Racing: Colt sale sours as time flies

A thoroughbred colt that was born to run is languishing in a Cambridge paddock after its $300,000-plus purchase went sour and its Hong Kong buyer failed to come up with the cash.

The unnamed horse is still living on the farm of its original owners, Mark and Shelly Treweek.

Chris McAnulty, son of controversial racing figure Robert McAnulty, acted on behalf of Hong Kong accountant Iain Bruce at the auction.

Bruce is a former senior partner at KPMG in Hong Kong and former steward of the Hong Kong Jockey Club.

The racehorse, described only as "brown colt" in New Zealand Bloodstock's auction guide, was put up for sale by the Treweeks, owners of Lyndhurst Farm, and was the top-priced horse of the day when it sold for $311,393 in last November's Ready to Run auction at Karaka.

At the time of the sale, Chris McAnulty described him as "a strong athletic colt" that would head for Hong Kong in June or July and start racing soon after. But when it came to paying for the horse, Bruce failed to come through.

Auctioneers New Zealand Bloodstock, which had already paid the Treweeks for the horse, took Bruce to the High Court, where Associate Judge Jeremy Doogue ordered him to to pay up.

The court heard that Robert McAnulty had informed Bruce that there was a "problem with the colt" and that the Treweeks were refusing to release the colt to him for it to be prepared for travel to Hong Kong. Robert McAnulty then attempted to cancel the purchase agreement.

Judge Doogue told the defendant he "had no right to cancel the contract and must pay the purchase price".

Andrew Seabrook, New Zealand Bloodstock's managing director of bloodstock and finance, said it was quite unusual for a purchaser to renege on a deal.

In March, Gold Coast-based Robert McAnulty pleaded guilty at a Judicial Control Authority hearing to charges of misconduct relating to "foul, insulting and offensive words" in voicemail and email messages to New Zealand Racing Board chairman Michael Stiassny.