WILLIE MULLINS convinced his wife Jackie to sell their ‘extremely exciting’ horse – after a big-money offer flew in following his electric debut.
Thread Of Gold was Mullins’ first debutant two-year-old winner in 13 years when he bolted up at the Curragh last month.
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Sent off 11-1 under Joey Sheridan, he made smooth headway with a furlong to go of the seven-furlong contest before hitting top gear.
Thread Of Gold, who cost a shade over £100,000 in December 2023, won going away and caught the eye of a whole host of owners with cash to burn.
The winning offer came from the 2011 Kentucky Derby-winning outfit Team Valor.
Mullins admitted he and Jackie didn’t have to think long when the figure was presented to them.
And although he didn’t elaborate on quite how much it was, Mullins, who has made over £30million in Ireland and Britain alone over the past five seasons, said their minds were soon made up.
Mullins, who said Thread Of Gold made him go ‘wow’ with his work at home, reckons he could be a Melbourne Cup horse for the future.
Team Valor CEO Barry Irwin said he too sees the horse running over staying trips in the future.
Speaking of the link-up with Mullins and their awesome new recruit, he said: “Thread Of Gold is an extremely exciting horse.
“I think the only reason we were able to get him was because of the timing and because he is a gelding.
“My partner Gary Barber and I will buy geldings when a lot of people won’t.
“He’s a sort of lighter-bodied athletic type, not a heavy horse and because of that the Hong Kong people shied away from him which opened the door for us to go and buy him.
“The fact he is trained by Willie Mullins just adds another layer of excitement to the whole picture.
“We’re familiar with staying horses, but Willie would be the first dedicated National Hunt-type trainer we’ve worked with, so it should be interesting.
“For me and my partners the most exciting thing with this horse is the journey and where it will take us.
“We don’t know where that will be yet and I don’t think Willie does either.
“His pedigree is a mix of speed and stamina, so it’s hard to say looking at his pedigree where he might be best.
“He won easy as could be over seven furlongs, so if Willie said he wanted to go a mile or even nine furlongs, I wouldn’t be shocked.
“I don’t think he will be a miler next year, I think he’s going to run further than that.
“There’s a lot of stamina in there and this guy knows how to train horses who run over longer distances.”
The next target for Thread Of Gold could be the Group 3 Eyrefield Stakes at Leopardstown late next month.
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