Savabeels to come under notice at Inglis Ready2Race Sale
Capitalist, Headwater, Vancouver and Deep Field also on buyers’ radar at Riverside Stables
For vendors trying to read the buying bench, 2020 is more challenging than ever before but there remains growing confidence that agents and owners’ willingness to embrace an increasingly online marketplace will determine the success of today’s Inglis Ready2Race Sale.
Inspections continued for a fourth day at Riverside Stables yesterday with agents and a number of NSW trainers finalising their short lists at the complex where the credentials of a number of juveniles were lauded ahead of the opening Australasian two-year-old sale of the year.
Colts by New Zealand’s perennial champion sire Savabeel (Zabeel), one a grandson of Group 1-winning sprinter Glamour Puss (Tale Of The Cat) out of winning O’Reilly (Last Tycoon) mare Simply You and the other also carrying the same cross, are expected to capture the attention of a number of domestic and international buyers.
Lot 117 is consigned by Ohukia Lodge while Lot 220 , who is out of Dubonnet (O’Reilly), is being offered by Lime Country Thoroughbreds on behalf of New Zealand breeder Trelawney Stud.
The former breezed up in 10.47 seconds at Taupo, while the latter ran 10.82 on the same course.
Lime Country’s Greg Griffin has been entrusted with selling Trelawney’s breeze up draft, stepping in to help out his countrymen who were unable to travel to Australia for the sale, and believes the son of Savabeel has all the traits of a high-class racehorse.
“He is a lovely horse and Savabeel needs no introduction. He’s been a great horse for many years now and, again, he’s reared on a really good nursery and he’s exactly what you’d expect coming from quality breeders like Trelawney,” Griffin said.
“He’s an athletic colt, he uses himself really well and he’s got a great temperament, too. He’s very, very much like his father. He stamps them and you can always pick them out in the parade ring, he’s got a beautiful walk and he’s out of the right cross being out of an O’Reilly mare.”
Lime Country will also offer a son of Deep Field (Northern Meteor) on behalf of New Zealand operation Regal Farm as Lot 162 . The $230,000 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale graduate breezed up in 10.3 seconds at Taupo.
Griffin said: “He’s been very popular, the Deep Field colt, he breezed very well and is a real speed machine. Again, he’s been well prepared, well educated and looks great and he handles himself very well in the parade ring.”
As for predicting how the market will play out at Riverside Stables, Griffin was hopeful the international market would embrace the online bidding platform.
“If there’s ever a sale to go well with online support, it’s this sale. You couldn’t have more information put in front of them with the breeze-up and most agents have already seen the horses as yearlings, so if they can’t get here most of them would have notes,” he said.
“They have their height and their weight, which I think is a good innovation for this sale. It’s a great idea to give people as much information as they can get. It’s all been done on the same scales, the same grounds and the same measuring stick which makes it fair for everyone.”
Colts by Shalaa (Invincible Spirit) (Lot 164 ), the sire of the recent ATC Breeders’ Plate (Gr 3, 1000m) winner Shaquero, and Deep Field (Lot 135 ) from the draft of Blake Ryan Racing are tipped to be on a number of agents’ short lists, while Captivant’s win in the Victory Vein Plate (1000m) at Randwick on Saturday boosted the appeal of the Capitalists (Written Tycoon) in the Ready2Race Sale.
They include Glenn Haven Thoroughbreds’ Capitalist gelding, catalogued as Lot 35 , who breezed up at Warwick Farm in a slick 10.17 seconds, only bettered by Ryan’s Deep Field colt who set the benchmark at 9.95 seconds.
Glenn Haven Thoroughbreds’ Matt Vella, who broke in Saturday’s dominant Everest (1200m) winner Classique Legend (Not A Single Doubt), rates the son of the Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner extremely highly.
“Captivant winning on Saturday just backs up everything I have been saying about the horse. With these first season sires, you want to see them win and he’s had a winner already,” Vella said yesterday.
“(Lot 35) is a proper racehorse. You can do what you want as he’s had a month off now and is ready to go straight into work and get him up for the Slipper lead-ups around January and February.
“The good judges here have all backed him up as a type, so I am pretty confident that he will sell well.”
Vella also circled Lot 38, a colt by Hinchinbrook (Fastnet Rock), who stopped the clock at 10.3 seconds in his Warwick Farm breeze-up. He is a sister to the Mark Newnham-trained, two-year-old-winning Mrs Maisel.
“I think the quality horses will sell well…and I am confident that those two specifically (by Capitalist and Hinchinbrook) of my draft will sell well and if they don’t I would not be afraid to race them,” he said.
Victorian vendor JCS Thoroughbreds’ Vancouver (Medaglia d’Oro) colt, who ran the fastest time at the Seymour breeze-up session with a 10.16 second 200-metre gallop, has also been widely viewed as a potential top seller. From a Grade 1-winning US family, being out of Quiet American (Fappiano) mare Anatole, the Vancouver colt is catalogued as Lot 176 .
Buy now, race on Saturday
Early in the session, a colt by young Vinery Stud stallion Headwater (Exceed And Excel) could garner interest from buyers seeking an immediate return on their investment with the Baystone Farm-consigned colt nominated for Saturday’s $500,000 Inglis Banner (1000m) at Moonee Valley.
Currently in training with Leon and Troy Corstens, the two-year-old has already been named Predetermined and won his second jump–out at Flemington on Friday with the view of the precocious colt in the lucrative sales-restricted race. He will be offered in absentia after also breezing up at Seymour in 10.65 seconds.
“He’s got good ability. He won a jump–out on Friday and he’ll head to the Inglis Banner on Saturday for either us or the buyer if they choose to go that way and he’ll be very competitive,” Baystone Farm’s Dean Harvey said yesterday.
“Usually, I wouldn’t go to the jump–outs or anything with breeze-up horses because it is a risk, but I think this year with limited buyers here (at the complex), the more information you can provide them gives them confidence to bid and that’s why we continued on with him.
“Acceptances are on Wednesday, so you buy him on Tuesday and race him on Saturday.”
Fellow Victorian vendor Frankie Stockdale also has a Ready2Race entrant, the Sebring (More Than Ready) colt Riverside Special, nominated for the Inglis Banner. Having breezed up in 10.79 seconds and he also won a Pakenham jump–out last week. He is catalogued as Lot 148 .
Harvey agreed with Griffin that it was harder to assess the market based on inspection numbers year-on-year but was confident his draft would stack up well.
“It’s really hard to get a guide because our inspections are way down on usual without the international buyers being here and that’s always been a big part of the market,” he said.
“It does make it tricky in setting reserves and that sort of thing but hopefully they get involved online.”
Today’s Inglis auction, which starts at 10am, will set the platform for the two-year-old sale market this year, with rivals Magic Millions and New Zealand Bloodstock to conduct juvenile sales next month,
Sebastian Hutch, Inglis’ general manager of bloodstock sales and marketing, is confident a number of regular international two-year-old buyers will be active at today’s sale.
“I don’t want to speak about specific owners, but there are people who have participated extensively in this format and they have again shown a willingness to participate,” Hutch said.
“Most encouragingly for us, we’ve worked hard to try and grow the interest and the acceptance of the format of the sale and, at this stage, they’ve been very receptive of that.
“We’re hoping to see new buyers, both domestically and internationally, participate in the sale and I think that’s a great sign in how well the vendors have prepared their horses and presented them in optimum condition.”
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