Extreme Choice colt sets Classic record on strong first day
James Harron secures opening session top lot in what was a brilliant pinhook result for Bell River Thoroughbreds
A colt by the brilliant yet sub-fertile stallion Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) set a new record for an Inglis Classic Yearling Sale yesterday, selling for $775,000 during a stunning opening day of trade in which buyers splashed out more than $26 million in search of their next racetrack star.
Leading agent James Harron was a key player in driving the session’s unprecedented Classic spending spree, zeroing in on the well-credentialed Bell River Thoroughbreds-pinhooked Extreme Choice colt, one of 35 lots to make $200,000 or more.
The new benchmark for a Classic sale, surpassing the previous high of $625,000, was in part achieved due to the immense demand and limited supply of progeny by Newgate stallion Extreme Choice but by no means was the top lot an outlier at Riverside Stables.
The underlying strength of the Australian bloodstock market, which also reached new heights at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale last month, flowed through to the Classic sale where 207 horses were traded at an average of $127,271.
The 20 per cent year-on-year increase in the average coincided with the median increasing to $110,000, up $20,000 on the same day last year and $30,000 on the overall 2021 Classic sale. The aggregate closed at $26,345,000, up on the $21,418,000 which changed hands on day one last year, itself a then-record.
For comparison, and in a sign of the sustained demand for bloodstock, the 2022 Magic Millions five-session Book 1 Gold Coast sale saw its year-on-year average climb by 16 per cent and its median by 28 per cent.
The attraction of the top-priced lot was obvious to many, being by the same sire as Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Stay Inside, Group 2 winner Tiger Of Malay, high-class sprinting colt Extreme Warrior and three-year-old Espiona, already anointed by many pundits as her generation’s star filly, among his six stakes winners from just 33 runners.
At least three parties were making a play for the impressive colt at prices above the previous Inglis Classic record price, which was set last year, and perhaps not unexpectedly, it was Harron, bidding via the phone to Inglis’ James Price while sitting in a Riverside Stables corporate suite, who was able to land a knockout blow to Newgate Farm’s Henry Field, the underbidder and studmaster who stands Extreme Choice.
Harron saw the purchase of the yearling as an important addition to his clients’ portfolio of colts.
“You start to learn about certain breeds and I think he was very typical of what we have seen of the good Extreme Choices,” Harron told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“He had a really masculine head, fantastic depth of girth, he’s medium size, but he is a very good-moving horse.
“He’s got a wonderful attitude and that’s all you keep hearing from people about the good Extreme Choices, just how wonderful their attitudes are. Not A Single Doubts, his sire, were also very unflappable types of horses and trainers love them.
“He ticks all those boxes, so to speak, and let’s hope he’s fast.”
Purchased for $220,000 as a weanling from the Magic Millions National Sale by agent Bevan Smith and James Ferguson of Bell River Thoroughbreds from the Kenmore Lodge draft, the record-breaking colt is the fifth foal out of the dual Group 3-placed juvenile Murtle Turtle (Murtajill).
She is already the dam of three winners, two of them who have won as juveniles: Hurtle (Capitalist) and California Deeply (Deep Field), who was victorious at Warwick Farm in December.
Jock Ferguson revealed the horse – one of only three colts by the champion Newgate Farm first-season sire in the Classic sale and 14 in Extreme Choice’s third crop – would have headed to the recent Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale if it wasn’t for some persuasiveness from Inglis Bloodstock chief executive Sebastian Hutch.
“Obviously we were very nervous going into the ring. We were anxious to see what he’d make and we just wanted to get him there safely,” said Ferguson, who runs Bell River Thoroughbreds with his father Andrew and brother James.
“Inglis has done an outstanding job and a special mention to Sebastian Hutch, he convinced us to bring the colt to this sale and he hasn’t disappointed us.
“All the team at Inglis work so hard to get the people here and they’ve got a great sale here.”
The respect that leading buyers paid to Bell River Thoroughbreds’ ability to raise a high-calibre horse at their Dungog farm during a pivotal growth period, from a weanling to yearling, was an important aspect of yesterday’s result for the Fergusons.
“James Harron is a great judge, he’s bought some very good colts in the past, and there were numerous underbidders that are good judges,” he said.
