$380,000 Deep Field colt destined for Hong Kong
Ricky Yiu wins sustained bidding duel as buyers demand quality on day two of the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale
The progeny of Deep Field (Northern Meteor) came to the fore in a strong second day of trade at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale yesterday, with a son of the emerging Newgate Farm-based stallion becoming the highest-priced lot of the auction so far.
The future of the most expensive yearling – a $380,000 buy and one of nine youngsters by Deep Field to make $100,000 or more – will be in Hong Kong after trainer Ricky Yiu held off the competition to buy the Torryburn Stud-consigned colt in an emotional result for the vendor.
Yiu, who is leading the Hong Kong trainers’ premiership this season with 37 winners, is an unabashed fan of Deep Field and was determined to add a son of the sire to his stable.
Deep Field had his three-year-old son Californiadeepshot, who is trained by Tony Cruz, score an ultra impressive first-up win in Hong Kong last month to take his unbeaten record to three after scoring back-to-back victories at Kembla Grange early this season.
“We have a few by Deep Field and so far they have done well in trials and they (look like) winning races,” Yiu said.
“They are very popular in Australia and I wanted a nice yearling by Deep Field.
“He looks versatile, maybe 1200 (metres), 1400 to a mile horse, and he looks like a runner.”
Co-trainers Tony and Calvin McEvoy were the under bidders on the second high-priced lot they narrowly missed out on in the space of 30 minutes.
Torryburn Stud’s John Cornish, whose wife Pam died on Sunday after a long illness, bred the session-topping colt as well as high-class Hong Kong sprinter Hot King Prawn (Denman).
He is the sixth foal out of four-time winner Raheights (Rahy), who is already the dam of Group 3 winner Diddums (Snitzel) and the stakes-placed Brettan (Commands). He was catalogued as Lot 398.
Yiu said the colt coped well with the sales experience despite the atrocious weather at the weekend and that his temperament should hold him in good stead for his future in Hong Kong.
“He was locked up (on Sunday) with all the rain and I pulled him out this morning and he was fresh but I think he will be okay,” he said.
Colt by Nature Strip’s sire fetches $370,000
Trainers with close links to talented siblings of a $370,000 Newhaven Park-consigned Nicconi (Bianconi) colt yesterday fought out a strong bidding war, with Victoria’s Andrew Noblet holding out rivals Tony and Calvin McEvoy to secure the yearling.
Noblet, who is set to relocate from Caulfield to Ballarat next month, was desperate to buy the colt by Group 1-winning sprinter Nature Strip’s sire, having prepared his half-sister Indigo Las (High Chaparral) to two victories from four starts.
“I trained the half-sister Indigo Lass who I had a big opinion of, but unfortunately she died late last year,” Noblet said.
“She was a beautiful, athletic filly and he is a great moving colt and I know the family quite well.
“Indigo Lass was very slight – she was by High Chaparral and very much in that mould – while he’s got some similarities to her but he is just all quality.”
The McEvoys, who train another half-sister to the colt, debut winner Fields Of Ivy (Deep Field), were the underbidders.
Catalogued as Lot 377, the colt is the sixth foal out of the twice-winning mare Poison Ivy (Danehill Dancer) whose five foals to race are all winners, including the stakes winner Lotion (Good Journey).
Last crop Hinchinbrook colt makes $360,000
The deeds of Hong Kong International Sprint (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Beat The Clock helped another son of his late sire Hinchinbrook (Fastnet Rock) surge towards the top of the Classic sale charts after being bought by George Moore for $360,000.
Moore revealed that he had seven colts on his shortlist before narrowing that down to two contenders and it was the Hinchinbrook yearling whose presence caught the agent’s attention most on sale day.
“I have only seen him three times. Obviously it’s been raining all week, so I saw him twice and then once again this morning,” Moore said yesterday.
“He was walking a lot better this morning. He wasn’t in the rain and I could actually get a very good look at him.
“He has grown quite a lot on me, this horse. There is a Deep Field later in the sale that I quite liked also, but I compared both of them this morning and the Hinchinbrook grew on me a little bit more.”
The colt is the 11th foal out of Morinda (Desert King), who is rising 21 and is the dam of seven winners including the stakes-placed Prix Du Sang (Red Ransom) and Happy Hussy (Hussonet). He was catalogued as Lot 328.
Moore had to go slightly over his budget to get the colt, but he has no regrets about doing so.
“He is out of an older mare but…he still has a lot of substance and I liked the way he moved,” he said.
“Harry (Mitchell, Yarraman Park) thought he could almost have been in the Easter sale but being out of an older mare he thought this sale might be a good target for him.”
Moore said the colt was “an easy sell” given the success of the John Size-trained Beat The Clock.
“He was bought for a Hong Kong client, but he might race him here first to qualify him for a Hong Kong private purchase permit,” he said.
“I was thinking he was a $250,000 to $300,000 colt but he had quite a lot of hits on x-ray. He had 13 hits and once you’re getting anywhere over ten, you have got quite a lot of people on the same horse.”
Hinchinbrook died in July 2018 and has 81 last-crop yearlings.
