Ayrton owners knock back $2m offer to chase Group 1 dream in Epsom Handicap

The owners of boom four-year-old Ayrton have a rejected a $2m offer and reveal why it was an easy decision.

The owners of Ayrton have rejected a $2m offer after his last run at Flemington. Picture: Racing Photos via Getty Images

Not even an offer of $2 million was enough to buy emerging star Ayrton.

Ayrton’s connections received the offer, believed to be from Hong Kong buyers, for the gelding after his fighting third at Flemington last Saturday.

But connections knocked back the hefty sum.

Leigh Saville, co-founder of syndicator Roll The Dice Racing, said $2 million was not even the highest offer Ayrton’s owners have received from prospective buyers.

“We did have offers on him after his second start at Caulfield of considerably more than that,” he said.

“We put it to the owners, and they have respectfully declined.”

Saville said the fact Ayrton was bought after a trial in New Zealand and the chance at upcoming riches made it possible to refuse the offers for the four-year-old.

“He wasn’t a cheap buy. We paid a fair bit for him off a really good trial in New Zealand,” he said.

“When people are paying twenty or thirty grand for a share, it’s significant money.

“A lot of people get into it to find a Group 1 horse and, not to pre-empt anything, he’ll be going to an Epsom that is worth a million dollars to the winner.

“If he wins the Epsom, and he’s already won $400,000 so the numbers really don’t add up.”

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Four-year-old Ayrton is among the top fancies for both the Epsom Handicap and Golden Eagle in Sydney. Picture: Getty Images

Saville said Ayrton’s owners and the owners of other top horses would benefit from the prizemoney war between Racing Victoria and its NSW counterpart.

The war has resulted in races such as the $15m Everest and the $7.5m Golden Eagle appearing in Sydney in recent years in addition to Melbourne’s traditional rich spring races.

In the latest move, Racing Victoria recently announced all spring Group 1 races would carry a minimum $1m in stakes.

Then there is the $5m All-Star Mile in Melbourne in the autumn.

“With Melbourne and Sydney going berserk over prizemoney wars, we’re sitting back having a chuckle really,” Saville said.

“It’s also selling a potential Group 1 horse to try to find another one and that’s never normally a good idea.

“He’s a gelding too. He is lightly raced and sound so we think he could be racing for another two or three years.

“You get a lot of stick when you sell them, and you get a lot of stick when you don’t sell them.

“You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.”

Originally published as Ayrton owners knock back $2m offer to chase Group 1 dream in Epsom Handicap