A half brother to Winx topped the 1026 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale
The three day 2016 Inglis Easter Sale took place on 5, 6 and 7 April and concluded with 432 yearlings selling for a gross of over $105 million to breeders and vendors with 49 lots realising prices of $500,000 or more, while siblings to runners in The Championships to have found new homes in the world’s premier stables include Winx, Criterion, Politeness, Bounding, Peeping, Happy Hannah and Vanbrugh.
Day 1
Sales Topper: Lot 135 – Snitzel – Vegas Showgirl (photo: Inglis)
Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum was the first of 80 individual buyers to get their name on the buyers’ sheet when outbidding Coolmore Stud to $480,000 on a filly by Fastnet Rock from Pane In The Glass that was sold by Newgate Farm. By the end of the first day’s proceedings, 178 yearlings had been offered with 78% sold at an average of $291,975, marking the best start to an Easter Sale since the record heights of 2008.
Four lots sold for a million dollars or more on the opening day of the 2016 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale , including the session’s AUD$2,3 million sales topper, Lot 135. By Snitzel and a half-brother to Winx as well as Gai Waterhouse’s Kindergarten Stakes winner El Divino, the colt was consigned by Segenhoe Stud Australia as agent for John Camillerie’s Fairway Thoroughbreds and signed for by Gai Waterhouse Racing / J Blaxland NWS. The new owners include Emirates Park’s Hussain Lootah, who tasted Golden Slipper success with 2013 Easter Sale purchase Mossfun; Angelo Konstantatos & David Healey who have already experienced the value in a Gai-trained colt with Vancouver; and breeder John Camilleri who retained a share in the horse. Gai Waterhouse and her agent Julian Blaxland stood with Hussain Lootah, Dr Shalabh Sahu and Bryan Carlson of Emirates Park under the Moreton Bay Fig tree and had to fight off plenty of competition around the ring including underbidder Duncan Ramage, and a final bid of $2,300,000 was required to secure the colt.
Speaking after the sale Waterhouse commented, “Hussain was on the phone to me after El Divino crossed the line in the Group 3 Kindergarten Stakes, and after much discussion Hussain made the executive decision that we must have this colt.” Hussain Lootah added, “He’s one of the nicest colts in the sale, from the strongest family. He was a lovely type, and Winx and the half-brother’s wins add a lot to the page. We hope he’s in the Golden Slipper next year.”
Mayfair’s choice: Lot 42 Fastnet Rock – Rose of Cimmaron (photo: Inglis)
Gai Waterhouse will also train Lot 42, the Fastnet Rock colt out of Rose Of Cimmaron consigned by Newgate Farm. The buying partnership including Tom Magnier, Gai Waterhouse Racing, Mayfair Speculators and Julian Blaxland had to see off underbidder Spendthrift Farm to secure the colt for $1,200,000.
Day 2
Day 2 session topper – Lot 285 Redoute’s Choice – Estelle Collection (photo: Inglis)
Day 2 of the Inglis Easter Sale saw pulses quicken when lot 285, a full brother to Lankan Rupee, was led into the ring. The colt, by Redoute’s Choice out of Estelle Collection, was offered by Coolmore Stud and bidding was fierce as soon as he stepped into the ring. International and local buyers were all active, but Gai Waterhouse, Julian Blaxland and Nordic Breeding and Racing landed the final bid of $1,800,000 to purchase the brother to the 2013/14 Australian Horse of the Year and world’s equal highest rated sprinter of 2014. “The pedigree is exceptional, and he is a strong, masculine colt which has a wonderful physique which backs up the page,” said Waterhouse. “We’re very excited to have him in the stable, and I’m very fortunate my investors were a bit stronger than the rest. We hope he’ll be winning the Golden Slipper this time next year!” The Redoute’s Choice colt was one of 21 purchases for Gai Waterhouse, Julian Blaxland and partners over the two days of the sale, rendering them the leading buyers with a total outlay of $8,882,500.
A syndicate including James Bester, Gerald Ryan and Damien Flower secured the second top priced lot of the day, going to $1,100,000 for a Snitzel half-brother to stakes winners Divorces and Disputes (Lot 290). Snitzel was trained by Gerald and owned by Damien during his racing career, and the team are sure to have fun with this powerful colt from the great producing mare Family Breakup.
Top priced filly Lot 340 Fastnet Rock – Hips Don’t Lie (photo: Inglis)
Ryan also went to $1,100,000, the sale’s top price for a filly, for Lot 340, a sister to Group 1-placed two-year-old Lake Geneva consigned by Coolmore Stud. By Fastnet Rock out of Hips Don’t Lie, Ryan outstayed heated competition from Hawkes Racing and Northern Farm to secure the filly.
