Funstar could break online auction record as connections call time on race career
Well-bred Group 1-winning daughter of Adelaide to be sold via Inglis Digital platform later this month
Three years ago, Olly Koolman had a suspicion a then maiden three-year-old filly he raced with friends and family could be well above average, an educated opinion which saw him back his judgment on her half-sister by Adelaide (Galileo) at the 2018 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.
He and wife Karen outlaid a relatively small sum of $80,000, more than four times under that year’s sale average for the Bowness Stud-consigned filly, who was the seventh foal out of Starspangled (Danehill), on the basis that Youngstar (High Chaparral), a filly they raced in partnership, was pretty good.
A week later, Youngstar won her maiden at Hawkesbury, the first of four wins in succession which included victories in The Roses (Gr 2, 2000m) and the Queensland Oaks (Gr 1, 2200m).
Koolman had a filly, subsequently named Funstar (Adelaide), who was already worth far more than her purchase price.
She would join the Chris Waller stable alongside her sibling Youngstar and go on to win twice as a late two-year-old before excelling in the spring, which culminated in victories in the Tea Rose Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) and the Flight Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m), downing Probabeel (Savabeel) on both occasions.
Yesterday, as a rising five-year-old who has had 18 starts for five wins, with a further three Group 1 placings, it was announced that Funstar would be sold by her owners via the Inglis Digital platform later this year.
She is expected to break the online thoroughbred auction record of $1,202,500 currently held by New Zealand Bloodstock’s Gavelhouse, a benchmark set last October for three-time Group 2 winner Spanish Whisper (Lope De Vega).
Koolman was in no doubt connections have made the right call after Funstar finished unplaced in the Dane Ripper Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) on June 12.
“The attraction was to sell her at the Chairman’s Sale and Chris persuaded us to race on,” Koolman said yesterday.
“We were racing at the top level and I just think she felt the pinch a little bit after consecutive runs against the likes of Verry Elleegant and that lot. I think her preparation had already come to an end before we pulled up stumps.
“Really, she’s worth so much as a broodmare – she is sound – we just feel as if she’s lost her mojo and is wanting to be a mother now.”
She promises to be another financial windfall for the syndicate, which includes Koolman’s father Anton, Arthur and Charlotte Inglis, and Funstar and Youngstar’s breeder Jack Sheather.
“My wife and I bought her on spec for $80,000 at the Easter sales. Eight weeks later, Youngstar won the Queensland Oaks,” he recalled.
“Naturally, we had a bit of confidence in Youngstar but we didn’t expect everyone else to fork in at the same time, so we hung onto her, but during the Youngstar celebrations on Oaks day at Doomben, Karen and I decided, ‘let’s syndicate her with these same people’ and we did.
“We syndicated her at the purchase price, people just jumped in and added a few others to the equation and she went on and did it on the racetrack.
“It’s interesting that both of them were bought for relatively conservative figures (Youngstar was $200,000), and both of them won a million dollars on the track.
“Youngstar then went and fetched $1.4 million in the ring and it’s fair to say Funstar could do something similar, which we’d be happy with.
“It’s been a really good story, and it’s sad to see it come to an end, of course, but we’ve got a plan for our racing syndicates: to enjoy them while they’re racing and sell them on at the end of it.”
There were seven mares sold for $1 million or more at Inglis’ Chairman’s Sale and another 25 at the Magic Millions National Sale, underlining the enormous strength at the top-end of the breeding stock market, and Koolman is confident Youngstar will be the next one.
“(Selling online) really is the way of the future. I know it’s not going to take away from the major yearling sales or anything like that, but it is a great way to turn horses over,” he said.
“It was something that the owners were quite confused about; what we do with her now that we’ve decided to retire her. I said, ‘let’s stick her on Digital’ and no one really knew what to think. Arthur (Inglis, co-owner) didn’t take much convincing and the crew there at Inglis have grabbed the bull by the horns and are really going to run with it because she is going to prove an example of a way of selling a genuinely retired horse on the market without going to the expense of a preparation of a sale with travelling, so on and so forth.”
While Youngstar, sold for $1.4 million to Japanese breeder Katsumi Yoshida at the virtual 2020 Chairman’s Sale, added significant value to the Funstar pedigree, her three-quarter sister Baggy Green (Galileo) has also more than played her part.
Baggy Green, the first foal out of Starspangled, is the dam of the Mike Moroney-trained Tofane (Ocean Park), the winner of the Stradbroke Handicap (Gr 1, 1400m) and the Tatt’s Tiara (Gr 1, 1400m) in Brisbane this winter.
“Funstar has a very deep pedigree page. There’s a large number of females there that are reproducing all the time,” he said.
“Tofane is an example, who is out of a three-quarter sister to Tofane herself. The page just explodes on a weekly basis, which is why we’ve decided to put her on the market through the digital platform.
“She’s got great conformation, great strength, she had a fantastic turn of foot and she was essentially a sprinter-miler.
“Let’s not forget she raced twice as a two-year-old and won twice over the sprint distances. She ticks a lot of boxes, hence she is too valuable for us to breed from and we’re in essence a racing syndicate.”
Funstar is currently letting down at Paul Fudge’s Waratah Thoroughbreds farm near Bowral in the NSW Southern Highlands ahead of the June 25 to 30 online auction.
“The reserve is going to be irrelevant to what she is likely to realise in the ring, to be honest with you,” he said.
“We may well put a reserve on her just in case the digital platform lets us down, but I can’t see it happening. That would be the only reason we’d put a reserve on her.
“When we sold Youngstar, the same group of owners put $1 million on her and that was to only make sure she didn’t fall through the cracks.”
Koolman to remain loyal to Fudges
For the past 12 months Olly Koolman has been working at Waratah Thoroughbreds’ Bong Bong Farm near Bowral.
The state-of-the-art equine farm, owned by Paul and Angela Fudge, is currently on the market through Inglis Rural Property with a valuation of around $35 million and a sale is expected to be completed in the coming weeks.
While Koolman’s employment future is unclear, he plans to see out his time working for the Fudges.
“As we stand, I work for Paul and Angela Fudge and I am going to stay here for as long as they need me and, after that, who knows what might happen,” said Koolman, who enjoyed a highly successful period at Hermitage Thoroughbreds through the likes of Group 1 winners Egg Tart (Sebring) and The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice) before switching to Waratah.
“My allegiances are clearly with them and I will be doing everything I possibly can to monitor the Waratah horses.
“That’s my job at the moment. Inglis is doing a really good job marketing the property,” he said.
Jamie Inglis, who is overseeing the sale of the property, told ANZ Bloodstock News last week that he went back to interested parties, of which there were five or six, to resubmit their offers after undertaking more on-site inspections.
He said: “When they are done, we are through them and we will get a job done. I am very confident of that.”
Koolman added: “We’ve had a lot of people through. It’s sad to see it go. Paul and Ange certainly aren’t in favour of selling it but health has forced his hand.
“It would be nice to see it go to a racing entity and be appreciated for what it was built for.”