Unloved, unwanted and unfashionable … and now she’s a leading chance in a $10 million race.
Gypsy Goddess, a horse with a rare jaw condition called “parrot mouth”, was such a turn-off for potential buyers the only person who could have possibly bought her was a cleaner. And he probably would have had enough money, too.
“When she went into the ring, there was one person in the auditorium and that was the bloke with the long-handled dustpan and broom to sweep up the cigarette butts,” laughs breeder Dr Chris Lawler. “There was just nobody there.”
It might have been the last day at the secondary sale of the famous Karaka auction in New Zealand, but the price Lawler was asking wasn’t much. He set the reserve at just NZ$20,000. In the era of million-dollar yearlings and the game of horse lotto, it could have been a steal.
She didn’t get a single bid.
There was good reason. Racing old-timers have long shied away from horses with parrot mouth, a defect whereby a horse has either an overbite or an underbite in which the top and bottom teeth don’t touch. It’s found only in a small percentage of horses and generally means those with the affliction are better served being hand fed.
Golden Eagle contender Gypsy Goddess with her strapper Emma Lehmann.Credit:Peter Rae
But it didn’t stop two of the all-time greats of the Australian turf in Kingston Town and Dulcify. Both had the same condition as Gypsy Goddess.
“She’s got a ripper,” says Lawler, one of horse racing’s most respected veterinarians. “Hers would in the same league as Dulcify.
“It’s a congenital defect, but it doesn’t stop them running. It’s got a lot of bad press because in the old days people were putting them in the paddocks and letting them graze. Of course, a horse with a parrot mouth can’t pluck as much grass as what a normal horse can. Now most of these horses are hand fed and it doesn’t become as much of an issue.
“She was scorned by most of the auction houses when they went and did their inspections. They thought, ‘We’ll offer you a position in a far lesser sale’.”
Luckily for Lawler, it meant he was able to bring Gypsy Goddess back to Australia and put together an ownership group to race the filly with trainer David Vandyke.
The Queensland-based four-year-old will now contest Australia’s second-richest race, the Golden Eagle, at Rosehill on Saturday as one of the quirkiest horses in training.
“I’ve had a few with [parrot mouth], but she’s quite pronounced,” Vandyke said. “It’s interesting. I was under the perception, or I’ve had the idea, it can affect the way they eat and their appetite, but it hasn’t worried her too much.
David Vandyke’s Gypsy Goddess is already a group 1 winner.Credit:Michael McInally
“She’s got this little habit because her teeth aren’t even, she flaps her lips a lot. You’ll just hear her doing it. It’s like this slapping noise. You’ll hear it in the stable and you’ll know straight away it’s just her little habit.”
Gypsy Goddess has already shown much more talent on the racetrack than anyone could have imagined, least of all the cleaner who walked next to the sales ring on his lonesome as a horse was paraded in front of next to nobody.
Earlier this year, she won the group 1 Queensland Oaks, and will now contest the Golden Eagle first-up from a spell in a highly unusual program for a horse in such a big race.
But Vandyke has shown in the past how successful his outside-the-box thinking can be, preparing Yankee Rose to run second in the 2016 Golden Slipper when it was also her first run of the campaign.
“Luck favours the brave sometimes so we’ll see what happens,” Vandyke said. “I’m not feeling any pressure going into the race. If she goes out there and performs well that will be fantastic. If she doesn’t, well so be it.
“She’s done terrific thus far and there’s no real pressure moving forward with her. I’d like her to reach the $1 million mark as far as prizemoney goes. If she finishes top 12 she will have hit that mark.”
Sports news, results and expert commentary. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.