“When you’ve got those judges on the horse, you know that they’re going to go to a good home and you know that you’ve got a quality horse under your belt.”
Harron, who bought seven yearlings from last year’s Classic sale, also purchased a colt by Capitalist (Written Tycoon) from the Newgate Farm draft for $375,000 and a Redbank North and Huntworth Stud-consigned son of Pariah (Redoute’s Choice), a horse his partnership raced until retiring to Arrowfield Stud, for $210,000.
“You’re seeing some people really supporting it (Classic) in terms of the vendors making it their number one sale. For example, that (Extreme Choice) horse could have gone to any sale in Australia and done very, very well,” Harron said.
“The fact that they’ve brought him here, I guess it was nearly a full circle for them, having bred, offered and sold Extreme Choice here (at Classic), so I am sure it was part of their plan to get back here where they’ve had that success.”
Another Extreme Choice colt (Lot 86) sold for $150,000 yesterday to Warwick Farm trainer Gary Portelli while the final Extreme Choice colt at the Classic sale will be offered as Lot 313 by breeder Mane Lodge today.
Freedman to train $550,000 Deep Field colt
Prominent Hong Kong owner Bon Ho has put his faith in young Scone trainer Will Freedman, entrusting him to train a $550,000 colt by Newgate Farm stallion Deep Field (Northern Meteor).
Inglis’ Jonathan D’Arcy, acting on instruction from Ho, bought the Newgate Farm-offered colt, putting an exclamation point on a session which only gained in strength as it went on.
“The market is very hot, the good-looking horses fetch a very good price. It’s very good for the vendors but for the buyers like myself, we have to pay more than our budget for the better ones,” Ho said last night.
“He was the best-looking horse at the sale for me and there were some very good trainers as underbidders, so I’m very pleased to get him. He was recommended to me by William Freedman, so he will be trained by William.”
The colt was earmarked by Henry Field, stud manager Jim Carey and the Newgate Farm team to be one of their standout yearlings at the Classic sale.
Bred by S F Bloodstock and Matthew Sandblom, the Lot 263-consigned colt is the fourth foal out of New Zealand Listed winner Spellbinder (O’Reilly), who is the dam of the Kris Lees-trained, Australian Bloodstock-owned three-year-old Spellcatcher (Extreme Choice), a winner of two of his four starts and an unlucky Randwick placegetter last month.
Carey commended Ho, who races a large team of horses under his Legend Racing banner, for his support of the Australian industry and hopes his latest buy can deliver on the racetrack.
“He’s by Deep Field, who we stand, and he is a stallion we have huge faith in. He grew up on the farm and hopefully he can be as good as some of our previous Classic sale graduates in Shadow Hero and Profiteer, who came from our drafts in the past couple of years,” Carey said.
Last week, Ho paid $650,000 on the Magic Millions Online platform for Vo Rogue Plate (Gr 3, 1350m) winner Tiger Heart (Better Than Ready), a three-year-old who will be trained by Les Bridge for the Legend Racing owner.
Buckley and Harvey have eyes on Millennium with I Am Invincible colt
Like many buyers, full of hope and optimism, Baystone Farm’s Dean Harvey, owner Sean Buckley and trainer Troy Corstens have designs on next year’s $2 million Inglis Millennium (RL, 1200m) with their newly signed for I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) colt.
If the 12-month plan comes to fruition, they will be well in front after going to $480,000 for the Yarraman Park Stud-consigned yearling, the second foal of the unraced mare Pierro Moss (Pierro).
“He’s the premier stallion in the country and he’s got a good family underneath him, so he’ll head to Troy Corstens and see if we can win the Millennium next year,” Harvey said.
“He is a typical I Am Invincible. He’s a nice horse, he looks early, he paraded well all week, he’s got a great temperament, so he’ll be given every chance.
“Sean has got Shamus Award, so he’s trying to find another prospect to suit Shamus Award fillies. He is a nice outcross prospect, so we’ll see how we roll.”
The good family underneath that Harvey speaks of features WA Listed winner Upon This Rock (Fastnet Rock), the colt’s second dam, as well as Group 3 winner Najoom (Northern Meteor), who has already produced stakes-winning juvenile Najmaty (I Am Invincible).
