Half-sister to Winx added to Chairman’s Sale
Sebastian Hutch, Inglis’ general manager of bloodstock sales and marketing, has labelled the addition of a half-sister to Winx (Street Cry) at the Inglis Chairman’s Sale as ‘a collector’s item’.
Courchevel, the Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) half-sister to Winx, joins dual Group 1 winners Pippie (Written Tycoon) and Danzdanzdance (Mastercraftsman) as the latest high-profile fillies and mares to be committed to the 2021 Chairman’s auction, part of the Inglis breeding stock sales series, which has opened for entries.
An unraced four-year-old, Courchevel will be offered in foal to leading young sire Capitalist (Written Tycoon), making the resultant foal bred on the same cross as current Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) favourite Profiteer (Capitalist).
“We can be a bit flippant at times with the phrase ‘collector’s item’ but she really is,” said Hutch.
“Why does John Camilleri want to sell her? As an auction house, we didn’t question John in case he changed his mind. These are the mares we want to be offering.”
“It is the young stallions who are going to serve a higher calibre of mare, these are the sorts of mares people are going to be looking for and, when you combine them with the likes of Pippie and Danzdanzdance, we can look forward to what is an outstanding spectacle in early May.”
Courchevel, Moir Stakes (Gr 1, 1000m) and Oakleigh Plate (Gr 1, 1100m) heroine Pippie and fellow dual Group 1 winner Danzdanzdance, will be joined at the auction by 2019 Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) runner-up Lankan Star (Nicconi) with the quartet forming part of the select catalogue of breeding prospects.
Previous editions of the sale have seen mares sell for upwards of $2 million, including Maastricht (Mastercraftsman), the dam of Loving Gaby (I Am Invincible), who sold for $2.25 million in 2019 and In Her Time (Time Thief), who sold for $2 million in 2020, while six further lots have realised $1 million or more.
“The Chairman’s Sale had an amazing feel to it in 2019 and while last year’s was held as a virtual auction due to the pandemic, the results were still phenomenal and we can’t wait to build off the back of that success again this year,” said Inglis bloodstock consultant, Harry Bailey.
“It is an outstanding market for the promotion and sale of top-class broodmares and breeding prospects that attracts buyer participation from across Australia and right around the world.”
Weanling sales open for entries
As part of the Inglis breeding stock sales series, entries for the 2021 Inglis Australian Weanling Sale and Great Southern Weanling Sale are now open for entries.
Weanlings sold for up to $280,000 in last year’s edition of the Australian Weanling Sale, with a Not A Single Doubt (Redoute’s Choice) filly topping the auction when sold to Suman Hedge and Grant Bloodstock. In 2019, an I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) filly out of Stradbroke Handicap (Gr 1, 1350m) winner Srikandi (Dubawi) sold for $600,000 to Andrew Williams Bloodstock.
“We feel our weanling sales are well-timed to cater for vendors at all levels,” Inglis’ NSW bloodstock manager Chris Russell said.
“People can sell first and get an early crack at the money with our Australian Weanling Sale at Riverside or capitalise from any urgency of demand at the Great Southern Weanling Sale at Oaklands in June, while there is also the added incentive of a reduced rate of sales commission.
“There is a real confidence in the market with the Classic sale having set a range of new records and the expectation is that this momentum can continue throughout the sales series, so we are very much looking forward to it and helping vendors to achieve more outstanding results.”
Full details of the series, which is comprised of the Australian Weanling Sale (May 5-6, Riverside), Chairman’s Sale (May 7, Riverside), Australian Broodmare Sale (May 9-10, Riverside), Great Southern Weanling Sale (June 13-14, Oaklands) and Great Southern Broodmare Sale (June 15, Oaklands), can be found by clicking here.
Inglis buoyant ahead of Melbourne Premier sale
Speaking from Inglis’s Oaklands Junction sales complex, Hutch added that the upcoming Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale was looking ‘promising’ as inspections take place at the sales ground.
“It’s looking promising,” said Hutch. “We’re inherently conservative as an auction house and it’s not something you want to take for granted but, by the same token, the appetite for horses has been very, very strong for quite some time.
“There’s plenty of people walking around the complex and the guys getting around the farms in the past few weeks, there’s plenty of nice horses in the catalogue with a slightly different balance of stallions compared to what we had at Classic.
“There’s support for some really serious breeders, whether they be Victorian based or interstate, there’s a really good mix and that should lead to a good sale.”
The 804-lot Premier sale gets underway at 10am, local time, on Sunday.