Two-time Oaks winner Pennyweka might return to racing

Pennyweka winning the Group 1 New Zealand Oaks (2400m). Photo / Peter Rubery / Race Images Palmerston North

One of the recent darlings of New Zealand racing could make a totally unexpected racetrack return next season.

But that will be up to whoever buys two-time Oaks winner Pennyweka when she is sold in Sydney next week.

The winner of both last season’s NZ Oaks and then the ATC Oaks, Pennyweka was retired last October after experiencing throat issues.

The four-year-old was first found to have an entrapped epiglottis, a not uncommon issue that is often fixed by a quick lasering surgery which was performed on Pennyweka.

Owner-breeder Jim Wallace says Pennyweka was still experiencing throat issues so the decision was taken to retire her and she was sent to Australia to be let down and prepare for next week’s elite Chairman’s Sale run by Inglis.

It was during that process a potential buyer doing due diligence on Pennyweka asked if they could have their veterinarian do an endoscopic examination of her throat and airways, standard practice for many horses sold at thoroughbred sales.

“Royston Murphy from Sledmere Stud who is preparing her for next week told us and we agreed to get a scope done on her and put it in the repository at the sales so everybody who was interested could get their vets to view it,” explains Wallace.

He didn’t expect what happened next.

“The vet doing the examination said this horse has no throat issues and would be a Grade 1 (near perfect) or at worst borderline Grade 2 (no major issues) on her scope.

“His suggestion was she is over whatever mechanical issues she was having in her throat last year and could go back into training.”

Wallace was so taken aback by the result that he sent the footage to renowned Sydney vet Chris Lawler who told Wallace the same thing.

So rather than being sold as a broodmare prospect only next week Pennyweka will now be sold as a “racing and breeding proposition”, which should enormously increase her value.

It means whoever buys her has the option to put her back into work, anywhere in the world, and race her, an option made even more attractive not only because of her talent but the fact her Oaks wins qualify her for some of the biggest Cups races.

“We were really surprised so I rang the syndicate who raced her and told them but everybody was very realistic about her future,” says Wallace.

“We have gone so far down the path of this sales process now she will still be sold if she reaches the right money but she is definitely being sold as both a racing and breeding prospect.”

While the Australian thoroughbred marketplace is speed -razy mares like Pennyweka, two-time Group 1 winners who are still only four, are rarely sold as racing and breeding prospects so her price will now be even more interesting.

Her case also shines some light on the public auction of elite race mares at a time when champion sprinter Imperatriz is only weeks away from being offered for sale on the Gold Coast.

While Te Akau boss David Ellis wants Imperatriz to be sold as a breeding proposition only the sales company representatives spoken to by the Herald say that is nearly impossible to enforce.

Whoever buys horses at a public auction can do whatever they want with them after as long as it conforms to the Rules of Racing and horse welfare.

“We are selling her to be a broodmare but yes, I suppose that is technically very hard to control,” says Ellis.

“But I doubt with a mare worth as much as Imperatriz is that whoever buys her will be wanting to race her as she has nothing left to prove after 10 Group 1s and her foals will be worth a fortune.”.

Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.