Starcraft colt a bonanza for KBL
Meanwhile, Moore and his Hong Kong trainer-father John also landed a colt by Starcraft (Soviet Star) for $340,000, almost double the price the agent initially thought he might have to pay for the yearling.
The young agent admitted he generally does not buy “big horses” but just had to take the KBL Thoroughbreds-offered colt home because he could see him as almost a replica of star Hong Kong horses Able Friend (Shamardal) and current stable star Aethero (Sebring).
Moore was emphatic that the colt would be his, outlasting fellow Hong Kong-based Upper Bloodstock before admitting he would have been prepared to go to $500,000 if necessary to secure him.
“That horse was probably the nicest horse I have seen in a long time at the Classic sale and obviously I don’t buy a lot of big horses,” Moore said.
“There are only two other chestnut horses he reminds me of. He had the same exact walk, the same exact temperament and the same good drive behind as Able Friend. Aethero is the other one.
“I said to dad, ‘we’ve just got to buy him’. Walking around he was very imposing like Aethero and Able Friend, who are competitive horses and that is the sort of horse that we like.”
By Rosemont Stud-based stallion Starcraft, the colt is the fourth foal out of Sky Rubi (Testa Rossa), a two-time winner who has produced two foals to race, including the stakes-performed California Honey (Starspangledbanner). He was catalogued as Lot 471. https://inglis.com.au/sales/info/2020+Classic+Yearling+Sale/catalogue/471
KBL Thoroughbreds’ Kandice Pritchard was left “speechless” after the sale result.
“This is the first KBL baby to go through the ring,” Pritchard revealed.
“Brad (Lowe) bought the mare in foal, so he is the first one bred that we’ve sold that we own. He was busy all week with 17 x-ray hits, but this was our first draft at the Classic sale so I wasn’t sure what to expect. It’s just unbelievable.
“He was a bit gangly as a youngster and I was wondering what we were going to do with the horse. He was very up and down – you’ve got to juggle them and treat them as individuals.
“That price was amazing. I just don’t really know what to say. I’m speechless.”
Harron backing Capitalist venture
James Harron’s colts syndicate continued his sales ring support of the group’s Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Capitalist’s (Written Tycoon) first crop yearlings, purchasing a $340,000 son of the horse who helped put the prominent agent on the map.
“He is a lovely colt out of a good racemare, who was very precocious herself,” Harron said.
“I just loved the attitude of his horse. He handled the sale beautifully and he has a lot of quality about him, lovely middle and I was watching him in the back ring and he just handled everything so well like his dad used to, so I was very pleased to get him.”
Harron also bought two colts by his former star two-year-old at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale last month for $750,000 and $600,000 respectively.
His latest Capitalist acquisition was offered by Newgate Farm as Lot 369. He is the first foal out of the twice-winning, Inglis Banner (RL, 1000m)-placed mare Pearl Congenial (Gio Ponti), who in turn is a granddaughter of Group 2 winner Toast Of The Coast (Rory’s Jester). The colt is also from the same family as this season’s Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Super Seth (Dundeel) and the stakes-winning gelding Wild Planet (Animal Kingdom).
Harron also bought a colt by Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) on day one for $160,000.
“The market has been very strong and the good horses have been selling really well,” he said.
“I felt very sorry for Inglis (on Sunday) because the conditions were against them, but they did a brilliant job of keeping it all together and I think we’ve seen a very healthy market continue.”
Smith snaps up ‘value’ Vinnie filly
Matthew Smith came away from last month’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale empty handed, but the Warwick Farm trainer regrouped and resolved to make a concerted push at the Classic sale on his “home turf”.
The Group 1-winning trainer, whose current stable star Fierce Impact (Deep Impact) was runner-up in Saturday’s C F Orr Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) at Caulfield, has bought 11 yearlings in the first two days of the Sydney sale, including an I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) filly for $210,000.
Smith thought the filly, who he bought in conjunction with agent John Foote, compared more than favourably to the top-priced lot on day one, the $350,000 daughter of I Am Invincible who was knocked down to Star Thoroughbreds and Randwick Bloodstock Agency.
“We thought she was one of the best fillies on the complex and we have been very lucky to buy many of the fillies we have liked at this sale,” Smith said.
“I Am Invincible fillies are probably averaging more than what we paid for her, I’m sure, but she was just a cracking filly.”
Consigned by Kitchwin Hills as Lot 311, the filly is the third foal of the winning mare Miss Beauty World (God’s Own) whose first foal to race is McCullum (Deep Field), who was placed twice last season as a juvenile at Sandown.
Smith was satisfied with the stock he had so far been able to secure at Riverside Stables.
“This is our home turf and we didn’t buy at Magics,” he said.
“We tried to, but we just couldn’t quite get what we wanted because it was a very strong market up there, but it means we could be strong at this sale.
“I thought I was going to have to go to $300,000 for her. I really thought she’d be making that money every day of the week. The filly that sold on Sunday made $350,000 and I thought this was an even better filly.
“I know everyone has their own opinion, but I didn’t see much between them so I think she was good value in the end.”
