$lOO,OOO offer fails to buy Peach Melba

Press, 24 July 1986, Page 36

$lOO,OOO offer fails to buy Peach Melba

By

J. J. BOYLE

A $lOO,OOO offer for the two-year-old Peach Melba has been refused by the filly’s Riccarton owners, Mr and Mrs Mick Murfitt.

The offer came from a Perth owner, but if the promising Palatable filly is to land up in Australia it will be without a change of ownership. Because of his commitments in running the Riccarton Stud, Mick Murfitt has little time to concentrate on his racing string in the spring, and has given some thought to placing Peach Melba and her talented elder sister, Eye Full, with one of the leading Melbourne trainers. What might influence him not to proceed in that direction is his confidence in Peach Melba’s potential, which if realised,

could make her a classics contender. “She could be a New Zealand Oaks prospect if she stays here,” Murfitt said yesterday. Peach Melba made a winning debut in the Murfitt colours at the Hororata meeting on April 26 and her only other start yielded a second to Kelly’s Gold at the C.J.C. May meeting. Peach Melba will be embarked on her three-year-old campaign at Riccarton in October. Eye Full, the subject of Australian offers before and after her spectacular win in a class 4 1600 m race at the Canterbury

Jockey Club’s Easter meeting, will also be prepared for spring racing in Canterbury leading up to the New Zealand Cup meeting. Eye Full lost lengths at the start of The Tasman on the third day of the C.J.C. Easter meeting, yet won in style by. two lengths in the hands of Maree Lyndon. Dainty Dish, a rising six-year-old sister of Eye 'Full and Peach Melba, and winner of seven races, will be bred with the Riccarton Stud stallion, State of Kings, this year and will be eased out of racing after a light programme early in the

spring. State of Kings (Vaguely Noble—Klepto), an elder brother of Estrapade, a big winner in the United States and France, will have his first runners in the new season. State of Kings and Estrapade were bred by Nelson Bunker Hunt, an American with international racing interests. Mr Hunt belongs to a syndicate responsible for State of Kings coming to stand at stud in Canterbury. The Riccarton Stud’s successful stallion, Palatable, is held on lease from Mr Hunt.