From The Eve Of The Final Easter Sale
Inglis director Jonathan D’Arcy:
“Over 30 years I have plenty of great memories from Newmarket. To auction Makybe Diva’s first foal was a thrill, having my favourite bidders Jack and Bob Ingham sitting behind the auction box for all those years and rarely getting beaten on a horse they wanted was great to experience. However one of the pitfalls of actually living in Young Street for 14 years was the sound of small rocks being thrown on my roof at 5am most mornings during sale time by certain well known gentleman on their way to work who are now leading stud masters.”
The culprits could remain nameless but they won’t – Mick Talty, Barley Ward-Thomas, Craig Anderson and Andrew Baddock.
Barley Ward-Thomas, stud manager, Godolphin:
“I have very few memories that could go to print. I do remember Mick Talty, once, hitting an unbeaten hundred on a slow day in stable three.”
Harry Mitchell, Yarraman Park:
“The Yarraman highlight was 2008 when we had the three top lots and two Australian records. The atmosphere was electric that year and we were lucky to have the right horses by the hot stallions. All the stars aligned and at the end of the sale we couldn’t really believe it as we had never before had yearlings anywhere near that level.”
That year they topped the sale with the Encosta De Lago (Fairy King) – Oceanfast (Monde Bleu) colt who made $2,200,000 – one of 12 yearlings they sold for $5,800,000. Oceanfast’s three previous Easter yearlings had grossed just over $4,500,000.
The Mitchells bought the mare Oceanfast, best known as the dam of super sprinter Alinghi (Encosta De Lago), in 2004 for $80,000. The $2,200,000 colt was named Shoot Through and won one of 19 starts.
Inglis director, Jamie Inglis:
“One of the most exciting times at Newmarket was the build up to the sale of the half brother to Black Caviar a couple of years ago. Come sale time there were more people than ever before at Newmarket and the sale didn’t disappoint as he was sold for $5,000,000 as you are aware…
“It was amazing theatre.”
That was, in 2013, and the aftermath was not quite so fondly recalled with the various insurance machinations which followed when the half-brother, by Redoute’s Choice (Danehill), and known as ‘Jimmy’ had to be euthanised after an apparent spider bite and the onset of laminitis.
Susan Archer, Media and Communications, Arrowfield Stud (and co-breeder of Sunline):
“Although I attended my first Easter Sale almost 30 years ago, my favourite memory is a very recent one, watching the Not A Single Doubt (Redoute’s Choice) – Colorado Claire (Hussonet) colt knocked down for $850,000 to James Harron last year. Not A Single Doubt is one of the best stories in the Australian stallion business and the colt is now Group Two-winning two-year-old Gunnison.
“As for Newmarket itself, the Big Barn is very special, almost magical – walking through it is like walking through time and the whole history of Inglis and the Easter Sale.”
Gunnison was, of course, resold on Thursday night at the inaugural Inglis Chairman’s Sale for $1,400,000. And the big barn or big stable was rebuilt in 1885 after the original stables were destroyed by fire in 1874.
Arthur Inglis, deputy chairman Inglis:
“The memories are too numerous to relate in a brief item but one that stands out is the purchase and later resale of Samantha Miss (Redoute’s Choice) by my father’s old friend Ron Croghan. I remember him purchasing her for $1,500,000 and then following her as she went on to be a triple Group One winner. She was the only horse to defeat Sebring (More Than Ready), and she started favourite in a Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m). Later we were privileged to offer her as a breeding prospect upon her retirement and she fetched $3,850,000 in a hugely exciting sale I will always remember.”
Samantha Miss beat Sebring by a nose in the 2008 Champagne Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m). She won seven races in just 12 starts and $1,700,000 in prize money. The $3,850,000 price for Samantha Miss eclipsed the previous record price for a broodmare of $3,400,000 established by Virage De Fortune (Anabaa).
Mark Webster, managing director, Inglis:
“My first Easter Sale as CEO (2008). To set the scene, the Ingham family had just sold Woodlands and all of their racing and breeding interests to Darley for $460,000,000. Bob Ingham was obviously cashed up, engaged in several bidding duals with the aforementioned to restock his stable, spending $18,000,000 in just three days on yearlings. I remember the cheeky grin on Bob’s face when from behind the auctioneers box, he whispered “open this one at $1,600,000 please”. Great days, and a true gentlemen of the turf.”
Peter Twomey, business development manager, Inglis:
“My one key memory of Newmarket was before I started working here. At the Classic Yearling Sale in 2007 I bought into my first ever yearling. I’d done some work experience with Damon Gabbedy who wasn’t able to make the sale, so he recommended Vin Cox assist me. Vin hid around near the gate where the yearlings enter the ring to do the bidding and at $16,000 turned to me and said ‘that’s us’. Down came the auctioneer’s gavel and I’d bought my first yearling, a filly by Beautiful Crown that would win a couple of races in country NSW. I was hooked!”
Teresa McGinley, national bloodstock administrator, Inglis:
“When I was a kid of about five we were visiting Sydney, I remember my father and I sneaking into a quiet Newmarket Complex (some might call it trespassing) just so he could show me the ‘famous’ fig tree and selling ring. Not as exciting as a seeing a million dollar yearling for the first time but still full of fondness.”
Moran’s most vivid memory:
“Newhaven Park’s first dispersal sale in March 1996. Sitting alone in the sales ring, filling in time as much as anything else. A woman then opts to sit next to me. We engage in some chit-chat but, to this day, I have no idea who she was…but she was very beautiful and sufficiently beguiling to have me thinking I should attempt to impress by bidding for Burst (Marauding) or one of the many other high-class mares being offered. My raised hand very quickly became a scratch of the head and was mercifully ignored by the auctioneer.”
