Richards strikes late for Frosted filly out of Bel Esprit mare at Melbourne Gold
Bel Esprit (Royal Academy), pensioned from stud duties last week by his custodians Widden Stud in Victoria, will always be known as the sire of one of Australia’s greatest racehorses in the unbeaten 15-time Group 1 winner Black Caviar. However, it is his emergence as a notable broodmare sire that led to Ash Richards of Intel Bloodstock striking late in the day for a filly by Frosted (Tapit), going to a sale-topping $150,000 at yesterday’s Inglis Melbourne Gold Yearling Sale.
The auction, reduced in numbers from the 339 lots on offer in 2021, was altered to a one-day sale format this year from its traditional two, a fact which led to a year-on-year decrease in the aggregate revenue to $3,419,500 from $4,970,250, however the average rose slightly to $20,476 from $19,043, while the median also increased to $12,000 from $11,000 in 2021.
The clearance rate of 78 per cent, although expected to climb over the next few days, is down from the 85 per cent of lots sold last year.
Catalogued as Lot 223 in the 232-lot line up, Richards had to wait patiently for the Supreme Thoroughbreds-consigned filly, who was one of four lots to reach six figures, one fewer than last year, in an indication that the higher end quality on offer was maintained, despite the fewer lots offered for sale.
The Frosted filly is out of the unraced True Priority, a sister to Manikato Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) runner-up True Persuasion, while deriving from her Group 3-winning fourth dam Sister Shirley (Kaoru Star) is the Group 1-placed Vanquished (Hector Prospector).
Damsire to Vinery Stud’s Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Ole Kirk (Written Tycoon), as well as Group 2 winners Swats That (Shamus Award), Gimmie Par (Not A Single Doubt) and Semillon (Shalaa), in addition to Hong Kong star Beauty Generation (Road To Rock), Bel Esprit plays the role of broodmare sire in 28 stakes wins over the last four years.
“I just loved that she was out of a Bel Esprit mare. He’s an emerging broodmare sire, just look at the likes of Beauty Generation, Ole Kirk, Swats That, just a few examples of quality animals with Bel Esprit as their broodmare sire,” Richards, who purchased the filly in conjunction with trainer Dean Binaisse’s 888 Racing and Brian Hall, said.
“She had all that Bel Esprit in her, she’s strong, good shoulder, had the Bel Esprit walk, a lot of push power to her, just a filly that oozed strength and speed and had the symmetrical balance that I like.
“I’ve been searching for a filly for a good client out of a Bel Esprit mare, she had a good presence and we just had to have her. She was the best filly in the sale for me.”
Frosted, who had two of his four lots on offer sell yesterday, will be represented by the Matt Laurie-trained Riverina Cyclone in the $500,000 VOBIS Sires Guineas (1600m) at Caulfield tomorrow, as well as the unbeaten Ciaron Maher and David Eustace-trained Ice Pick Nick in the VOBIS Gold Dash (1100m).
“Frosted is an underrated stallion for mine, so we’re thrilled to have her,” said Richards, who set up Intel Bloodstock earlier this year and also purchased a colt by first season sire Grunt (O’Reilly) for $60,000 with the same clients and a colt by Pride Of Dubai (Street Cry) for $34,000.
“I’m really interested to see Ice Pick Nick for Maher and Eustace in the Vobis Dash on Saturday, he looks an outstanding Frosted three-year-old and Matt Laurie’s Frosted filly Riverina Cyclone in the VOBIS Sires’ Guineas as well. It could be a big day for Frosted on Saturday.”
Supreme Thoroughbreds, who sold nine yearlings at an average of $35,389 to place second on the leading vendors list behind a 25-strong draft for Blue Gum Farm, were once again responsible for selling the auction’s top lot, having last year presented a filly by star stallion Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) who sold for a record $260,000.
“It’s great to top the sale two years in a row,” said the Romsey-based farm’s principal Brent Grayling. “She’s a filly we ran into bad luck with at Premier, she was at Oaklands and was parading but she got a temperature two days before the sale so we had to scratch her.
“We’ve come back now six weeks later and she’s topped the sale which is fantastic. I’m very happy with the $150,000 today, absolutely. There were so many people bidding on her, I was so impressed with how popular she was. She was popular all week, a lot of second and third looks too, they were all waiting around for her today. It was a long wait for everyone but it was well worth it. It just shows they’ll find the quality anywhere.
“Overall we had a really good sale, we got some good money for plenty of the others too so we’re really happy.”
Swettenham Stud’s Toronado (High Chaparral) was the sale’s leading sire by both aggregate and average (three or more lots sold), as all seven of his yearlings on offer found homes at an average of $63,714.
The stallion was responsible for three of the top five lots, including the $120,000 colt out of Meiko’s Diamond (Ferocity), who held top billing for much of the day at Oaklands.
Trainer Henry Dwyer purchased the colt, who is a grandson of Light Fingers Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) winner Sharp (Danzero), from the family of promising New Zealand Group 1 winner Sword Of State (Snitzel).
“(Inglis senior bloodstock consultant) Brett Gilding pointed the horse out to me as a really athletic, good moving type of horse and when I went to inspect him I absolutely agreed wholeheartedly,” Dwyer said.
“I’ve long been an unabashed fan of Toronado and hadn’t been able to pick one up this year. I was very keen to buy a Toronado at Gold if there was one suitable and for me he was the best type in the sale by the best stallion in the sale, so it was a no-brainer.”
The colt, catalogued as Lot 132, was one of four purchases for Dwyer at Oaklands yesterday, with the Ballarat-based trainer also signing for colts by Bon Hoffa (Belong To Me) ($50,000) and Turffontein (Johannesburg) ($42,500) as well as a filly by Lean Mean Machine (Zoustar) for $44,000 in conjunction with a client.
His three lots purchased outright saw Dwyer end the sale as the leading buyer.
James Price, Inglis’s Victorian bloodstock manager, was satisfied with the day’s results, which saw a continued high demand for quality.
“I thought it was a tremendous day of trade,” Price said. “The average and the median are up, which were to be expected, and with the stock, I feel we could have sold (more of) those horses that tick the criteria of pedigree, physique and vetting, we just didn’t have enough of those horses.
“Demand well outweighed supply, so for the stock that ticked all of that criteria, vendors were very well rewarded. As with every sale, we just need to be providing better quality of horses.”
The clearance rate of 78 per cent at the end of the day’s trade sits below the same metric last year, and with the yearling market posting record figures throughout the year, Price suggested vendors needed to be realistic in their expectations when setting reserves in order to meet the market.
“There were certain horses today that the vendor just clearly wanted too much money for and was clearly unachievable. This idea of testing the market, it’s a very strong market across the board, but the buying bench are not a group of people that can be fooled, they know when a horse is on the market and is there for genuine sale.
“That smudges the figures slightly, but we’re confident we’ll get a number of horses sold in the coming days.”