Leviathan owner Ozzie Kheir is looking forward to watching Kiwi recruit Impecunious (NZ) (Sacred Falls) step out in Melbourne this week.
The daughter of Sacred Falls will line up at Caulfield on Wednesday for trainers Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young in what will be her first Australian start.
Prepared by Michael and Matthew Pitman in New Zealand, Impecunious was the subject of a number of overseas offers after winning impressively at Riccarton in June. Original owner Chris Griffin remains in the ownership.
Compared to the prices paid for European imports these days, her sale price was modest, but Kheir, who this spring won a Caulfield Cup with Kiwi-bred mare Verry Elleegant (NZ) (Zed) and a Cox Plate with European import Sir Dragonet (Camelot), admitted he prefers shopping for fillies in New Zealand rather than paying the huge dollars for horses from the other side of the world.
“It’s better than paying $1 million for these European horses,” Kheir said.
“We keep trying to buy another Verry Elleegant and we’ve picked up a couple of New Zealand fillies but realistically, we think there’s good upside to this filly and we’re hoping we can see that this week.”
Impecunious, who has a pedigree to suggest she will be best over ground, being out of a stakes-placed Zabeel daughter of Gr.1 Sydney Cup (3200m) winner Honor Babe (NZ) (Honor Grades), will contest a 1200m event at Caulfield with Damien Oliver booked to ride.
The three-year-old filly has thrived of late after taking some time to settle in when she arrived in spring.
“She arrived from New Zealand and she just needed a few weeks off, but her work since she has come back from her break has been what we would expect,” Kheir said.
“She has put on weight and she’s a happy horse.
“We bought her after a couple of runs. She was very green and immature and we’re hoping there is a lot of improvement in her as she didn’t win anything of quality, but she showed she might be able to take the next step.
“We paid a little bit of a premium on what she might get through the ring today, but I still think we got her at a really good price and she only has to be a Listed filly to pay for herself.”
Kheir will be keeping a close eye on New Zealand’s feature racing over the coming months as he part-owns another promising three-year-old filly in the Michael Moroney and Pam Gerrard-trained Tokorangi (NZ) (Redwood).
“We are aiming at the New Zealand Oaks (Gr.1, 2400m) and then she will come for the ATC Oaks (Gr.1, 2400m) and we will see from there, her being a long-term prospect,” he said.
