Munz and Hawthorne go down tried and tested route with Dundeel colt
Powerhouse owner Jonathan Munz will be hoping to reprise the Super Seth story and raise another stallion prospect from the emerging sireline of Dundeel (High Chaparral) after making a colt by the Arrowfield stallion the sale-topper on day two of Inglis Classic.
Purchased by agent Dean Hawthorne for Munz’s GSA Bloodstock, the imposing son of Dundeel sold from Arrowfield’s draft for $440,000, before that stud and sire later also had the sale’s equal second top lot through a filly who fetched $400,000.
It came on a day when Classic continued to perform relatively strongly despite pre-sale fears of a downturn, with the average only only very marginally down on 12 months ago. At the end of auctioning, it stood at $97,153, down from $97,338 at the same point of last year’s sale. The median was unchanged at $80,000, with the clearance rate 77 per cent, down from 83 per cent last year.
Hawthorne’s sale-topper so far also came in a frenzied 15 minutes after giant Japanese owner-breeder Koji Oka matched the highest lot to that point, making up for missing a $400,000 Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj) filly on day one by paying the same amount for a colt by the same sire.
Oka, owner of 2023 Golden Eagle (1500m) winner Obamburumai (Discreet Cat), confirmed the colt from Ridgmont’s draft would be going to his home country and aimed at the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) (Gr 1, 2400m).
Eleven lots later, Hawthorne set the new sale high when he bought Lot 455, by Dundeel. Bred by Arrowfield and Jungle Pocket, the colt is the second foal of five-time winner Mother’s Mercy (Redoute’s Choice), a three-quarter sister to Australian Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Autumn Angel (The Autumn Sun) and Group 2 -winning sprinter Baraqiel (Snitzel).
The colt will carry Munz’s famed red and white stripes for trainers Anthony and Sam Freedman, setting out to follow a trail blazed by Super Seth en route to winning the Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) before his burgeoning career as a sire at Waikato Stud.
Hawthorne said it was hoped the colt could emulate Super Seth in more ways than one.
“He reminded me a bit of Seth,” Hawthorne said. “I bought Seth here [at Inglis Easter] from the same [Arrowfield] draft. I saw this colt earlier in the week and I rang the boss [Munz] and said, ‘I’ve found another one’. Whether he is remains to be seen, but I just loved him.
“He’s really well balanced, and Super Seth had the same balance. Same sort of head, same sort of markings – not identical but very similar.”
Hawthorne said the fact Dundeel sons such as Super Seth and Castelvecchio were making waves at stud was an incentive to swing hard at this yearling.
“The sons of Dundeel are really doing it at stud, so we’ve been focusing on them and waiting for the right ones to come along,” Hawthorne said.
“We kept 20 per cent [of Super Seth] when Waikato bought him. We’ve got 20 mares in foal to him in New Zealand.
“We also went into Castelvecchio. This is a sireline that could be developing, with sire sons of Dundeel.
“This colt was the pick of the sale for me. The physical ratings were big on him, but the page was solid. He wouldn’t have been out of place at Easter, with that pedigree.”
Arrowfield owner John Messara said the colt “had everything – pedigree and was a great type to go with it”.
“I’m very pleased to see the agent who bought Super Seth buy him,” Messara told ANZ Bloodstock News. “Dundeel’s sons are starting to make it at stud. People are buying them as stallion prospects, so it’s great to see.
“This colt has been a good sort from day one and he’s continued to develop. He performed very well at the sale, didn’t turn a hair, and he’s probably one of the most looked-at colts we’ve ever had at this sale.
“Our team decided he’d be a bit of a standout here. We’ve got some very strong pedigrees at Easter. We’re very happy with the price.”
Dundeel’s popularity shone again on the day’s fourth-last lot, when his filly from the same family as last year’s Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Lady Of Camelot (Written Tycoon) fetched $400,000, sold to trainer Matt Laurie and agent Adam Brandwood.
“We had to wait and wait but we got the one we wanted. We’re going home happy,” Brandwood said.
The Hermitage Thoroughbreds-bred filly’s second dam is American Grade 2 winner More Than Real (More Than Ready), dam of Listed winner Miss Debutante (Fastnet Rock), who in turn is the dam of three stakes winners in Lady Of Camelot, Queen Of The Ball (I Am Invincible) and Platinum Jubilee (Zoustar).
Oka was pleased and relieved to walk away with Lot 443, who helped make Coolmore’s hot shuttler Wootton Bassett the third-top sire at the sale by averages (with three or more lots sold) behind Written Tycoon (Iglesia) and I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit).
