For the old and the new Blue Gum reigns supreme at Premier
Campbell’s $925,000 Snitzel filly comes up trumps at Inglis’ main Victorian sale
Philip Campbell is synonymous with the Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale and the former principal of renowned Blue Gum Farm continued to make his mark at Oaklands Junction yesterday, selling a blueblood Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) filly for $925,000.
The highest-priced yearling sold at the Premier sale this year was bought by prominent owner Jonathan Munz whose long-time agent Dean Hawthorne signed the docket for the sister to high-class sprinter-turned-sire Bruckner.
In a session where quality horses were well sought after – eight lots sold for $400,000 or more on day two to match the high-end numbers traded on Sunday – it was the most talked about filly on the complex that delivered.
At the end of the main Premier Session, Inglis was closing in on $51 million in trade with 383 horses changing hands at a clearance rate of 76 per cent. The average of $132,693 was down five per cent year-on-year while the median held firm at $100,000.
Hawthorne believes the sale-topping filly, the second most expensive filly ever sold at the Victorian sale, could be capable of racing in feature races in 12 months’ time.
“We haven’t bought in the sale ring for a few years, GSA, but this filly, they don’t come along like this, these Snitzel fillies, very often and so we thought we would have a crack at her,” the Kiwi agent said.
“With that pedigree, she had one of the best pages in the book and you get here and the type matches, away you go.
“She had that big middle, a big gaskin and hindquarter and looked like she was going to be a two-year-old. She moved very well and I watched her a lot, she just seemed to get on with the job.
“They are the ones you can see fronting up in the autumn two-year-old races in Melbourne and Sydney. They’re the ones you’re after. If it all goes to plan, you’ve got a good type for a broodmare as well.”
The filly is a daughter of Jestajingle (Lonhro) whose progeny have been a regular at the Premier sale. Her first foal, a $725,000 Premier graduate, is the Group 3-winning, Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) runner-up Bruckner (Snitzel), who will enter his second season at Widden Victoria in 2024, while her third foal Tuned (Zoustar) sold for $500,000 at last year’s sale to Annabel Neasham.
Jestajingle is a half-sister to stakes-winning two- and three-year-old Jukebox (Snitzel), with the pair being out of Perth Listed-winning juvenile Jestatune (Rory’s Jester).
Campbell and his wife Patti sold their Euroa-based Blue Gum Farm to Trilogy’s Jason and Mel Stenning and Sean and Cathy Dingwall in 2022 after four decades developing the property and becoming a leading vendor at the Premier sale.
Blue Gum Farm clients Mike Howard, Keith Brown and Campbell, along with some other partners, acquired Jestajingle from Western Australian breeders Neville and Susan Duncan, themselves long-time supporters of Blue Gum Farm.
The Campbell-led syndicate also sold a Snitzel colt out of Vaujany (Lonhro) to David Ellis for $1.3 million through Blue Gum’s Magic Millions draft in January.
“Magic Millions was a great start with the $1.3 million colt owned in the same interests and with this filly we started to dare to dream a little while ago that she would get the seven figures,” Dingwall said.
“We would have had two in a year, which would have been unbelievable, but she got pretty close and it’s wonderful.”
The stand-out yearling of the two-day Premier Session catalogue joins Munz’s GSA Bloodstock portfolio, which also includes elite mares Shoals (Fastnet Rock), Toffee Tongue (Tavistock), Passive Aggressive (Fastnet Rock) and Madrigals (Lonhro), the dam of Saturday’s Group 3-winning, Inglis Sprint (1200m) scorer Estriella (I Am Invincible).
“We’re going along nicely and breeding a lot of good horses. Estriella the other day, we bred her, a filly called Love Palm in New Zealand was Group 2–placed out of the same mare, so we’ve got some great mares, but you’ve just got to keep topping up now and again,” Hawthorne said.
“It’s a family we haven’t got that’s got plenty going on. All good breeders need to top up every now and again and Jonathan is a top breeder.”
Anthony and Sam Freedman, who train from Munz’s Mount Eliza-based Pinecliff facility as well as Flemington, is “odds-on” to take on the impressive filly.
The Freedmans have trained Group 1 winners Shoals (Fastnet Rock) and Super Seth (Dundeel) for Munz.
Blue Gum Farm also sold a Snitzel half-sister to stakes winner She Dances (Street Boss) for $650,000 on Sunday and it closed out the Premier session having sold 23 for $4.32 million at an average of $187,826.
