Racing: Ross McCarroll still cashing in on bargain $100 horse

Embezzler won at Ellerslie on Saturday. Photo / Race Images

Ross McCarroll didn’t have to think long or hard to name a filly he bought for loose change at Karaka in 2007.

The Cambridge horseman handed over $100 for a yearling offered through Wentwood Grange’s draft at New Zealand Bloodstock’s Autumn Mixed Bloodstock Sale and her subsequent moniker was apt on two fronts.

“Because she was by Desert Fox, we called her Stole, which is worn around your neck [often a fur], but now it’s become more the other way [price],” McCarroll said.

“I watched her at Karaka and she was a good walker, there were no bids, so I got her, and she ended up a really good mare. It’s probably the best $100 I’ve ever spent.”

Stole emphasised the value of the bargain basement transaction during a career that netted six wins, a runner-up finish in the Group 2 Matriarch Stakes (2000m) at Flemington and banked more than A$230,000.

McCarroll has successfully bred from Stole, and at Ellerslie on Saturday, the money theme continued when he prepared her son Embezzler to win the open 2200m handicap.

The Contributor gelding is one of a quartet of winners for the mare,

who collected three victories and six placings from her first 13 starts before she was sent to McCarroll’s good friend and expatriate Kiwi trainer Brian Jenkins in Melbourne.

“I already had a horse called Figure Of Speech over there and he was coming to the end of it, so I sent Stole over to Brian and brought the other horse back,” he said.

“I’ve got the mare in the paddock at home and she’s retired now. She’s got a little bit of a breathing problem, hopefully she should be around for a few more years.”

Stole’s last foal is a colt by Super Easy, who is making all the right moves.

“I really like him, he’s a 2-year-old and is very much like Embezzler. She’s also had Pinched [three wins], who was good but broke down, and Contraband was another really good horse. He won for us and we sold

him to Hong Kong but he didn’t do quite as well up there as I thought he would.”

Embezzler is a lightly tried 5-year-old who has amassed three wins and two placings from his 15 appearances and could also venture across the Tasman.

“He’s not overly big, so we have to be a bit careful with him. He may end up in Australia if they hammer him too much with the weight.”

LoveRacing.NZ