Vendor ready for APG Sales debut

BRISBANE breeder-owner Errol O’Shea is excited to be presenting his first horse at public auction at the Australian Pacing Gold Queensland Yearling Sale at Ipswich Turf Club on this Sunday, February 8.

O’Shea, who has a 50 year association with the sport mainly as a trainer and driver, will offer a single entry in a bay colt by the NZ 3YO and 4YO of the Year Ultimate Machete from the Art Major mare Classytoff.

It is Lot 33.

The colt is the second foal out of Classytoff, the first being the three-year-old filly Feelin Forastar (by Mr Feelgood), who finished runner-up at Redcliffe recently.

O’Shea bought Classytoff as a late three-year-old in Victoria from the internet.

“She won one race for us and a couple of times got beaten going 1:56 at Albion Park,” O’Shea said.
“She’s bred well enough that she should produce something pretty handy.”

Classytoff belongs to a strong New Zealand family that has produced horses the calibre of the Queensland Derby winner Franco Jonquill, the Miracle Mile prelude winner Franco Jazzman and The Gigolo.

Ultimate Machete, the sire of Lot 33, has a creditable 66 percent strike rate with his first three Australian crops. They include the Redcliffe Sales Classic winner Sinabun, Miss Idaho (Vic. Youthful and SA Golden Nursery), Miss Hepburn (WA Country Oaks) and the Tasmanian Sires Stakes winners Cuzzy Bro and Smooth Machete.

“He’s a very nice type, strongly built and fairly intelligent,” preparer Margaret Donohoe of Monarch Farm said.

O’Shea trained and drove a small team as a hobby.

“The best horse I had was Dan’s Gift. I bought him from Sydney as a maiden three-year-old and ended up winning Horse of the Year with him at Albion Park,” Errol said.

O’Palent Princess, an ex-Victorian who won six races in quick succession in Queensland, and the Albion Park winners Justa Rebel and Memsaab’s Mist were other handy performers trained by O’Shea.

For further details of these or any other lots in the Queensland Yearling Sale then check out the Online Catalogue or Register as a Buyer today!

• APG Media