Wednesday was a good day for Raheen Stud for couple of reasons with their exciting filly Certainlycan scoring at Doomben and then later in the day the farm’s young sire Heroic Valour posted his first winner in Hong Kong when James McDonald steered Gallant Valour to victory at Happy Valley.
Trained by Jamie Richards, three year-old gelding Gallant Valour had placed at two of his previous four starts and was favourite for the Class Four sprint over 1200m.
He produced a strong finish to surge home and win by half a length.
“It’s been a very frustrating start to the season, and hopefully we can build a bit of momentum up now. You just need a barrier draw and a bit of luck, and hopefully it continues to flow our way,” said Jamie Richards, after producing his eighth winner of the season.
“He (Gallant Valour) is only a young horse and hopefully he can continue to improve. He had a heart irregularity, which is a pretty common occurrence in my opinion. Hopefully, if he can keep himself together, he can win some more races.”
Gallant Valour was bred by Raheen Stud and sold as a weanling at Magic Millions for $30,000 to James Donnellan/Pinhook Bloodstock before being re-offered as a yearling at the same venue at the MM National Sale where he made $80,000 when snapped up by Kiwi based pinhookers Kiltannon Stables.
Kiltannon Stables hit the jackpot at the NZB Ready to Run Sale last year when he sold for $350,000 to Worldwide Bloodstock making him the highest priced progeny for Heroic Valour ever sold. Below is the breeze that made Gallant Valour a sale ring star.
Gallant Valour is the third winner from three foals to race from Lassila, a metro winning Magic Albert daughter of stakes-winner Cassis. Lassila has no yearling for the sales next year, but did produce a filly by Heroic Valour at the start of spring.
Heroic Valour has seven entries for Magic Millions, four of them to be offered by Raheen Stud.
