Racing: Offer for Bianca too good to refuse

Bianca easily won the Great Northern Foal Stakes. Picture / Herald on Sunday.

Don Dwyer argued with himself for three days then sold his class filly Bianca for a very large sum.

The Australian offer had been weighing heavily on Dwyer's mind since last Saturday, when Bianca produced a staggering performance to win Ellerslie's $35,000 Great Northern Foal Stakes by nearly 10 lengths.

The talented Pukekohe-based horseman knows he's done the right thing by himself and his family, but has been left with a level of deflation that can't even be erased by a bank cheque that most people would dream of seeing once in their life.

Dwyer's argument with himself ended on Wednesday and the pressure had been so great he immediately grabbed his 17-year-old son Charles and headed for a hideaway for 48 hours.

"I'm left really flat," he said last night. "I was on such a high with that huge win, but there is such a thing as reality. This is business, not play, and there will always be other horses."

Perhaps not quite as good as Bianca, who looks untapped and could possess unreal potential.

Understandably Dwyer will not reveal the dollars it took to prise the filly away, but said simply: "Most men work their lives for it."

Then he added, It is a substantial six-figure sum."

Dwyer said what eventually got him to agree was the potential health and fitness risks to good horses.

"Look at the problem Seachange struck this season."

Bianca is booked to be flown to Sydney on Tuesday and Dwyer said, as far as he knew, the destination stable had yet to be finalised.

He said he would concentrate now on taking Lazarus and Dead Rabbits on a Melbourne winter campaign.

"I'm setting Lazarus for the Winter Championship final at Flemington."