Burst was sold for a then Australasian record price of $900,000, with other big sales including Euphoria (Marauding) ($700,000), Pier (Riverman) ($475,000), Sudden (Boucher) ($450,000), Arborea (Imperial Prince) ($400,000), Open Question (Alleged) ($335,000) and Research (Nashwan) ($275,000).
John ‘The Boss’ Inglis – was chairman and managing director from 1958 to 1968. John Holloway, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, recounted Inglis’ memories of Newmarket.
“In stable one there,” Inglis said, “is still the painted sign which advises the vendors who housed their yearlings at Newmarket decades ago… breeders such as Herbert Thompson, A. D. Swan, Alex William, C. H. Denison, Miss Jacques, W. Glasson, Camden Park Estate and so many others.
“Before Herbert Thompson, who was a most successful breeder, there was Tarwyn Park Stud, where seven-time leading sire Heroic stood, and both these breeders brought beautiful yearlings to Newmarket.”
Imported stallion Wilkes (Court Martial), which stood at Newhaven Park, was one of John Inglis’s best memories.
“He was a crackerjack type and his yearlings were the same. Farnworth, Vivarchi, Grammar Lad were a number of his early progeny but I have no doubt the best yearling to hail from the No 1 stables was Wenona Girl.
“Wenona Girl was from the grand Newhaven Park producer Golden Chariot, and she sold at the 1959 Sales for 2,100 guineas ($4,040). I’m pretty sure she went on to win 27 races for her owner, STC chairman Bill Longworth, and trainer Maurice McCarten,” Inglis said.
Chris Russell, bloodstock consultant and auctioneer, Inglis:
“After the sale of ‘Jimmy’ for $5,000,000 no one expected what was to happen on Lot 295 from Cressfield. A very nice colt but easily surpassed everyone’s expectation. It was a bit of a struggle to get to the reserve of $600,000 as the bids weren’t really coming thick and fast. It got down to two bidders (Coolmore vs Trevor Lobb/Team Hawkes for Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa and Emirates Park).
“Simon Vivian even took a couple of $25,000 bids on the way to the million dollar mark and from then it was pretty much $100,000 bids. Lobb/Hawkes were bidding pretty quickly but Coolmore were going pretty slowly, nearly waiting until Simon was about to knock him down. The last $1,200,000 million was in 200,000 bids and the horse was in the ring for nearly ten minutes – an extraordinarily long time seeing as how the average a horse is in the ring is two minutes.
“The footage of the sale is terrific as Channel 7 were broadcasting and had cameras on both parties. Simon was well and truly buggered by the end of it (understandably) and finished with the great quote of ‘almost history’ as a follow up to Peter Heagney’s ‘history is made’ the day before for Jimmy.
“So here was a horse making $4,000,000 which didn’t nearly have the hype as it should have had it not been for the day before! Arguably, the best quote was from Tom Magnier (who was bidding for Coolmore), about 30 minutes later when I bumped into him in the gents….”you’d think if you’d bid $3,800,000 you’d be able to buy a “xxxxexpletive horse”.
Good thing, you couldn’t Tom. The horse was named Emaratee and he raced twice for two seconds. He died of a heart attack at four. He was beaten on debut by a horse which didn’t attract a bid as a yearling. That was Spill The Beans (Snitzel) and his trainer Gerald Ryan said at the time that the Arrowfield Stud owned son of Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) was unwanted at the sales because of X-ray issues.
Chris Russell:
“Sorting out our catalogues about six months before the 2014 sales, Linda and Ian Duckworth from Fairview Park Stud had a few Magic Alberts to take to sale. They had a big strong colt which they owned themselves which was easily the pick of them and they decided to send the horse to Easter as they didn’t want to overshadow the others in the Classic sale (where he probably should’ve gone) so that their clients could get a better result.
“As it turned out, the two-year-old half-sister to their colt was a filly named Mossfun who won the Inglis Nursery, Widden Stakes and the Silver Slipper en route to knocking off the big one, the Golden Slipper, a few days before the sale. Kharma came good as the colt went from being maybe a $150,000 colt at the Classic to making $750,000 – solid to Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa who out bid John Moore. Linda and Ian were behind the box and their reactions were priceless. At about the $400,000 mark she said “I think I’m going to cry” which was followed up by “I think I’m going to throw up” at about the $600,000 mark. It was an awesome result for some great people.” The colt raced as Mawahibb.
Memorable events – the 1994 disaster:
Tony Bourke, in The Age: “The deadly botulism toxin was already working its way into the systems of at least 26 of the 500 yearlings that had arrived at the William Inglis & Son sales complex at Newmarket, not far from Randwick racecourse, at varying times over the previous ten days.
“The death toll among the yearlings, including some of the most prized bloodlines in this part of the world, now stands at 21 and another five are expected to die.”
The Bart Cummings ‘Night of the Stars’ sale in September 1989:
“The night of the stars, it felt like anything but that for me,’ Cummings later said. William Inglis, Wrightson Bloodstock Ltd., and Dalgety Bloodstock International re-sold 66 yearlings which Cummings had bought from them earlier that year but had not been paid for after the collapse of the Cups King Syndicate.
TODAY’S RACING: I really should spare you after an abysmal performance last weekend and, to be frank, I have limited confidence about proceedings at Randwick and Bendigo. So, we’ll limit it to two horses at massive odds just to have a couple of dollars each way. Derryn (Hinchinbrook) in the T J Smith Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) and Sense Of Occasion (Street Sense) in the Doncaster Mile (Gr 1, 1600m).