Stewart resolute in his global approach
John Stewart, who said he has business interests in NSW, met with Webster in the US last month, prior to the businessman visiting Australia around the running of the Golden Slipper as a precursor to his Easter sale spending spree.
He had bought into subsequent beaten favourite Storm Boy (Justify) with the Coolmore syndicate and spent time at Jerrys Plains inspecting stock, including the $10 million daughter of Winx.
Mission accomplished. I said before that my goal was for the filly to stay in Australia. Congratulations to @DKepitis and everyone in Australia!
The winx filly is right where she belongs. ❤️❤️
I hope I played a small part in discouraging some of the international players out… https://t.co/kbGOHn86cK
— Jstewartrr (@jstewartrr) April 8, 2024
Revealing publicly not only his desire to buy Winx’s foal, he also disclosed that Inglis had granted him $10 million in credit.
He spent almost $2.5 million before the show-stopping filly set foot in the ring, then he went to $3 million for the blueblood daughter of Yarraman Park Stud’s champion stallion I Am Invincible, which before the Pierro filly sold, would have been enough to smash the previous $2.6 million record price for a filly in Australia.
It’s fantastic that our two continents were connected through this sale in a situation like this
Magnier paid $1.6 million for the filly’s mother Booker, winner of the 2019 Oakleigh Plate (Gr 1, 1100m), at the 2020 Chairman’s Sale when in foal to I Am Invincible.
That colt, the once-raced Railway Man, sold for $2.5 million to Ciaron Maher at last year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast sale.
Co-owned by Coolmore, Georg von Opel and Canadian travel industry entrepreneur Joe Poulin, Booker returned to I Am Invincible the following season, the result being Monday’s $3 million filly.
Magnier indicated that Waller was also likely to train the I Am Invincible filly for Resolute Racing.
“She is absolutely stunning and big thanks to John Stewart. Again, he came to stay at the farm two weeks ago. He looked at the yearlings, he obviously loved the Winx filly, he loved the Booker as well, so I am delighted for him to get her,” Magnier said.
“What’s gone on this week, wow, it’s full credit to Inglis. It is like Keeneland back in the ’80s. To the team at the farm, they have these horses looking unbelievable.”
Stewart described the Easter sale as a “phenomenon”.
“It’s fantastic that our two continents were connected through this sale in a situation like this.’’ Stewart said.
“I flew out to Australia a few weeks ago to look at these horses and while I absolutely wanted to buy the Winx filly, I also absolutely wanted to buy this Booker filly, she was my other favourite filly on the farm at Coolmore when I went there so to be able to buy her today at Inglis is fantastic.
“I’m very thankful to have met the Inglis team over the past couple of weeks and it’s been a lot of fun and hopefully I’ve bought some great horses to get our program started in Australia.’’
Stewart also bought three yearlings on day one under his Resolute Racing banner – an I Am Invincible filly for $650,000, a daughter of Lope De Vega (Shamardal) for $425,000 and a colt by Dundeel (High Chaparral) for $240,000. The colourful American secured a Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj) colt out of dual Group 3 winner Tulip (Pierro) for $900,000 and a Street Boss (Street Cry) filly for $225,000 on day two.
“John bought a share in Storm Boy and that was his introduction to Australian [racing], so we spoke on the phone and I said to him, ‘why don’t you come down to Australia?’ and he said, ‘OK, I’m coming’. He came down to the Golden Slipper, we spent a couple of days on the farm, we went around the Harbour and he just said, ‘wow, the buzz that’s in Australia, this is where I want to race’,” said Magnier.
“He said he’ll obviously race in America but I want Resolute Racing in Australia as well.”
Coolmore Australia was the leading Easter vendor by both average and aggregate with 32 yearlings selling for $27.615 million, titles that would have been the stud’s irrespective of the $10 million contributed by the Pierro filly.
The $10 million filly aside, the strength at the top-end of the market remained relatively strong, with 14 seven-figure yearlings changing hands during the eight hours of trade to take the tally to 18 for the two days. There were 26 seven-figure yearlings sold last year.
There were also 77 yearlings sold for between $500,000 and $1 million over the past two days compared to 56 in 2023.
The overall two-day average was $429,786, up ten year-on-year, defying the overall market trend but instead pointing to demand for high-end bloodstock. The 500-lot sale recorded a new benchmark median of $300,000, up $20,000 on last year, while the clearance of 79 per cent was down on 2023 with two fewer horses sold this year.
The aggregate cracked $150 million for just the third time at the Easter sale. The 2022 and 2008 editions also broke the barrier.
“I’m under no illusion in the fact that there were parts of the sale that were challenging, but I’d be confident in the clearance of the sales and get past 80 per cent, which in the current environment is an excellent result,” Hutch said.
“Vendors had to work hard and we worked hard to assist them as best we could. There are some nuances to meeting the market in the current environment and we’re fortunate to have a group of vendors in a sale like this who are very effective at that.”
