Sous La Terre set for a date with Newgate’s newbie Ozzmosis
The unraced daughter of Pierro headline was the headline act of Inglis’ Australian Broodmare Sale
Leading Western Australian studmaster Brent Atwell is backing the commercial appeal of Newgate Farm first season sire Ozzmosis (Zoustar) and he used the Inglis Australian Broodmare Sale to buy a mare to visit the Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner.
Atwell paid $240,000, the equal highest price at the one-day sale that wrapped up a week of sales at Inglis’ Riverside Stables complex, for the unraced Sous La Terre (Pierro) who is closely related to Zoustar’s (Northern Meteor) champion filly Sunlight.
Sous La Terre, who was sold by Tyreel Stud, was offered in foal to leading Queensland-based stallion Spirit Of Boom (Sequalo), the sire of unbeaten Perth three-year-old Keshi Boom.
Twin Hills Stud’s Olly Tait bought the other $240,000 sale-topping mare, Starla (Snitzel), to his Southern NSW-based broodmare band. The mare, sold by Coolmore Stud on behalf of Woppitt Bloodstock’s Debbie Kepitis, was offered in foal to Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj).
Atwell, whose Darling View Thoroughbreds roster is led by Western Australia’s premier sire Playing God (Blackfriars), said Sous La Terre was “probably my favourite mare in the sale”.
She is a half-sister to Group 3 winner Solar Charged (Charge Forward), herself the dam of Sunlight, Group 3 winner Sisstar (Zoustar) and Clean Energy (Zoustar), the impressive Warwick Farm two-year-old winner on Wednesday.
“Obviously you have to see what’s in front of you, but the pedigree’s to die for,” Atwell said.
“There’s plenty of updates coming through with Clean Energy and I was looking for a mare to go to Ozzmosis and she will be the one.
“He’s obviously a really good horse, a Group 1 winner, and I wanted to send a mare to him in his first season.”
Sous La Terre’s first foal Terrestar (Zoustar) is a last-start Sydney winner for Michael, Wayne and John Hawkes and owner Neil Werrett.
Tait’s acquisition Starla, meanwhile, was purchased as a long-term investment and her mating with Coolmore’s Wootton Bassett, whose first southern hemisphere-bred yearlings sold this year, a factor in the studmaster’s decision.
Starla, a five-time winner who had success at metropolitan level in Sydney and Melbourne, is a daughter of the stakes-placed Houston Benefactor (Encosta De Lago).
“When you’re buying mares, you’re obviously buying a pregnancy as well as a mare and we do this commercially, this is how we make our living, so we’ve got to try and get as much back from the purchase of the mare from the foal they’re carrying as possible,” Tait said.
“The fact she’s in foal to Wootton Bassett was a huge positive for us. They sold very well and they’re very good looking but by the time this one gets to the sales it’ll be up to what they’ve done on the track.
“Hopefully he can be a good stallion as he is in the northern hemisphere.”
As it happens, Twin Hills will offer Starla’s first foal, a filly by first season sire Home Affairs (I Am Invincible), on behalf of Kepitis at next month’s Great Southern Sale in Melbourne.
“It’s so fabulous to get a great price for her. She was good to us on the racetrack, you can’t keep every horse we race so it’s lovely for her to go to Olly Tait at Twin Hills in Cootamundra, which used to be an Ingham’s farm so it’s lovely. I wish him all the best with her,” Kepitis said.
“We wanted her to get over the $200,000 but you’ve just got to watch the market and hopefully meet the market and we were fortunate we got more than we thought we would so that’s always a good thing.’’
The Australian Broodmare Sale generated $7,622,500 in turnover, taking the aggregate for four days of selling to $59,233,500.
Inglis Bloodstock chief executive Sebastian Hutch believes the auction house had met its end of the bargain in running a competitive market.
“On the whole, the market is very, very keen to recognise and reward quality. I think that was in evidence on Monday and Tuesday, Thursday night and today [Friday],” Hutch said on Friday.
“There are still plenty of people prepared to speculate and again that was in evidence. People were looking to buy pregnancies to bring back through the Australian Broodmare Sale and the Great Southern Sale next year or people looking to grow out yearlings and buy nice young mares.
“Look, all things considered, it’s been a pleasing week.”