Three million-dollar lots on ‘most extraordinary day’ at Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale
Records were broken with two seven-figure colts related to top-class sprinters yesterday becoming the highest-priced horses ever sold in an online auction, as a remarkable thoroughbred market defied wider economic calamity caused by a global health crisis on day one of the “virtual” Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.
Witnessed by viewers from 99 different countries and six continents, the digital Easter showpiece saw a So You Think (High Chaparral) half-brother to Group 2 winners Classique Legend (Not A Single Doubt) and Aethero (Sebring) as well as a brother to brilliant mare Sunlight (Zoustar) each make $1.1 million.
An I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) filly also made $1 million late in the day at the virtual auction conducted by Jonathan D’Arcy and Chris Russell throughout the seven hours, with all three million–dollar lots surpassing the previous online record of NZ$670,000 for mare Hasahalo (Savabeel) sold only last month.
Comparing 2019 and 2020 Easter sales would be unfair given the coronavirus pandemic, but the general consensus among many was that the market held up better than expected despite a significant number of withdrawals.
Nonetheless, the average was last night at $308,762, a decrease of 13 per cent on the overall figure achieved over two days last year, and the median was $250,000, down $10,000 on what occurred in 2019. The declines were nowhere near as big as the 30 to 50 per cent that some vendors were privately fearing could eventuate.
Inglis managing director Mark Webster and his bloodstock team have grappled with the best way to conduct the Easter sale while under strict government-imposed restrictions due to Covid-19 and late last week they switched to a virtual auction, a move that appears to have so far been welcomed by vendors and buyers alike.
“If you offered this sort of result a week ago I would have grabbed it with both hands and run down the street. We weren’t expecting the market to be as good as it was,” Webster said last night.
“Obviously, it’s not last year; it’s not a typical year, but the results are pretty good, noting the global crisis we are all living through at the moment.
Webster added: “The average is remarkable and so is the median at $250,000. The average is down 15 per cent which under the conditions is fantastic.
“I also didn’t think we’d sell a yearling for a million dollars, but we have sold three at that level.”
So You Think colt could be next Legend
It was probably no surprise that Hong Kong owner Bon Ho would be strong on the half-brother to his star sprinter Classique Legend, but he had significant competition from fellow international as well as Australian buyers before landing the colt for $1.1 million.
An “over the moon” vendor Linda Monds of Tyreel Stud was effusive in her praise of the high-priced colt and revealed that Ho had made initial inquiries to buy the horse weeks earlier and he backed his conviction with his online bids yesterday.
“He definitely deserved that result. He is the nicest and strongest colt I have ever seen,” Minds said.
“So You Think has done an amazing job over these past few months and this boy’s going to be up there, too, and I’d love to say that I can guarantee it. Honestly, it’s just a remarkable individual.
“His demeanor won a lot of people over. He was so chilled out and relaxed. I had Carmel Size out here the other day and she couldn’t believe that the mare had done it again.
“He is such a nice horse. To be honest, I am devastated that I have had to sell him but to run this farm we need an income and we get an income three times a year – Magics, Classic and Easter.
“I don’t know what the future holds and no one does with events happening globally, so for me I had to sell, sell, sell all the way. I’ll be watching so closely.”
Offered as Lot 134, the colt is the fourth foal out of Pinocchio (Encosta De Lago), making him a half-brother to the Les Bridge-trained Classique Legend as well as top-class Hong Kong sprinter Aethero. Adding further weight to the colt’s pedigree is that his dam is also a sister to champion Group 1-winning three-year-old Racing To Win and the Group 3-winning sire Purrealist (Tale Of The Cat).
“We raised Puppet Master, we raised Classique Legend and we raised Aethero and I am blown away by how similar they all are … in their natures, their walk and strength,” Monds continued.
“It is quite amazing to watch the foals out of Pinnochio and we are really, really excited to see the I Am Invincible that she will foal down this year. I just can’t wait to see every foal from her now because we have quite a few to compare to.”
The colt also set a new yearling price benchmark for his Coolmore-based sire So You Think who had three-year-old son Quick Thinker land Saturday’s Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) at Randwick.
The million dollar mark reached by Tyreel Stud comes just a year after they sold a son of Exceed And Excel (Danehill), the talented Chris Waller-trained colt Osamu, for $1.7 million.
