Cards still to be played for Winx’s Easter ace
Peter Tighe, one of three co-breeders of the only foal out of champion mare Winx (Street Cry), has expressed strong interest in retaining a share in the globally appealing daughter of Pierro (Lonhro).
Almost certain to eclipse the Australasian bloodstock sale record of $2.6 million for a yearling filly when she is auctioned on day two of the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, her uniqueness could even see her break the $5 million barrier, one that has never been broken before.
The public declaration by Tighe and the reluctance of the filly’s co-breeder Debbie Kepitis to show her hand provides an intriguing subplot to how the sale of the much vaunted daughter of Coolmore’s own Group 1-producing sire will transpire.
“Look, my head can’t get around any of that at the moment. This is a big deal to be selling this filly. So we’ve made that decision and we’ve lived with it for 12 months, so we want to let it pan out,” Kepitis told ANZ Bloodstock News, playing her cards close to her chest.
“We’ll see what happens, and just enjoy every minute of it. You know, I’m not committing to anything at the moment. My daughters and Paul and I, we do this as a business. We do this as a family. So I can’t say yes [or no to the option of retaining a share].”
Tighe drove from the Gold Coast to Sydney on Wednesday in time for Thursday’s media conference at Inglis’ Riverside Stables.
“We just arrived here to have a look … and see what people think and we’ll just take it as it comes,” Tighe said.
“The interest is there and there’s a lot of international buyers looking at or have made a lot of inquiries, so, we’re hopeful that they like her a lot more than we do.
“But if the opportunity arises, we will certainly be there to see what we can do [as] we’d love to stay in partnership with whoever buys her and go on the next journey with Winx.
“They’ll reach out if they want to. We’re happy to talk to anybody.”
Elizabeth Treweeke, the daughter of the late Richard Treweeke who was the third member of the Winx syndicate, was also at Riverside Stables for the media conference, the last official promotional event before the filly goes through the sale ring.
The Treweekes maintained a lower public profile compared to the Tighes and Kepitis’ during Winx’s illustrious racing career and Elizabeth again chose to continue that approach in the lead up to the Easter sale.
She did, however, suggest that she and her family had not made a firm commitment either way as to whether they would try to retain equity in the filly if a potential buyer approached them.
Inglis Bloodstock chief executive Sebastian Hutch and his colleagues have been canvassing potential buyers of the filly for many months, a mission which has yielded genuine interest from around the world.
That targeted campaigning has potentially netted clients of Japanese trainer Mitsu Nakauchida who made a 24-hour visit to Coolmore’s Jerrys Plains property last month to inspect her, while American investor John Stewart has also flagged his interest.
“There’ll be lots of people with different opinions. So, certainly to this point, the feedback has been very positive, but it’s a horse sale, anything can happen,” Hutch says.
“I have lots of fears with any sale, but the owners have been very, very pragmatic in their approach to it.
“You know, I’ve been at pains to stress that she’s here with the intention of selling her. There’ll be a reserve. But I think based on every conversation we’ve had to this point is that everything would be very reasonable.
“And look, I think we’ve done all we can. The owners have done what they can to try and encourage people to take the opportunity to buy the filly very seriously.
“The fact that she’s available for people to bid on at a public auction itself is nothing short of extraordinary and a wonderful opportunity for our industry.”
Tighe, however, has also contemplated the worst-case scenario: the filly being passed in.
“If you think the ownership group retaining probably the greatest filly in the world at the moment, I don’t think that could be a bad story, so if she doesn’t reach the reserve that’s asked on the day, I won’t be too upset going home with the filly,” Tighe says.
“But we put her up for sale because we’d like her to get out into the bloodstock world and be available to studs and breeders who see the value in her that we see.
“It doesn’t eliminate us from keeping shares and continuing the story. It’s got everything. I don’t think there’s a sad part about it.
“The market will determine what she’s worth, not us, so we’ll certainly be hoping for a good price and wishing it happens and waiting to see what the outcome is.”
The filly is being consigned by Hunter Valley nursery Coolmore, where she was born and raised, and the team is no stranger to managing high-profile horses but the presence of Winx’s daughter in Barn K isn’t lost on them.
“We’ve never taken a horse to a sale out of a champion such as Winx,” Coolmore Australia’s Tom Moore said.
“Obviously, she’s the greatest racehorse any of us here have ever seen on the racetrack in Australia, arguably all over the world, so to offer her first foal at auction is a great responsibility for all of us here at Coolmore, and we want to do it justice.”
The Magnier family’s global operation could also be a key player when the daughter of Pierro goes through the ring on Monday with Moore not ruling out Coolmore as a potential bidder.
“Obviously, she’s a filly that is going to garner international attention from investors all over the world,” Moore said.
“It’s a very rare thing that a filly out of a mare such as Winx is offered at a public auction.”
Hutch believes that the filly, who took another promotional strut in her stride, has developed as one would like.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to see her at a number of stages through her lifecycle and a major part of our pitch to the owners was that our feeling was on the 1st of April this filly was going to look the best she could for her age, and she’s just grown steadily right the way through,” he said.
“She’s strengthened nicely from the 1st of August to the 1st of October and to the 1st of January and she’s done well in the prep. You like to see little idiosyncrasies of a horse. You’d like to see them eat well, you like to see them handle the stable environment nicely.
“You like to see them handle the exercise regime with ease. They’re all very much been the case with this filly.”
Kepitis, whose family was associated with Australian turf greats Octagonal (Zabeel) and his son Lonhro, again reflected on the 33-start winning streak that Winx took them on.
“Winx took us on a magic carpet ride and she’s had a beautiful filly. You don’t always get good horses out of good race mares,” the owner said.
“So, for her to have jumped that hurdle, to have produced a filly that’s worthy of going into the Inglis Easter sale, we’re on cloud nine. So, look, we just keep riding the storm.”
With or without the co-breeders forming allegiances with buyers, there is no doubt if the filly is sold she’ll be in rare air alongside a handful of yearlings to sell in Sydney and the Gold Coast this century.
The Redoute’s Choice (Danehill) half-brother to another champion mare in Black Caviar (Bel Esprit), latterly dubbed “Jimmy”, sold for $5 million at the 2013 Inglis Easter sale while a year earlier his sister made $2.6 million at the Easter sale, the highest price for a yearling filly in Australia.
That figure was matched at last year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale when the sister to champion mare Sunlight (Zoustar) was sold.
Hutch, for his part, wasn’t prepared to publicly predict how much the Easter sale’s star attraction will make.
“Absolutely not, not in a million years,” he quipped in response.
At approximately 1.45pm on Monday there’ll be a definitive answer when long-serving Inglis auctioneer Jonathan D’Arcy brings down the gavel.