“He was a nicely balanced horse and we’re very happy with the price,” Yarraman Park’s Harry Mitchell said.
“It’s a very strong sale and he’s an outstanding colt and I Am Invincible is having a great season again so we’re delighted.”
The anecdotal evidence about the amount of inspections taking place at Riverside Stables over the past week was borne out during day one’s competitive trade, a point made by Mitchell after selling the colt.
“The market is very strong; there’s horses here for all people and budgets, there’s a lot of people here from every different level, which is a credit to Inglis, they’ve got the people here and the sale is very successful as a result,” he said.
“The foot traffic today and all week is as busy as I can ever remember, I haven’t been to many busier sales in my lifetime.”
Ultra Racing’s Buckley incidentally sold a filly by Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m) winner Shamus Award (Snitzel) for $90,000 yesterday to Malua Racing’s Corstens whose day one haul totalled three.
Price and Kent Jnr take shine to Dundeel colt
The highlight in the early part of the opening Classic sale session was a $320,000 Dundeel (High Chaparral) colt who will head to Melbourne to be trained by Mick Price and Mick Kent Jnr.
Price and Kent Jnr, with high-profile owner Rupert Legh adding support on the phone, were able to outlast Sydney trainer Annabel Neasham and her bloodstock manager Brian McGuire to buy the Arrowfield Stud-consigned yearling.
“I underwrite the horse and he will make his mind up (whether he is in) tomorrow. He’s a lovely colt, so you’ve got to pay,” Price said.
“You have got a good judge on him (Neasham), he’s by a proven sire and I love my Arrowfield horses because they do produce Group 1 horses off that farm.”
Catalogued as Lot 40, the Dundeel colt is the fifth foal out of Lures (Flying Spur), a sister to Group 1-winning mare Alverta and a half-sister to stakes winners Aerobatics (Exceed And Excel) and Revolte (French Deputy), whose success came in Singapore.
Lures has already produced Red Shadow (King’s Best), a 1200-metre winner in Japan.
Price suggested: “I think he’s a racy, running later two-year-old, early spring three-year-old type. I think he’s going to be a 1200-metre-to-mile-type colt who I think has a lot of quality and athleticism about him.”
On the back of Dundeel siring Group 1-winning colts from his first and second crops, breeders increased the quality and quantity of mares they sent to the Arrowfield stallion in 2019, his sixth year at stud.
“Stallions start off well in their first season and then in their second and third year the mares go down a bit, then if they’re any good their fourth and fifth season, it picks up again,” Price said.
“In particular, I remember Super Seth being a lovely colt and Castelvecchio as well, so I am chasing a few Dundeel colts, trying to buy the next Group 1 colt.
“I couldn’t do much better in this sale, to buy off that farm with that page, by that stallion with that type of colt, so I am pretty happy. We’ll get him sold, get some colours on him and away we go.”
Hutch happy after record opening session
Inglis Bloodstock’s Hutch was delighted that the work the company undertook during the spring when compiling the Classic catalogue found favour with buyers yesterday and he expects the market sentiment to be maintained over the next two days.
“There were some really important horses sold today, obviously a new record price for the sale and that was a particular objective for the sale, we felt like we could break the record,” Hutch said.
“Fundamentally, you’re just happy to see people who support the sale achieve some fantastic results and similarly have, almost without exclusion, all the biggest names in Australian racing participating at the buying side of things.
“Whether they managed to buy or were underbidders, that’s also very satisfying. You’re marrying the two together and delivering results that people are very pleased with.”
Day two starts at 10am today.
Sale statistics – day one
2022 2021
Catalogued 270 270
Offered 243 235
Sold 207 (85%) 202 (86%)
Aggregate $26,345,000 (+23%) $21,418,000
Average $127,271 (+20%) $106,030
Median $110,000 (+22%) $90,000
Top Lot $775,000 $600,000
Sale statistics – Book 1 – overall
2021 2020
Catalogued 620 613
Offered 548 563
Sold 501 (91%) 474 (84%)
Aggregate $51,273,000 (+23%) $41,690,500
Average $102,546 (+17%) $87,955
Median $80,000 (+7%) $75,000
Top Lot $625,000 $380,000