Tyreel Stud will offer the I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) half-brother to Osamu as Lot 291 they will also consign the Hinchinbrook (Fastnet Rock) half-sister to this season’s ATC Gimcrack Stakes (Gr 3, 1000m) winner Every Rose (Choisir) as Lot 394.
“We have three more in tomorrow and they have been unbelievably popular as well but I don’t know at what level,” Monds said.
“I am really looking forward to selling Osamu’s little half-brother by I Am Invincible. He is an absolute cracker and, on feedback I have had, I do believe he is one of the best I Am Invincible colts in the catalogue.”
While the majority of vendors were happy with the way day one unfolded, Monds admitted that the lack of trainers and syndicators operating in the middle market shone through.
“They can’t buy on spec anymore because they don’t know what’s around the corner and they’ve lost their clientele to a certain extent,” she said.
“I feel very sorry for these syndicators and trainers who rely on the two and five percenters who invest a bit of play money.
“There’s a level of the market who is not there but I guess we all knew that when we came into this sale. Full credit to Inglis, they need to hold their head high.
“They have provided a platform for the likes of myself and other vendors who just wanted to go to market, not knowing what that market was going to be.”
Bright future tipped for Sunlight’s $1.1 million brother
The other session-topping colt was the Zoustar (Northern Meteor) brother to star mare Sunlight who also reached the $1.1 million mark. The Widden Stud-consigned Lot 212, out of dual Group 3 winner Solar Charged (Charge Forward), was sold to Hawkes Racing.
He became the most expensive Zoustar sold at public auction, eclipsing the $1.075 million that Yulong Investments spent on the half-brother to Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Quick Thinker (So You Think) at last year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale – a tremendous result given the current economic climate.
“It’s a huge relief. From the moment this guy was born we always thought he was a million-dollar colt and the journey that goes with that has been a rollercoaster ride, especially in the last few weeks,” Widden’s Antony Thompson said. “But for him to realise $1.1 million in this current market is a really stunning result and we are really thrilled.
“For ourselves, Sheikh Fahad and Qatar Racing, who bred the colt in partnership with us and Dan Fletcher (of Telemon Thoroughbreds) in Queensland, it is a great thrill. We have had an incredible journey with Solar Charged – it’s been life-changing to buy that one mare and send her to your stallion and have this great journey. It’s been so much fun and a wonderful ride.”
Interest had been high in the colt, Thompson said, although it was all relative given that the majority of yearlings remained on the farms where they were prepared.
“We had about 50 to 60 farm parades, which is good but compare that with 150 to 200 at the Riverside complex. All the people who came and did the legwork were serious buyers, they have done the lists and done the work and miles,” he said.
“The team at home have worked hard, it is just a shame they couldn’t be there at the Inglis complex to lead this beautiful colt through the ring – you really do feel for the guys on the farm not being able to show off these beautiful yearlings.”
The father-and-sons stable of John, Wayne and Michael Hawkes have been significant buyers this year, being the leading purchaser at Magic Millions back in January and they again stepped up yesterday.
“Dad and Michael did the inspections and Michael rang me and said ‘we’ve found the colt’,” Wayne Hawkes said.
“He just said he’s an absolute A, a perfect A in his opinion and John Hawkes does not hand out many As at a sale in any year.
“Plus, the cross works, Sunlight is an iron horse and this bloke only needs to be half as good as her and it would be great if he could go and stand at Widden Stud one day.”
The colt, who was catalogued as Lot 212, is the seventh foal for Kindergarten Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m) winner Solar Charged (Charge Forward), making him a brother to Sunlight and the mare’s Group 3-winning stablemate Sisstar and a half-brother to the Group 3-placed Sheikha (Sebring). Solar Charged, who did not get in foal in 2018, was again covered by Zoustar last September.
Malone’s judgement proven right with $1 million pinhook result
Kitchwin Hills’ Mick Malone has first-hand knowledge of dual Group 1-winning mare Srikandi (Dubawi) and her early offspring led to the Scone breeder to back his judgment on pinhooking her second foal by I Am Invincible.
And the educated gamble yesterday paid off when the filly – a $600,000 Inglis Australian Weanling Sale pinhook – made $1 million late on day one.
Malone and Kitchwin Hills sold Srikandi for $2 million at last year’s Chairman’s Sale to dissolve a partnership of clients who owned the mare as well as the I Am Invincible filly who was signed for by Andrew Williams Bloodstock yesterday.
