Raleigh celebrates ‘amazing’ pinhook result with Inglis Digital mare
Estonian Princess (Snitzel) topped the Inglis Digital September (Early) Sale which concluded yesterday at $375,000, in what was an excellent pinhook result for Simon Raleigh of TJS Bloodstock.
Raleigh had purchased the Group 3-winning daughter of Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) just 16 months earlier for $200,000 in foal to So You Think (High Chaparral) from the Inglis Australian Broodmare Sale. Raleigh then retained the resultant filly foal, and had the mare covered by Widden Stud’s Zoustar (Northern Meteor) in November last year, ahead of consigning her in the online auction.
“It’s pretty amazing really, to get that sort of turnaround in an investment like this, and hopefully the yearling sells really well next year and will bring the buyer of the mare tonight a great deal of joy, it’s just a great result all round,’’ Raleigh said.
The mare was purchased by Orbis Bloodstock, who will send her to Newgate Farm to foal to Zoustar, before being covered by one of their resident stallions.
“From what we could see on the page and the foals she’s left so far, we knew we would have to pay quite a bit of money for her, but she is definitely worth it.,” Orbis representative Yuk Ting Szeto said.
Estonian Princess has produced two named foals, for one winner, that being New Zealand scorer Prince Of Tallin (Pride Of Dubai).
Estonian Princess was one of two lots to break the $300,000 mark, the other being the Unencumbered (Testa Rossa) mare Felicia.
The Group 3-winning six-year-old was purchased for $330,000 by Joe Stambe, who will send Felicia, and $155,000 buy Ready To Ride (More Than Ready), to his stallion Signore Fox (Exceed And Excel).
“He’s a perfect match for her, actually both the mares I bought today had perfect nicks with him so they’ll be visiting him, for sure,’’ Stambe said.
“I thought she would sell for $250,000-$300,000 but when the bug gets into you, sometimes it’s hard to stop. At the end of the day, you have to look at the weanling prices and yearling prices and weigh all of that up and they’re all very high at the moment, so I had to keep going.”
The September (Late) Sale grossed $4.7 million, with a 77 per cent clearance rate.
The auction also featured a fundraiser for injured jockey Elissa Meredith, which included a set of Nature Strip (Nicconi) silks to sell for $5,000 and an Epsom raceday experience for $4,750. The eight-lot collection raised a total of $25,000.
Meredith’s family said in a statement: “We are so grateful for the ongoing support from the entire racing industry.
“We watched the auction as a family live on the Inglis Digital website and we are really humbled by the support. There were plenty of tears every time a new bid was placed … In so many ways, the $25,000 raised will greatly assist Elissa in her recovery.”