One of the interesting sales on the final day of the recent Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale was lot 720 - an imposing chestnut claimed for $50,000 by Gai Waterhouse, Adrian Bott and Kestrel Thoroughbreds.
It is not a rare sight to see that leading stable put their hands up for great types but is not often that a son of an unraced stallion ends up going their way - such as the case with this eye-catching son of Bombora Downs' De Gaulle.
Bred by Quilly Park's Richard Anderson - owner of De Gaulle - the colt was heavily praised by those who inspected him; his strength, style and action all impressing.
"He has been a stand-out since day one," Anderson enthused, happy to be remaining in the ownership of the colt who he nicknamed "Picasso" because "he was that good-looking - like a great painting!"
"I was very proud to take him to the market," Anderson said, "it was great to show off an example of the sort of horse De Gaulle is siring."
The colt, whose dam Midnight Gold is a daughter of the mighty Zabeel, is the result of a pedigree plan that sees him boast a very interesting cross of his own third dam Patrona - the dam of De Gaulle's recently retired high achieving sire Exceed And Excel.
"My friend Ross Prowd noticed her online and told me to take a look at her and I thought 'oooohhh'! It is not often you get to try a mating like this and the result is so impressive. The mare is back in foal to De Gaulle so we have lots to look forward to."
Anderson is keen to see the progeny of De Gaulle end up in as many hands as possible and to that end has nominated a group of well related mares in foal to him for the next Inglis online sale.
Already the sire of eight winners and five placegetters amongst his first 18 runners, De Gaulle has some very nice horses coming through including a couple close to debuting off good trial form - the Nell Carter trained Vores and the Symon Wilde trained Tremamore.
Due to injury De Gaulle did not make it to the track but the son of the dual Gr.1 winning mare Response - also dam of the Gr.1 Golden Slipper winner Estijaab and last year's Gr.3 Concorde Stakes winner Remarque - showed plenty of potential trialling extremely well against some of the best juveniles of his year.
The track's loss may well end up being the smaller breeder's gain with De Gaulle's superior bloodlines on offer at a value fee.
For further details on De Gaulle, an ideal VOBIS horse who stands at a fee of $5500 (incl gst) contact Richard Anderson on 0412 560 051.