The results were an important reinforcement for Dingwall and his business partners, having claimed the leading vendor title in 2023, their first at the helm of the stud and Blue Gum’s fourth in five years.
Blue Gum also sold the equal second highest-priced yearling at the Premier sale this year.
Yulong, with numbers on its side, was the leading vendor by aggregate this year, selling 39 for $5.029 million at an average $128,949.
Dingwall said: “The farm has been a proven producer and more and more buyers are very selective and buying off those farms that are proven producers.”
Jestajingle has a weanling filly by Snitzel and she missed to Anamoe (Street Boss) last year.
Nervous wait leads to $550,000 pay day
Segenhoe’s Peter O’Brien admits that a star horse being catalogued as the last Premier Session lot could have been a curse, but in the end he needn’t have worried.
As it turned out, the prized Zoustar (Northern Meteor) half-brother to Group 3 winner Bella Rosa (Snitzel) came in for plenty of competition, eventually being knocked down to agent Olly Koolman for $650,000.
He was bought on behalf of Hong Kong owner Phillip Liu, who races the Francis Lui-trained Call Me Glorious (No Nay Never), a 2022 Inglis Ready2Race Sale graduate, who won his first start at Sha Tin on February 25.
“It is always nerve-racking when you’re last in, but he had 18 vets. He was a beautiful animal and all the right people were on him,” O’Brien said.
“We didn’t expect to get that for him, being the last lot of the sale, but we’re delighted for Olly and his owners.
“For me, he was a top five yearling on our farm including the ones at Magics. I think they’ve bought really, really well.”
He then added: “The only positive thing is that you can see the people you think are on the horse and if they’re still here, then you’re a chance. I couldn’t find three people, and that got me worried as I couldn’t see them, but it all worked out in the end.”
Koolman didn’t buy into the “last lot bargain” suggestion.
“It’s no help at all. We’re not surrounded by idiots,” he said. “These guys are pretty smart. I’m often asked should we buy early or should we buy late, it really doesn’t matter. They didn’t choose the lot number and neither should we.”
O’Brien revealed the Segenhoe-bred Zoustar colt, who is the seventh living foal out of stakes winner Swiss Rose (Thorn Park), was initially destined for the Magic Millions on the Gold Coast in January but a setback forced a change of plans.
“He had a hematoma on his chest, so we took him out [of the Gold Coast],” he said.
“So, then we thought, ‘we have a draft here but we don’t have a marquee horse’, so we thought we’d bring him down and he’d stand out more and it worked.
“The horses have found their homes, most of them are on budget or above, so we’re delighted and we’ll be back again.”
Koolman said the colt could soon be gelded with the focus on educating him for a career in Hong Kong.
“He’s a lovely, big strong colt, a bit of a rare combination of size and athleticism, but he seems to have it,” Koolman said.
“He’s probably going to go through an ugly duckling stage and he might not look as good as he does today in the next eight to ten weeks, but I’m sure in 18 months’ time he will look absolutely sensational.”
Segenhoe Stud sold eight yearlings at an average $161,875.
Wacey’s orphan foal bound for Hong Kong
Earlier, a planned 12-month hiatus from the horses could be put on hold by Kevin Wacey and his partner Lyn after a $510,000 result they achieved with an orphaned homebred Starspangledbanner (Choisir) colt.
The best of three Wacey-sold colts at this year’s Premier sale – he also cleaned up with the sale of a pinhooked Justify (Scat Daddy) colt who made $500,000 earlier in the day – the Victorian owner and breeder sold the three-quarter brother to dual Group 3 winner Defcon (Choisir) to Hong Kong-based Alvis Yeung of Solari Bloodstock, an owner of Sha Tin trainer Benno Yung.
By the same sire as Hong Kong Group 1 winner California Spangle, the Starspangledbanner colt is the seventh living and final foal out of Wacey’s six-time winner Nuclear Force (Encosta De Lago).
“He is very special to us. The mare died giving birth and we had to get a foster mother and we didn’t want to raise him, we are at Yarra Glen with 130 acres and we didn’t want to raise him by himself, so we needed a paddock mate,” Wacey said.
“I said to James Price at Inglis at the weanling sales in Sydney, I wasn’t there, that I want to spend $20,000, $30,000 for a mate.
“James rang me from the weanling sales and he said, ‘yeah, if you spend a little bit more, you might make a little bit more, so my $20,000 to $30,000 turned into $200,000.