“We are very happy with that – it is wonderful for all the staff who have had to prep them under very strange conditions and hopefully conditions we will never have to see again,” Malone said.
“I was just so nervous and I think everyone selling today was by no means sitting there feeling very confident – we were all very nervous.
“We put a strong reserve on her, nowhere near what she made, but a reserve that we felt was fair. “
Catalogued as Lot 223, the filly’s two-year-old half-sister Heroess (Snitzel) ran fourth at her only start in March at Warwick Farm for trainers Peter and Paul Snowden and owners Greg and Barb Ingham’s GPI Racing and Carl Holt.
Their dam Srikandi, who was trained by Ciaron Maher, won nine races, including five in succession, is a half-sister to South African Grade 3 winner Rain Gal (Galileo) and stakes-placed Arjuna (Giant’s Causeway) who later raced in Hong Kong as New Glory.
“We pinhooked her as a weanling so it was important that she sold well, but fillies like that don’t come around very often,” Malone said.
“Well done to Andy Williams who bought her and they tell me that Dean Hawthorne was under bidder – two great judges.
”No matter what she is a filly that deserved that sort of money. She epitomises what Easter is about – beautifully bred and good looking.”
Williams was also familiar with the I Am Invincible filly, having initially conducted the bidding for Malone as a weanling, but he was struck by how much she had developed in the 11 months since.
“The order was an outcross filly free of Danehill and this filly just made so much sense, I thought she was so well balanced, a quality individual that looks fast,’’ Williams said.
“We’ve clocked up the KMs, looked at horses two, three, four times but you know what? There’s no difference doing it this way, we’ve got to be a step ahead of the game and if that means being in the car all day, so be it.”
Malone also reserved praise for Inglis operating the sale in a difficult environment.
“I just want to say well done to the Inglis team, they have done a great job. I am so glad we stuck at it and what a terrific result for the guys,” he said.
Srikandi had a filly by American Pharoah (Pioneerof The Nile) last September and was covered by fellow Coolmore shuttler Justify (Scat Daddy) in November.
Magnier makes mark with five colts on day one
The demand for the progeny of I Am Invincible, the leading sire on day one by aggregate, did not stop with the seven-figure filly as Coolmore’s Tom Magnier also made a virtual sales ring statement by going to $875,000 to secure a colt by the Yarraman Park Stud-based stallion.
The Torryburn Stud-bred and consigned colt continued Coolmore’s well-considered push for colts by Australia’s premier stallions in 2020, a plan that began at the Magic Millions in January and in New Zealand soon after, whilst Magnier signed for five yearlings yesterday to be the leading buyer by aggregate.
The son of I Am Invincible is the second foal out of the three-time winner Miss Interiors (Flying Spur), herself a half-sister to dual Group 1 winner and Newgate Farm-based stallion Russian Revolution (Snitzel) and Group 3 winner Turbo Miss (Sebring). He was catalogued as Lot 73.
Miss Interiors was purchased by Belmont Bloodstock Agency’s Damon Gabbedy at the 2017 Inglis Chairman’s Sale for $625,000 on behalf of Torryburn Stud when in foal to Deep Field (Northern Meteor).
The resulting colt made $260,000 at last year’s Magic Millions sale when purchased by Shadwell’s Angus Gold.
“We went down to look at him a Torryburn a couple of times and he is a horse with a lot of quality and the whole team liked him – we just need a bit of luck with him going forward,” Magnier said.
“But we are very happy with him and hopefully he can prove to be an early two-year-old. We take the horses back to the farm and break them here and then we will have a meeting at the end of the sale and will decide which horse goes where.”
Magnier was acting as buyer and vendor from Coolmore’s Jerrys Plains property and was pleased with the way the sale proceeded under the circumstances.
Coolmore was leading vendor on day one, selling ten yearlings for a combined $2.95 million.
“It is a very different experience for us – obviously there are some lovely horses going through the sale and I think there is some value out there for people buying horses,” he said.
“To give Inglis their credit they have worked hard the last couple of weeks to try and get it right – it is hard times that we are in at the moment and I do believe that everyone is just trying to make the best of it.”
