Prince Of Pillo
Race entries
From the Tattersalls Ireland Goresbridge Breeze Up Sale, this colt is by PRINCE OF LIR; the sire of the Royal Ascot 2yo, Norfolk Stakes winning THE LIR JET.
(Please note the pedigree page update noted by Tattersalls, since printing: 2nd dam, Harvest Joy; dam of Prince Of Bel Lir, winner at 4 2022, Definitive Force winner at 3, 2022.)
Goresbridge, is the last of the Breeze Up Sales and we’ve managed to purchase horses from each and every one, with the exception of Arqana, France, where French and English money goes head-to-head and the prices are always very lofty. There are two types of horses that consignors tend to send to Goresbridge, talented ones that have just needed a bit of time and then there’s the other type, consignors’ lesser lights who they are just looking to move on. Unless you’re in the top 10% of times at this sale, unless you have a jolly good reason, you’re probably destined to be an average animal, at best.
We came up with a shortlist of 4 at Goresbridge this year, a sale that has produced horses with classic pretensions in the past and it can offer great value compared with other Breeze Up Sales. Two of our short list made €100,000 which was around 40% more than we’d valued the horse at, and the other made €75,000 which was around double what we valued the horse at, hence we left them alone, once they’d significantly surpassed our valuations on them. The other two horses on our list, we bought, including this beautiful son of the Norfolk winner Prince Of Lir (who, coincidentally, has already produced a winner of the Norfolk Stakes in The Lir Jet).
Watch his walk and profile here:
This colt possessed, what we would call “the most coordinated breeze in the sale”. His gait, throughout, was immaculate, metronomic and in a coordinated straight line. His head carriage was impeccable and he flew down the Fairyhouse 2.3f runway as if he was about to take off, like a Lir Jet, towards the end of his gallop. He didn’t do the quickest time, his first furlong scraped into the top 7% of all times but his final section saw him in the top 2.5% of the 200-horse cohort, and the progression he showed in between his sectionals is what drew us to him i.e. fast to begin with, but getting faster still. Extrapolate those measures through and ask yourself, where would his times feature in a further furlong or two, over a proper race distance, compared with the rest of the Goresbridge cohort; could he be the best?
Here's his breeze:
We feel, that at a sale where a dozen horses made €100,000, or more, he represents the very best value in the sale, at a purchase price of €38,000. Of course, that’s only our opinion, and time may, of course, decree otherwise.
He’s a here and now horse too. But make no mistake, he’s not JUST a here and now, he’s 15.3hh so an average, medium size who can take his career into 2023 and 2024 too.
A winning debut for Prince Of Pillo, with the Prince Of Lir colt edging ahead close home to land the opening Hospitality At @ScottishSun Ladies Night Restricted Novice Stakes in the hands of @CallumRodrigue4 for @DalgleishRacing and @MprUpdates ?? pic.twitter.com/fuZK0xh0Vi
Racing update: The listed Harry Rosebery Stakes winner by an impressive 3.5 lengths followed by finishing a close-up 3rd in the Group 3 Cornwallis Stakes at Newmarket, he’s a Group horse, that’s for sure. We’ll work back from the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot, next season, possibly taking in races like the Group 3 Prix Sigy in France and the Group 2 Sandy Lane Stakes at Haydock. He’s a 6f winner already and will offer his owners the opportunity to race at the top table, taking on Europe’s best 3yo sprinters in 2023. TIMEFORM RATED: 105.