“They spent the year together at Yarra Glen. We had a wet winter and they were running around in mud a foot deep, but that’s the Yarra Valley.
“They’ve been beautiful horses all the way through and, as you get older, money means less and fun and value mean more.”
The Starspangledbanner colt’s paddock mates were also sold over the past two days by Wacey through Kim Alderton’s Shadow Hill Thoroughbreds draft.
Wacey pinhooked the All Too Hard (Casino Prince) colt at $70,000 and turned that into $180,000 on Sunday and went even better early yesterday, flipping his $105,000 Justify weanling colt for $500,000 to trainers Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott.
The Justify colt was sold by NSW breeder Mike O’Donnell under his Fairhill Farm banner at last year’s Inglis Australian Weanling Sale in Sydney.
Since then the Coolmore shuttler’s credentials have risen exponentially in both hemispheres, in part courtesy of Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott’s unbeaten Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) favourite Storm Boy, who stretched his perfect record to four when he landed the Skyline Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) at Randwick on Saturday.
Tulloch Lodge’s bloodstock manager Claudia Miller said the colt , who is the fifth foal out of winning mare Kitty Leroy (I Am Invincible), herself a sister to Super One, possessed similar physical characteristics to that of his potential $60 million stablemate.
“We have obviously had very good success with Justify, mainly with Storm Boy, and this guy was a cracker,” said Miller who signed alongside Kestrel Thoroughbreds’ Bruce Slade for Lot 335.
“He’s a really good mover, great bone and from a very fast family, so let’s hope we can do the same with him as we’re doing with Storm Boy.”
Justify averaged $241,250 with eight yearlings changing hands Miller was not surprised by the sire’s popularity.
She said: “She was a beautiful filly [Lot 160], we underbid her, and we’re obviously looking very intently at every Justify and seeing what we can pick up, but they’re not going through unnoticed.”
Wacey intended on an extended holiday in the Greek Islands while Lyn’s preference is to spend a well-deserved vacation in Australia, but the horse bug may prove too hard to pass.
“We’ve never not had a horse at the farm for 35 years and we promised to have one off, but I’m not sure that’s going to happen now,” he said.
“We have won a Group 1 a couple of years ago with Ellsberg with Gerald Ryan in Sydney; out of the same family as this bloke we bred Defcon, who won the Black Opal and ran in the Golden Slipper, so we’re a boutique farm, but we’ve knocked up 250 winners.
“What do we do differently? We feed the best we can, we’ve got the best paddocks in the Yarra Valley. They get individual treatment, we go in twice a day, every day and we handle them. They’re not afraid of us.
“It’s a bit like rearing children. If you spend the time, you get the results.”
Another big pinhook result achieved yesterday was a $475,000 Deep Field (Northern Meteor) colt who was also bred and sold last May by Fairhill Farm.
The pinhooked Deep Field colt – a brother to the highly talented but injury prone Master Fay – was bought by agent Shane McGrath on behalf of leading Hong Kong trainer Pierre Ng.
He is the seventh living foal out of five-time winner Keeping Score (Keeper).
“He is a smashing colt. Pierre arrived in this morning as they had races last night; I showed him six horses and he was one that he loved,” McGrath said.
“Deep Field is a proper stallion in Hong Kong, Pierre loved the model, he vetted out perfectly and hopefully he’ll be lucky.”
Nominated for two races at Flemington on Saturday, including the Newmarket Handicap (Gr 1, 1200m), Master Fay won the Concorde Handicap (Gr 3, 1200m) at Ellerslie on Karaka Millions night on January 27, leading to emotional scenes from trainer Chad Ormsby who nursed him back to the racetrack after three years on the sidelines.
Master Fay, who won three barrier trials in 2019 before being sold to Hong Kong by Ormsby, won his only start in Asia at Sha Tin on New Year’s Day 2021.
Ng’s new acquisition is likely to be educated at Hawkesbury by Matt Vella while Riverrock Farm’s Ormsby, a regular consignor at the New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale, bought a Tagaloa (Lord Kanaloa) colt for $120,000 yesterday.
Premier Frankels head to Cranbourne
There were only two yearlings by Frankel (Galileo) in the Premier sale and Cranbourne trainers Robbie Griffiths and Mathew de Kock bought them both.
The first was a relative bargain at $100,000, a filly carrying a double cross of the grand mare Urban Sea (Miswaki) being out of Alsephina (Sea The Stars), and the training partners stepped up their investment yesterday afternoon with a $500,000 outlay for a colt by the champion Juddmonte sire.
