Kelly Van Dyk’s Prima Park Bloodstock will be represented on both sides of the Tasman this week, from the sales ring in Sydney to the big stage at Ellerslie on Saturday.
From her base at Matamata, Van Dyk specialises in horse agistment and sales preparation, while more recently, she has featured prominently in the training ranks with exciting filly Places To Be.
A homebred by Hello Youmzain, Places To Be was a two-time trial winner before dominating her rivals by four lengths on debut at Taupo, and after missing a run due to heavy track conditions, won her 1150m heat under a tight hold at Waipa last Thursday.
Places To Be will have her first opportunity for black-type in Saturday’s Gr.2 Windsor Park Stud Soliloquy Stakes (1400m), and while Van Dyk is not underestimating the task ahead against the likes of Tajana and Lollapalooza, she has faith in her filly’s ability.
“We’re under no illusion that it is a big step-up in class but she’s given us no reason to doubt her at all,” she said. “We really believe in her ability and she was not only impressive in her first start, but also her trial last week.
“The trial was Plan B, we planned to race her at Matamata but with the rain that came, we weren’t prepared to start her on that heavy track. We took her to the trials and tried to go as quietly as we possibly could, I think the jockey did as best as he could to keep her under a strong hold through the line and she’s come through it really well.
“She’s bang on, I don’t think we could have her any better, so it’s up to her now and we’re soon going to find out where her ability sits among some of the top three-year-old fillies.”
Places To Be was the first foal out of the Pierro mare Socialights, and being a filly, Van Dyk and co-breeder Ben Kwok decided to race her themselves instead of offering her at auction.
“We bred her, we raced the mother and she was the first foal out of the mare,” she said. “Being a filly, we thought we would keep her and see how we went, she was a bit small so she wasn’t the most ideal sales prospect.
“A good friend, Bevan Smith, came in as well as a racing partner, he was keen to have a bit of fun and race her with us. Right from day one she’s shown quite a lot of ability, it’s exciting for us.”
Van Dyk will be on course to put the final touches on Places To Be on Saturday, after her four juveniles go through the ring at Inglis’ Ready2Race Sale on Thursday in Sydney.
Among the quartet is an Exceed And Excel colt out of the Sebring mare Sharapova (Lot 128), while the build-up to Saturday’s A$20 million Gr.1 The Everest (1200m) has generated plenty of interest in Lot 194, a gelding by Shamexpress out of the Turn Me Loose mare Blinkie.
“We were keen to get involved in one of the early ready to run sales, Inglis do a fantastic job of assembling a good buying bench here, particularly from Hong Kong, so we’ve done our best to target that market,” Van Dyk said.
“We’ve bought some really nice horses, in particular an Exceed And Excel colt that has been very popular, and we have a Shamexpress, so with Ka Ying Rising running in the Everest on Saturday, he’s also been very popular.”