Another Extreme result for Bell River as filly creates record with $300,000 price tag
The rapid evolution of the HTBA May Yearling Sale took another step forward yesterday with a daughter of sire sensation Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) selling for a record $300,000 to prominent Sydney trainer Michael Freedman during a fast-paced session.
The most expensive yearling ever sold at a HTBA sale – and one of six to sell for $100,000 or more yesterday – also helped push the third “Scone sale” held at Inglis’ Riverside Stables complex in Sydney to a record aggregate of $5,379,250, an average of $25,374 (up 33 per cent) and a median of 17,000 (up 48 per cent). With 212 horses changing hands, the clearance rate was last night at 82 per cent.
The benchmark aggregate, which was up six per cent year on year, was achieved despite a smaller catalogue of 287 horses offered compared to last year’s two-day 358-lot catalogue, which continues the trend of buyer demand increasing across the board at this year’s Australasian sales series to date, with few exceptions.
The previous highest-priced yearling sold at HTBA was $180,000 for a son of Toronado (High Chaparral) who was offered at the joint July 2020 auction conducted in Sydney alongside the Easter Round 2 sale during the early stages of the pandemic.
Freedman, who trained Extreme Choice colts Stay Inside and Tiger Of Malay to win the Golden Slipper and the BRC Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) respectively, made the most of the rare opportunity to add a filly to his stable by Newgate Farm’s roster leader.
The trainer was not surprised at what he had to pay to take her home despite the filly not being offered at a more select yearling sale.
“He recently won a Group 1 with a filly two weeks ago (She’s Extreme, Champagne Stakes) and Espiona looks pretty promising as well, so he seems to be doing it whether it’s a filly or a colt,” Freedman said of Extreme Choice, who this year will cover another restricted book of mares at an advertised fee of $275,000 (inc GST).
“When they’re doing as well as he is, at the strike-rate he is, you’re happy to launch into them. Under normal circumstances she would have gone through another sale ring, the fact that she was in this sale didn’t really play any part in whether I came to bid on her or not.
“Once I’d looked at her I was quite happy to try and buy her.”
The Bell River Thoroughbreds-bred and sold filly was to be offered at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale in February, but minor surgery led to her withdrawal and her appearance at Riverside Stables yesterday.
Catalogued as Lot 57, the filly is the ninth foal out of two-time winner Dashie Diva (Dash For Cash), who has had seven foals to race for seven winners including Listed winner East Indiaman (Hinchinbrook).
“I tend to think looking at her that she’s got a fair bit of leg under her and that she might not be a pre-Christmas two-year-old and she is more likely to be hopefully (racing) in the autumn,” the Randwick-based trainer said.
“She’s a mid-October foal, so she’s one you’d have a look at in the spring, but she is one you’d probably be more likely to do something more serious with in the autumn.”
Bell River’s Andrew Ferguson said the $300,000 yearling had “always been a lovely filly”.
“We had her set to go to Classic in February but she had a tiny chip in the hind fetlock which I was never going to remove until a couple of prominent and well-known vets told me that it needed to be removed as it was in an awkward spot,” he said.
“So, we did and she ended up here, and as it turned out, it hasn’t deterred the result that we were going to get for her.”
The filly’s presence in the sale saw the likes of Darby Racing, trainer Annabel Neasham’s bloodstock manager Brian McGuire and Danny O’Brien’s racing manager Luke Wilkinson show interest in the filly.
“I thought she’d make between $200,000 and $300,000. There were quite a few big names on her. For someone like Michael Freedman to pick her up, it’s pretty exciting,” said Ferguson, whose Bell River Thoroughbreds also bred Extreme Choice and sold him at the Inglis Classic sale as a yearling.
“It was a bit like the ($800,000 Extreme Choice) colt we sold at Classic this year, I was apprehensive then too, but Sebastian (Hutch) and the Inglis team, they’re getting the buyers here, it’s a great buying bench and, as we saw at Classic, he made beyond my expectations and this filly has done the same.
“We’re getting rewarded as vendors by bringing them here and this is just another result we’ve been rewarded with.’’
Freedman also bought a colt by Merchant Navy (Fastnet Rock) for $45,000.
Comeback trainer David Pfieffer was also active yesterday, combining with Olly Koolman to buy a colt by former Darley stallion Epaulette (Commands) for $120,000.
Offered by Goodwood Farm as Lot 221, the brother to Sydney winner Military Magic was, like the top-priced lot, originally slated to be sold at the Classic sale only to be withdrawn at the last minute due to a setback.
Goodwood Farm’s Kerrie Tibbey consigned the colt on behalf of Premier Bloodstock’s Peter Zorbas.
“We’ve had some ups and downs with the horse, when we had to withdraw him from the Classic sale it was devastating because he was so popular there, but he’s come back now and looks even better and stronger and he sold accordingly. I’m very happy,” Tibbey said.
“A nice horse sells, no matter where it is, but the market and buying bench here is certainly very strong.”
