, she failed to meet her NZ$50,000 reserve.

That initial disappointment has turned out to be one of the best things to happen in Ormsby’s training career, with the now three-year-old filly having won three of her seven starts, including the Oaks and the Group 2 Lowland Stakes a week prior, and nearly NZ$390,000 in prize-money.

Now a strong prospect for the Australian Oaks ahead of a potential Cups campaign in the spring, Pulchritudinous has become a filly in demand.

Ormsby said: “She’s really well, I’m really happy with her. You wouldn’t know she’s had a run, she could go again.

“There are a couple of parties from overseas that are interested in buying her. We’ll see what we can come up with there first [before making any plans].

“They’re from all parts of the world at this stage – Australia, America and Japan. It’s quite encouraging that a New Zealand thoroughbred is on the map.

“Outside Orchestral, she looks the standout [three-year-old filly in New Zealand], and they might even meet in the Australian Oaks.

“A lot of them [prospective buyers] are looking longer term for a Caulfield Cup/Melbourne Cup sort of horse. That is the mould she fits, especially when she’s running out 2,400 metres [mile and a half] pretty strongly.”

He added: “We haven’t got too long before we need to make a decision on whether she goes to Sydney, but it’s just a matter of the process that we’ve got to ride with at the moment.”

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