James salutes Prowess as Gavelhouse Plus auction begins

[Wandering Eyes]

As the eagerly anticipated auction of Prowess (NZ) (Proisir) gets underway on Gavelhouse Plus, Roger James has described the multiple Group One winner as one of the finest horses to grace his respected Cambridge stable.

Trained by James in partnership with Robert Wellwood, Prowess recorded eight wins and three placings in a career that spanned only 12 starts.

A nine-length win at Wanganui as an autumn two-year-old set the scene for a spectacular three-year-old campaign that included consecutive victories in the Group Two Auckland Guineas (1600m), the Karaka Million 3yo Classic (1600m), the Group Two David & Karyn Ellis Fillies’ Classic (2000m), the Group One New Zealand Stakes (2050m) and Sydney’s Group One Vinery Stud Stakes (2000m). She later added the Group Two Crystal Mile (1600m) at Moonee Valley in the spring of her four-year-old season.

Prowess was bought by James and Wellwood for $230,000 from the Book 1 draft of breeders Hallmark Stud at Karaka 2021. She earned more than $1.65 million for a family syndicate headed by Dean and Janie Skipper.

“I’ve been lucky to have a number of high-class horses through my stable, and she was right up in the very top category,” James commented this week.

“Her career was just highlight after highlight. She scored a scintillating win against an elite field in the Karaka Million 3yo Classic, then became the first three-year-old filly to win the New Zealand Stakes at weight-for-age since Tidal Light (NZ) (Diagramatic) in the late ‘80s. And then, of course, she carried on across to Sydney and dominated the Vinery. She was something quite special.

“On top of what she showed on the racetrack, she was just a fabulous horse to do anything with and is an exquisite physical specimen.”

A full-sister to Prowess topped Book 1 of Karaka 2024 earlier this year with a purchase price of $1.6 million, and gavelhouse.com’s Haylie Martin reported that there has been huge interest in the lead-up to the online auction of the trans-Tasman Group One star.

“There have been plenty of top judges at Lyndhurst Farm over the past couple of weeks to inspect her and the resounding feedback is that she’s nigh on impossible to fault, needless to say we’re looking forward to the week ahead,” she said.

The auction of Prowess is underway now on Gavelhouse Plus and is set to close from 7pm (NZT) on Thursday 8 August.

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