At his first Classic sale, the Japanese owner-breeder, who has more than 100 horses in his home country, was second underbidder on Sunday on the Wootton Bassett colt out of Elegant Air (So You Think) bought by McEvoy Mitchell Racing and Belmont Bloodstock, also for $400,000.
A day later he made up for it by securing a different Wootton Bassett colt, the first foal of Group 3 winner Monegal (Lope De Vega).
“I liked his movement and walking. It was very dynamic,” Oka said via his interpreter, trainer Daiki Chujo, who prepares one of a handful of Oka’s Australian runners from his base at Ballina.
“I like Wootton Bassett, and there’s a lot of Wotton Bassetts coming to Japan.
“He’s actually a first foal of the mare, but for a first foal he has a lot of horse in himself.”
Oka, who made his first appearance at an Inglis Easter sale last year, said he ‘loves Australian racing and Australian horses’.
“At this Classic sale there are a lot of nice horses. For the value, it’s very good. You can find really nice horses for much cheaper than in Japan,” he said.
Aside from a slight dip in the clearance rate, Classic continued to show solid results on day two. With 373 lots sold the aggregate stood at $36,238,000. This compared with $38,546,000 from 396 lots sold at the same stage last year, when the top lot was the $600,000 Too Darn Hot filly (Dubawi) who became Yulong’s Gobi Desert.
“The sale felt slightly stronger today,” said Inglis CEO of bloodstock Sebastian Hutch.
“Purely from the point of view of clearance, the marrying of vendor and buyer expectations was slightly easier. I think that’s backed up by the clearance rate, which was slightly better today than yesterday.
“It felt in many respects very similar to yesterday, but probably slightly stronger.”
Hutch said he expected strong sales at the top end in Tuesday’s closing session, while there would still be “lots of value to be found for buyers”.
“It feels like vendors are genuinely motivated to sell,” he said.
“On the flipside, I expect there’ll be some urgency around some of the nicer horses. I think buyers have been surprised by the strength of the market through the top end. And I think it’s presented more challenges to them to buy than expected. If people have horses they like tomorrow, I expect them to be really strong on those horses.”
Asked about an aggregate some $2.3 million down on the same stage last year, Hutch said: “I couldn’t say I’m happy about it, but if you’d offered me that in advance of the sale I would’ve accepted it.”
His was an overall view supported by buyers including Hawthorne.
“The top lots are really selling well. I think Inglis and everyone has got to be happy,” Hawthorne said. “We were all expecting a big crash here but it hasn’t happened. The clearance rate is going well. It’s a surprisingly good sale.”
Hutch also credited a strong purchasing performance from Asian buyers to Inglis’s work on travelling to Japan and Hong Kong to drum up support ahead of the sale.
Hong Kong agent Willie Leung bought the sale’s fifth top lot so far, paying $380,000 for HP Thoroughbreds’ Lot 508, a colt from the first southern crop of Darley’s shuttler Pinatubo (Shamardal). The colt’s half-brother Dancing Code (Panzer Division) is a multiple winner in Hong Kong.
“He’s a lovely horse,” Leung said. “Dancing Code won really well in Hong Kong. This one looks very athletic and a strong type and looks precocious. I always like to try first season sires, and this was the one I really wanted to secure this year. I like Shamardal, so that’s why this is the one we should try this year.”
Also on day two, two lots registered in the top ten when sold for $360,000: A Zoustar filly sold by Kia Ora Stud to Western Australia’s Byerley Bloodstock, and a Written Tycoon colt , sold by Yulong to NSW’s Kearney Racing.
A Too Darn Hot (Dubawi) colt from Widden Stud sold for $340,000 to Tony Fung’s TFI in tandem with Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, who also bought an Ole Kirk (Written Tycoon) colt, in partnership with Bruce Slade’s Kestrel Thoroughbreds, for $250,000 from Sullivan Bloodstock’s draft.
In a surprising outcome at the top end, a half-brother by Tarzino (Tavistock) to Saturday’s Eskimo Prince Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) winner Public Attention (Written Tycoon), offered from Amarina Farm’s draft, was passed in at $425,000. The colt was later bought for $300,000, by My Racehorse, trainer Mick Price and Damon Gabbedy’s Belmont Bloodstock.
The sale’s leading vendor by aggregate after two days remained Arrowfield, with 20 lots sold for $2,655,000, ahead of Widden (20 for $1,978,000) and Yulong (ten for $1,775,000). Top vendor by average for more than one lot sold was Yarraman Park, who sold seven at an average of $192,800.
The leading buyers after day one – McEvoy Mitchell Racing in tandem with Belmont Bloodstock – were still on top after day two, with seven lots bought for $1,662,500 ahead of Mitchell and Desiree Kearney and Daniel Springfield, with eight lots for $1,175,000.