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Fasika sells on Inglis Digital for $920,000

Suman Hedge snares the top race mare to send to champion stallion Written Tycoon this spring

Group 2-winning race mare Fasika (So You Think) sold to Suman Hedge for $920,000 through the Inglis August (Late) Online Sale yesterday, continuing the trend of big prices being paid for quality breeding prospects.

With some forecasting the Joe Pridetrained mare might fetch anywhere up to $1.3 million, Hedge, who has secured a number of highclass mares in the online space this year, said he was thrilled Fasika met with his budget at the close of bidding.

“It’s exciting. She’s a lovely mare and as soon as we found out she was available we were interested,” Hedge told ANZ Bloodstock News.

 “We kind of thought we might not have enough as we thought she might make a bit more than that. Some had her valued at anything from $1-$1.3 million and it kind of intimidated us.

“I was monitoring the sale and seeing how everything was going, and I could see she was stagnating a bit. I thought let’s just be there and go our maximum and if we get her, we get her. Fortunately we did.”

Hedge was delighted to have been able to purchase the six-year-old for his rapidly growing portfolio of top broodmares.

“It was several factors that influenced us. We have focussed on speed and even though she is by So You Think who is a Classic horse and produced Classic types, she was a bit of an outlier.

“She was a really fast mare and showed so much ability. We looked at her overall record, the calibre of horses she raced against, and had her rated. Everything stacked up very well.”

Hedge plans to immediately send Fasika to Milburn Creek Stud in the Southern Highlands before having her covered by champion stallion Written Tycoon (Iglesia), who is standing his first season at Yulong Stud in Victoria this year.

“Looking at the stallions we have got and how she matched up on pedigree, she was quite versatile and suited by a few but in particular Written Tycoon. She’s a very nice mating for him,” he said.

Hedge has been prolific purchasing breeding stock at the major auctions and through the online system this year with Fasika now set to join the likes of Too Good Too Hard (All Too Hard), Diamond Effort (Mossman), Into The Abyss (Foxwedge), and Hell Or Highwater (Not A Single Doubt) in his quality band of mares.

Yesterday’s sale of Fasika was a big windfall for Tricolours Racing and Syndications and the large group of owners who raced her during her 15-start career.

Tricolours’ director James Moss said he was thrilled with the result.

“We put her on with a very commercial reserve at $600,000 and it was always going to be about letting the market tell us what she’s worth,” Moss said. 

“With a big ownership group everyone had different expectations but at the end of day it was always going to be about giving her the best possible chance to sell well. Inglis have done a terrific job with the marketing campaign and everyone is really happy. 

“She was a $120,000 purchase that won nearly $800,000 on the track and $900,000 on the way out.”

The Danny O’Brien-trained mare Absolute Flirt (Stratum) was the second top lot of the sale, with Dan Fletcher of Telemon Thoroughbreds going to $460,000 to secure the Listed-winning two-year-old, who was offered in the broodmare category.

The five-year-old won four of her 19 starts and twice ran second in Group 3 company. 

Lucicello (I Am Invincible), who placed in the 2019 Up And Coming Stakes (Gr 3, 1300m), was purchased by Allam Racing in conjunction with Kestrel Thoroughbreds for $370,000, the third highest lot of the sale.

The mare was offered as a broodmare by her owners, which included Olly Koolman and Debbie Kepitis.

“What a great result, we’re absolutely thrilled,” Kepitis said. “We were anticipating the whole sale process and when today came around we were watching it all afternoon, refreshing the screen all the time, it’s enthralling to watch.”

“The last little while was when all the bids came in and we cheered each time another late bid was lodged and bidding extended for another five minutes.

“She was a beautiful horse for us, I mean who doesn’t love a gorgeous grey, and we’ll be watching her progeny very closely in years to come.”

Koolman is still on a high after Funstar’s (Adelaide) record-breaking $2.7 million sale on Inglis Digital last month and said Lucicello was another great result for all involved.

“We thought she fell through the cracks at Inglis Easter when we bought her but I tell you what, there doesn’t seem to be too many cracks in the Inglis Digital mare market at the moment,” Koolman said.

“It’s just another example of ‘you don’t have to wait six months to sell a good mare at a live sale in May or June’, you can wait 14 days and put them on Inglis Digital and know you’ll get a good result.

“Credit to the buyers too for embracing such a wonderful platform and giving it the respect it deserves.”

The August (Late) Sale grossed $5.2 million and posted a clearance of 82.4 per cent, with 239 of the 298 lots being sold. Seven lots sold for in excess of $100,000, with the average at $21,822 and a median of $6,000.

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