Frankel
Lot 237 Frankel – Chocolicious (photo: Inglis)
Frankel had his first progeny step into an Australian auction ring on day 2, and Shadwell Stud’s agent Angus Gold had to go to $610,000 for lot 237, a filly out of South African Gr1 winner Chocolicious from Three Bridges Thoroughbreds. Australian Thoroughbred Bloodstock directed the mating of the mare in England, and the filly was subsequently born and raised in Victoria, sold in Sydney and will now be sent to South Africa for Mike de Kock to train and possibly take to Dubai later in her racing career. Gold commented, “Frankel is the greatest horse I’ve had the pleasure of seeing on a racecourse, and anybody who has been around for a while would say the same. The mare herself was very tough and very fast. In South Africa she won a Group 1 as a two-year-old, and she’s by a stallion that Sheikh Hamdan bred himself in Kahal.”
Cressfield’s Frankel offering out of Jeu De Cartes (Lot 357) was secured by Kastumi Yoshida for $850,000. The filly is the first foal of a half-sister to Nom De Jeu, and will race for Yoshida’s Northern Farm in Japan. “The filly walks very well and she is the Frankel we wanted. The dam line has produced some top stayers so she is well-suited to racing in Japan,” said Yoshida.
In addition to Yoshida, clients from Asia provided depth to the buying bench from early in the sale, purchasing five of the first six yearlings through the ring at the start of the day.
Day 3
Lot 423 Frankel – More Strawberries (photo: Inglis)
Lot 423 provided a final day highlight when a fierce bidding dual between Guy Mulcaster and Angus Gold saw Mulcaster to secure the much-anticipated first son of Frankel to be sold in Australia for a final bid of $1.6 million on behalf of Chris Waller. Bred and offered by John Singleton’s Strawberry Hill Stud, the colt is the first foal of Group 1-placed mare More Strawberries, and is the highest priced Frankel yearling in the Southern Hemisphere. Frankel’s three yearlings sold through the ring at Newmarket this week for an average of $986,000.
“We loved the colt, he really moved well so we’re really happy we bought him,” commented Mulcaster. “He’s the best Frankel we’ve seen. We’ve got some good clients to go into him. He’ll be a good syndicate horse, and fingers-crossed we’ll see him back winning good races. If he goes anywhere near as good as his dad did it will be pretty good, and his mum wasn’t too bad either.”
Lot 433 Redoute’s Choice – National Colour (photo: Inglis)
Angus Gold was able to strike back ten lots later, outbidding James Harron to purchase a son of Redoute’s Choice out of South African Champion National Colour (Lot 433) for $1.75 million on behalf of Shadwell Stud. Offered by Arrowfield Stud, the colt is the third consecutive yearling out of the mare that Shadwell have taken home from an Easter sale, with his brother, the Mike De Kock-trained Rafeef, who notched his third win on the trot under up and coming young rider Callan Murray at the Vaal earlier today. “We’re here to buy good colts. For the past four or five years we’ve been outbid on Wandjina and I wanted to buy Deep Field. I’m desperate to get Sheikh Hamdan a colt that can make a stallion in Australia,” said Gold. “We identified the top colts earlier in the week and I thought he was right up there. We have the first two out of the mare and both have above-average ability according to Mike de Kock. He was a beautiful quality horse and he behaved himself impeccably.”
This was the fifth yearling by Redoute’s Choice Shadwell purchased at Easter in 2016, helping to render him the leading domestic sire by average in Session I (three or more sold), and helping Shadwell remain leading buyer by aggregate for the fourth consecutive year.
Statistics
Closely following Shadwell on the buyers’ table was Gai Waterhouse, who was out in force purchasing 24 yearlings for a total of $9,272,500 in conjunction with a number of individuals and syndicators, including the top-priced colt and lot of the sale, Winx’s half-brother by Snitzel (lot 135).
The top priced filly was lot 340 (Fastnet Rock – Hips Don’t Lie), signed for by Gerald Ryan.
Arrowfield Stud, the home of Redoute’s Choice, Snitzel, Not A Single Doubt and Animal Kingdom, finished the Easter Sale as the leading vendor having sold 21 of their yearlings for $9.51 million. Coolmore Stud, Segenhoe Stud, Widden Stud, Newgate Farm and Yarraman Park Stud also returned gross receipts of $5 million or more for their Easter offerings.
The sale of their Frankel colt helped Strawberry Hill Stud top the vendor table by average with $893,333 in Session I (3 or more sold). Erinvale Thoroughbreds’ boutique draft of three averaged $515,000, while Newgate Farm posted impressive results selling all 11 of their Session I Lots at an average of $504,091. Another 35 vendors averaged $200,000 or more in Session I.
All yearlings offered at the sale are eligible for entry into the $5 million Inglis Race Series covering their 2YO, 3YO and 4YO racing seasons. For more information go to inglis.com.au/races
For full results of the sale, click here
(source: Inglis)