Both were sold by first-time Premier vendor Aristia Park whose owner John Guscic bred the Frankel yearlings, the most expensive being the second foal out of Philonikia (Kingman), a half-sister to Australian Group 3 winner Brimham Rocks (Fastnet Rock) and European Listed winner Chamade (Sepoy).
Frankel has sired 17 stakes winners in Australia from 88 runners, including Group 1 winners Hungry Heart, Converge and northern hemisphere-bred Mirage Dancer, while he is also the sire of Griffiths and de Kock’s Group 3-winning filly Let’sbefrankbaby.
“We were prepared to go a little bit more. We’re always happy when we go under budget, not over budget,” de Kock said.
“We bought Let’sbefrankbaby for $400,000 and he’s in a very similar mould – a nice staying type, which is what we’re looking for.
“We’re not in the market for those early, sharp ones, we’re very patient and we’d rather be focusing on longevity.
“He needs time. He has a very stout female line. He’s got a lot of length to him and will be a horse that’s running over ten furlongs-plus one day.”
On the filly, de Kock said: “She was a bit of a bargain buy at 100 grand. She’s a bit of a small filly and maybe that’s why she didn’t make the intended price.
“We were happy to take a risk on her, being by Frankel again, we want to put the best sires in our yard and that’s our goal.”
Maher’s pick of the fillies joins the stable
Victoria’s premier trainer Ciaron Maher made a low key start to the Premier sale on Sunday with just one $60,000 Too Darn Hot (Dubawi) purchase, but he stepped up his activity on day two by going to $400,000 for a Gilgai Farm-bred and sold I Am Invincible filly.
Out of Rick Jamieson’s stakes-placed mare Holy Cow (Teofilo), the fifth foal out of the half-sister to Listed winner Ondina (Manhattan Rain) is a sibling to the Maher-trained unraced two-year-old gelding Bruckheimer (Written By) and last-start Toowoomba winner Depth Charge (Written By).
Maher’s bloodstock manager Will Bourne identified “about five fillies” for the trainer to look at on Sunday morning and it was yesterday’s purchase that they circled as the best of the quintet.
“She is very strong and imposing, slightly heavy, but she was still able to get away with that being a filly,” Bourne said.
“She’s all speed and I feel she’ll be very much a sprinter. We bought the half-brother last year by Written By. He’s taken a little bit more time than anticipated and I feel she’ll be the same.
“These Vinnie fillies just keep on getting better as they get older. The more time you give them, the more that they reward you, so she’ll be in the same mould.”
Bourne confirmed that the stable had sent out an email to clients prior to the Premier sale to say that they would not be speculating on yearlings without a commitment from their owners.
“That was a verity drive from our marketing team. They just wanted to gauge some interest. We’ve got plenty of interest. We tried on a few horses [on Sunday] – everyone said we were quiet – but it’s been a strong market,” he said.
“The horses we did like, they weren’t falling through [the cracks]. Inglis has done a very good job in getting the buyers here and the Victorian trainers set. They’re not easy to buy.”
Maher signed for six yearlings across the two days.
Inglis Bloodstock chief executive Sebastian Hutch was pleased that day one’s clearance rate had improved to 80 per cent but again indicated yesterday’s buyers largely had choice with less competition than during the pandemic years.
“In terms of turnover, they’re positive figures. Evidently, the demand for horses in the top percentage of the market has been strong and there’s been good competition from a variety of people participating on those,” Hutch said.
“But the deeper into the market you got, the more selective it became. Buyers are in the position where they have plenty to choose from and, it’s one of these things, you put a catalogue together, you promote it as best you can.”
That said, Hutch was not questioning buyers’ willingness to invest at Premier.
“You can only ask people to do so much and we felt like we had a good cross-section of people involved,” he said.
“I think a lot of people have pleasantly surprised us by the extent of their participation and that’s the sort of support that we’re grateful for. It’s a long sales year for a lot of people. There’s a lot of money spent this year already and there’s a lot of money to be spent.
“Look, I am hopeful by the close of play tomorrow that we will reflect on the figures for day one and two and they’ll be very acceptable.”
The one-day 239-lot Showcase Session to conclude this year’s Melbourne sale starts at 10am.
Hutch said: “It’s a great opportunity for people to buy value horses, well-conformed horses for not a lot of money but no doubt it’ll be a challenging day and no doubt a buyers’ market.”