Pfieffer, who had his first runner for 11 months at Warwick Farm on April 18 after serving a nine-month disqualification, said the now Turkish Jockey Club-owned Epaulette, the sire of this year’s Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Daumier, was underrated.
“I think he’s always been a stallion who has flown under the radar a bit and this horse caught our eye very early in the sale (during inspections) and we always had him in our sights,” Pfieffer said.
“We weren’t too sure whether he was going to be in our budget, so we were quite delighted to get him for that figure.
“I expected I’d have to go higher, to be honest, and I think this sale has gone to a new level, but so has sales around Australia.
“With prize-money going up, so do the prices of horses, and it is harder to buy at every sale, so you’ve just got to do their best.”
Pfieffer and Koolman also bought a Russian Revolution (Snitzel) filly for $35,000 and a Shooting To Win (Northern Meteor) filly for $32,000.
Mullaglass Stud’s Richard McClenahan, who sold a Harry Angel (Dark Angel) colt for $100,000 through the Mane Lodge draft to Rosehill trainer David Payne, was another participant who believed the May sale was growing in stature.
“You’d never expect to sell a horse for that much at this sale but I think it’s just a credit to how strong this sale is getting,” McClenahan said.
“It’s been really busy here the past two or three days, this colt alone was very busy. This is absolutely a sale we’re going to see keep progressing over the years.”
The Lot 92-catalogued colt was bought by McClenahan’s wife Kim for just $4,500 as a weanling in an Inglis Digital online sale in June last year. He is the eighth foal out of Fervent Delight (Ferocity).
“We hoped we’d have a little bit of fun with him but we had a lot of fun today,” he said.
“He’s a neat, compact colt, I really like him and I thought he would sell well but, wow, not that well, it’s a really good result. I put him on the market at $25,000, hoping he might make $40,000 or $50,000 and it just rolled on and kept going.”
Mane Lodge’s Neil Osborne soon after also sold a Capitalist (Written Tycoon) colt out of his five-time winner For Me Dad (Choisir) for $100,000 yesterday. The colt, catalogued as Lot 101, was bought by Newcastle trainer Paul Perry.
Bowness Stud also sold a colt by Divine Prophet (Choisir), the sire of Saturday’s juvenile SAJC Breeders’ Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) winner See You In Heaven, for $100,000 to Matthew Chidgey.
The colt is out of the Brisbane-placed mare Pediment (Lonhro) whose three foals to race have all won. He was catalogued as Lot 199.
Segenhoe Stud Australia also sold a colt by young stallion Hellbent (I Am Invincible) for $100,000 to Kurrinda Bloodstock and Scone trainer Scott Singleton. Catalogued as Lot 247, he is the fifth foal out of five-time winner Spurs And Sashes (Flying Spur), a half-sister to Group 2 winner Sabatini (Street Cry) and the Group 3 winner Vivi Veloce (More Than Ready).
NSW metropolitan, provincial and country trainers as well as those from interstate participated in yesterday’s sale, as did buyers from Hong Kong and Japan.
Kembla Grange trainer Theresa Bateup bought nine yearlings yesterday, syndicator Darby Racing bought eight, as did the mother and sons training partnership of Barbara Joseph and Paul and Mark Jones and Group 1-winning trainer Perry, all of whom have been beneficiaries of the BOBS scheme of additional prize-money available in NSW.
“We had international buyers participating in the sale; we had investors from interstate, we had some New Zealand buyers trying to buy at the sale,” Inglis Bloodstock chief executive Sebastian Hutch told ANZ Bloodstock News last night.
“There’s nothing parochial about this sale and you (as a vendor) can be confident that you can come here and be exposed to a deep and broad buying bench.
“Inevitably, people who are looking to spend significant money on a horse are going to heavily scrutinise things like x-rays and vet reports, but that’s the case every sale and that was the case again today, but if you had a horse who jumped through the necessary hoops you landed in a good spot.”
Matthew Sandblom’s Kingstar Farm was the leading vendor by aggregate, selling 16 yearlings for $703,500 and Vinery Stud sold 21 horses for a total of $653,500 while Bell River Thoroughbreds sold all three yearlings offered at an average of $109,333.
“The May sale provides a necessary service to not just breeders in NSW but in Australasia as a whole. It provides a very credible market,” Hutch said.
“The HTBA does a lot of good work, so generating a good result is satisfying on a number of levels, particularly given the relationship we have with them and president Cameron Collins and treasurer Paddy Power and their committee.
“To turnover what we’ve turned over today, on the back of a reduced catalogue in terms of volume, is very pleasing.”
Inglis now turns its attention to the two-day Australian Weanling Sale, which begins on Thursday, May 5.
Sale statistics
2022 2021
Catalogued 287 358
Offered 257 328
Sold 212 (82%) 266 (81%)
Aggregate $5,379,250 (+5.9%) $5,079,250
Average $25,374 (+33%) $19,095
Median $17,000 (+48%) $11,500
Top Lot $300,000 $145,000