Magnier also went to $525,000 for a Not A Single Doubt (Redoute’s Choice) colt out of Australian Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Once Were Wild (Johannesburg) and to $380,000 for the three-quarter brother to Group 1 winner Booker (Written Tycoon) by first season sire Capitalist (Written Tycoon).
He also bought a Pierro (Lonhro) colt for $340,000 from KBL Thoroughbreds and a Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) colt from Willow Park Stud for $475,000.
Willow Park Stud’s Glenn Burrows was forced to withdraw the Snitzel colt from the Magic Millions Yearling Sale earlier this year after an incident en route to the Gold Coast.
Harron latches onto ‘one of best Frankels I have laid eyes on’
Demand for quality fillies with pedigrees to match, often a feature of the Easter sale, again came to fruition yesterday with nine of the top 20 yearlings sold being fillies.
That compared to the breakdown last year when just six fillies were among the 20 highest-priced Easter yearlings.
One agent keen to make a long-term investment in a filly on behalf of a client yesterday was James Harron who went to $670,000 for a highly touted Frankel (Galileo) filly from the Evergreen Stud draft.
A half-sister to Hong Kong Group 3 winner Thewizardofoz (Redoute’s Choice), the Frankel filly is the eighth foal out of champion New Zealand Group 1-winning mare Princess Coup (Encosta de Lego), whom Evergreen Stud’s Tony Bott paid $3 million for at the 2009 Magic Millions Gold Coast National Broodmare Sale. She was catalogued as Lot 143.
“The mare was obviously a superstar and it is great to see her produce such an amazing filly in this Frankel. It is probably one of the best Frankels I have laid eyes on,” Harron declared.
“The filly didn’t turn a hair when I went to look at her a few times. She had a wonderful walk on her, a beautiful attitude and a wonderful depth of girth.
“She is a very exciting filly for us and hopefully she can do well on the track and then be part of the broodmare band for a long time to come.”
Harron is arguably better known as a buyer of colts and on Saturday his syndicate enjoyed elite level success with Inglis Sires (registered as ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes) (Gr 1, 1400m) winner King’s Legacy (Redoute’s Choice) at Randwick.
But buying fillies is far from foreign to the agent and was more than happy with the price tag he paid for yesterday’s acquisition.
“It cost a lot of money to produce these fillies and a lot of breeders have put a lot of money and risk in to that and I think for this sort of quality and this calibre of horse I think it was a fair price, but in this current market is quite difficult to understand where the mark is,” Harron said.
“I think you have to put a price on what suits you and drive on from there. We were happy and I think that was around the right mark.
“We have always bought fillies over the years for different owners, so we just go through and do all the work and get as many shortlisted as we can.”
The Easter sale has been overshadowed by the ramifications caused by the coronavirus in recent weeks and Harron believes yesterday’s sale “has done extraordinarily well given the circumstances”.
“It has always been a sale we have been picky at. We really try and focus on what we really want here and it is a good chance to pick up some really blue-chip quality assets,” Harron said.
Worldwide audience tunes into online Easter sale
The depth of the market, despite the absence of Aquis Farm and fellow prominent buyer Orbis Bloodstock, was underpinned by the China Horse Club-Newgate Farm partnership (seven lots), Coolmore and Hawkes Racing (five lots each) and Dean Hawthorne Bloodstock (four).
Boomer Bloodstock’s Craig Rounsefell, acting for the Hong Kong Jockey Club, was also pivotal in the market, securing four yearlings, as did Bon Ho’s Legend Racing enterprise.
The willingness of internationals to participate in the market, despite not being able to attend the sale physically or even inspect the horses personally, helped make up for some of the buyers who were absent from the bench.
Asian Bloodstock’s Marie Yoshida, BBA Ireland’s Adrian Nichol and the UK’s Badgers Bloodstock were active on day one, while buyers from Japan and China also participated.
“It’s been one of the most extraordinary days on the job for me as managing director, to oversee day one of an Easter sale with no horses and no people, it’s certainly something out of the box,’ Webster said.
“Our website traffic figures have been quite phenomenal – we have had people watching our Sale Day Live coverage from 99 different countries on six continents around the world and buyers coming from all across the globe as well, as well as almost 150,000 visitors to the website today alone.
“That side of things has been very satisfying because our vendors put in a tremendous amount of work under arguably some of the most challenging conditions of their lives and to be able to even conduct a sale under the circumstances for them has been a great team effort.”
Day two of the Easter sale starts at 10am today.