Luskin Park’s breeding stock to be dispersed at Inglis’ May sale
Family of respected industry figure Paul Whelan to also sell well-known Hunter Valley property
Luskin Park Stud’s stakes winner Sprightly Lass (Snitzel), proven broodmare Twelve Pack Shelly (Deputy Storm) and Group 1-winning stallion Foxwedge’s (Fastnet Rock) sister She’s A Wildcat will be offered for sale by Inglis after the Whelan family’s decision to exit the industry.
The auction house will have the honour of conducting the dispersal sale on behalf of the family of the late Luskin Park proprietor Paul Whelan at its The Chairman’s Sale and Australian Weanling and Broodmare Sale from May 6.
The unreserved sale of 30 Luskin Park-owned broodmares, racemares and weanlings comes after the former long-serving Labor government NSW Police Minister died last October, aged 75, after a long battle with cancer.
Son John Whelan yesterday admitted it was a difficult and emotional decision to disperse his father’s breeding stock, which includes sought after international families that have been developed over the past 20 years.
“We’ve had the farm for close to 20 years now and it gave us great enjoyment and we bred some great horses there, so it is just sad to see it go,” Whelan told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“The strength of the farm was that my father lived there with my mother and he was hands on. He was able to give the attention and all the detail to the land itself but also to all the horses.
“He was on top of everything whereas I don’t work in the horseracing industry and I’m based in Sydney. I just can’t do it remotely from here and I would be doing it a disservice.
“Ultimately, we’d be heading towards trouble if we tried to do it from a distance because I certainly wouldn’t be able to do it as he did it.”
Among the Luskin Park bloodstock set to be sold at Riverside Stables are:
- US-bred mare Late Spring (Speightstown), who was a juvenile winner and stakes-placed at Del Mar, in foal to champion three-year-old The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice);
- She’s A Wildcat (Fastnet Rock), who is a sister to Woodside Park Stud-based Foxwedge and dam of unbeaten Sydney-winning, Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m)-nominated two-year-old colt Untamed (Pierro);
- The stakes-winning mare Sprightly Lass, who is a sister to the Listed winer Le Cordon Bleu, in foal to Pierro (Lonhro);
- Twelve Pack Shelly, the dam of Listed winner Kentucky Miss (Foxwedge), will be sold not in foal. Her yearling colt by Flying Artie (Artie Schiller) made $160,000 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in January to the bid of Edmonds Racing and Kestrel Thoroughbreds; and
- A weanling half-sister to Kentucky Miss, and a sibling to Sprightly Lass and Le Cordon Bleu by Flying Artie, will be offered during the foal session.
Had his father not died, the above-mentioned broodmares would not have come on the market, according to Whelan.
“At Sprightly Lass’s last two starts she beat Santa Ana Lane at stakes level. She is a Snitzel mare who we had to retire to stud, but she is now in foal to Pierro and I’d be so excited to see what that foal turns out like but, unfortunately, we’re just going to have to put her on the market,” he said.
“There was no way in the world we’d be selling her (if dad was still alive). That is how it is, so it is an opportunity for someone else as it is a genuine dispersal sale.”
Whelan also took pride in his father’s willingness to look abroad to expand his broodmare band, with the likes of US$85,000 purchase Twelve Pack Shelly and Late Spring, a US$230,000 buy at Keeneland’s November Breeding Stock Sale in 2016.
“What my old man did and proved to be successful at was that he went to the States,” he said.
“He bought a lot of good American sprinting mares and we found because the American market were really trying to win a Kentucky Derby or a staying race, they didn’t pay the attention that the Australian breeders do to the sprinting mares.
“We were able to pick up some good black-type US mares that have proven to be good producers here. It will be sad to see them go as well.”
Inglis general manager of bloodstock sales and marketing Sebastian Hutch believes the stock offered at the dispersal will find favour with a wide range of potential purchasers.
“Paul, to his credit, was a hugely effective breeder over an extended period of time. He was a very well respected manager of stock, he raced a lot of horses and bred a lot of good horses,” Hutch said.
“A lot of the pedigrees are very desirable and the management of that stock, the people who are acquiring those mares, are going to benefit from that.
“For example, She’s A Wildcat, the dam of China Horse Club (and Newgate Farm’s) nice two-year-old Untamed. It is quite rare to see a Pierro show that level of precocity and he’s obviously a very exciting horse.
“For his dam to go on the market is a terrific opportunity for those looking to invest in quality stock.”
The famous 113-acre Luskin Park Stud, located at Luskintyre in the lower Hunter Valley, is the birthplace of champion Newcastle sprinter Luskin Star (Kaoru Star) and the Whelan-bred Group 1 winners Foxwedge and Rock Classic (Fastnet Rock).
It will also soon be placed on the market with Inglis and Hunter Valley agent, PRD’s Cathy Cattell.
Whelan hopes the buyer of Luskin Park Stud will keep it as a thoroughbred breeding property.
“We bought it from Jim O’Neill who bred Luskin Star. He was born and bred there and we have had a few Group 1 winners in Foxwedge and Rock Classic who were born on the farm as well, so it has got a long history of being able to produce good horses,” he said.
“It would be a shame to see it not be a horse stud but that is obviously up to the new purchaser.”
Inglis general manager of bloodstock operations and international development Jonathan D’Arcy said: “Inglis is honoured to have been asked by the Whelan family to sell the bloodstock that the late Mr Whelan has spent the past 20 years developing.
“Paul was a great friend of the company and we had the pleasure of selling some outstanding yearlings for him and his family over many years, including the Group 1 William Reid Stakes winner Foxwedge for $925,000 at the Easter Sale of 2010.”
The Luskin Park dispersal will be conducted from May 6 to 11 at Inglis’ Riverside Stables complex in Sydney.