Bell River back with a bang
Bell River Thoroughbreds’ re-entry into the yearling sale market was given the tick of approval by the buying bench, with the the Ferguson family’s quality day two offering reaching a high of $300,000 for a Not A Single Doubt (Redoute’s Choice) colt.
The six-figure yearling, who is out of an unraced half-sister to Group 1 winner Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt), was bought by Ciaron Maher Racing, who also train Group 2 winner Dubious by the sire.
The Ferguson family’s Bell River Thoroughbreds have also sold three other yearlings for more than $200,000 at the Classic sale in their return to selling for the first time since 2016.
They included a $280,000 Extreme Choice half-brother to their stakes-winning mare Prophet’s Thumb (I Am Invincible).
“To have people like Anthony Freedman, Godolphin and Mick Price as underbidders is very pleasing and it was just a great result,” Andrew Ferguson said.
“The ones we expected to sell well have gone well. The boys wanted to come back with a bang and we’ve certainly done that.
“We’ve had a couple of disappointments – the bottom end has been difficult – but that’s the industry at the minute. When they want a quality horse, they are prepared to pay for it and that’s as breeders what we’ve got to produce.”
Offered as lot 451, the Not A Single Doubt colt is She’s Our Choice’s (Duporth) first foal, who is also a half-sister to the stakes-placed Raise No Doubt (Not A Single Doubt) and, of course, elite two-year-old Extreme Choice.
Maher, who trains in partnership with David Eustace, admitted he was “pretty taken with this horse”.
“He has obviously got a stallion’s pedigree and I love the Not A Single Doubts,” the trainer said.
“He is very much like the old man and he is from a good farm in Bell River. I have bought a lot from them in the past and I was glad to be able to get a quality colt like that from them again.”
Le Metayer and Maher team up for Extreme Choice colt
Earlier in the session, this season’s leading two-year-old trainer Maher and Astute Bloodstock’s Louis Le Metayer both endorsed dual Group 1-winning first season sire Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) after buying a colt by the Newgate Farm-based stallion for $210,000.
Sold by Bell River Thoroughbreds, the colt is the sixth foal out of the placed Viscount (Quest For Fame) mare Magic Zefta, making the yearling a half-brother to the Group 1-placed mare Denmagic (Denman). Magic Zefta is also the half-sister to Group 2 winner Go The Knuckle (Elvstroem) and the stakes-placed Hieroglyphics (Conatus). He was catalogued as Lot 276.
“We think the mare has got a lot of ability as a broodmare and he was just a lovely, strong physical who we both liked,” Le Metayer said.
“The stallion was so fast and he is well-bred. Unfortunately he is not very fertile, but he was a horse with electrifying speed and that’s what seems to make a stallion this side of the world.”
Maher partnered with Le Metayer to buy the colt, furthering the pair’s growing relationship.
“He is a ripping type like his old man and, as Louis says, he’s a great type and just the type we’ve been buying over the past few years and thankfully we are seeing the fruits of that on the racetrack this year,” Maher said.
“Extreme Choice was a very neat horse and very fast and a really, really good mover and you look for that in his sons.”
Extreme Choice has 48 first crop yearlings while he has 38 foals at foot this season. He covered 65 mares in 2019 at a fee of $22,000 (inc GST).
Weather causes later start to day two
The second session of the Classic sale was delayed by 30 minutes, with Inglis electing to push back the start of the auction due to flooding that caused road closures in Sydney, including the nearby Hume Highway.
According to the Bureau of Meteorology, 159.6 millimetres of rain fell in the preceding 24 hours to 9am yesterday. A relentless downpour lasted for the duration of Sunday’s session, but yesterday was fine.
Inglis managing director Mark Webster said after two days of Classic – the company’s “third cut” sale – that it was clear buyers honed in on horses deemed to be of a higher quality.
The average was sitting at $89,339 last night with a median of $75,000, figures that compared favourably to the 2018 Classic sale.
“If you look at those horses selling above $100,000, for example, there has been 137 make $100,000 or more after selling 540 lots, compared to 107 last year,” Webster said.
“That’s just showing that it’s easier to sell those better types even if they are more expensive at the moment.
“We sold two lots for $300,000 or more on Sunday and there were six today, so there was a bit more depth at the top.
“We have mopped up a lot of those passed in horses from yesterday and overall we’re clearing 82 per cent and it was at 78 per cent yesterday.”
The third and final day, which incorporates the Highway Session, starts at 10am today.
Meanwhile, the $2 million Inglis Millennium (RL, 1100m) and Inglis 3YO Sprint (1200m), which were postponed on Saturday, have been rescheduled for tomorrow’s Warwick Farm meeting as races two and three.
“I met with Nevesh (Ramdhani) and Mark Jones (ATC track managers) this morning and they were quite bullish about being able to race on Wednesday,” Webster said.
“If you look at the schedule, the first race is at 11.25am and the Millennium is the second race at 12pm and then at 12.40pm. There is rain forecast later in the day, so they are trying to get the meeting done and dusted before the wet weather hits.”