Price, Kent punt on Welwal

Welwal will continue his career with Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr after the imported gelding was bought by a stable client at this week’s Inglis Digital sale.

AG Bloodstock paid $330,000 for the five-year-old son of Shalaa, who came to Australia in the spring of 2022 and had his first start for Chris Waller in the 2022 Golden Eagle.

He beat home only three rivals in that event and has won only one of 12 starts Down Under, but recent Group 3 third placings in the Doncaster Prelude and Hawkesbury Cup and a Scone Cup fifth placing at his latest outing have Price confident he can yet make an impression in Australia.

“Our form analyst identified its good form and I had an owner prepared to back that information,” Price said.

“He ran really well in the Scone Cup last start and hopefully we can continue to have him racing well into the future.”

Welwal, who was bred in England and won three of seven starts in France before joining Waller, heads to Price with a career record of 19 starts for four wins and nine minor placings.

His biggest win came in the Group 3 Prix De Fontainebleu (1600m) at Longchamp as a three-year-old.

Welwal was not the only tried horse to sell for six figures on the Inglis Digital May (Late) Sale with three-year-old Capitalist gelding Rapido, a last-start Canterbury winner, off to Hong Kong after selling for $175,000.

Group 1-winning Dubawi mare Srikandi, who is now 13 years old, was also part of the catalogue and was bought by Ben Kwok for $160,000.