Youngstar joins Inglis Chairman’s Sale line-up
Fresh off a stronger than expected Easter Sale, Inglis has released the 55-lot catalogue for next month’s fillies and mares showcase auction
A selection of the finest race mares in Australia will be offered at next month’s Inglis Chairman’s Sale with a stellar 55-lot catalogue released by the auction house, while Queensland Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Youngstar (High Chaparral) was announced as the sale’s first wildcard entry.
In addition to previously named high-profile lots like multiple Group 1-winning sprinter In Her Time (Time Thief), Australian Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) victor Unforgotten (Fastnet Rock), Oakleigh Plate (Gr 1, 1100m) winner Booker (Written Tycoon) and Group 2 winner Noire (Foxwedge), Inglis yesterday announced that Cleanup (Dehere), the dam of last weekend’s Doncaster Mile (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Nettoyer (Sebring), would be among the breeding prospects available at this year’s Chairman’s Sale; she is in foal to The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice).
Group 2 winners Samara Dancer (Hinchinbrook), in foal to Trapeze Artist (Snitzel); Sword Of Light (New Approach), in foal to Fastnet Rock (Danehill) and Longport (Casino Prince), in foal to Dundeel (High Chaparral), were also among the listed lots, while recently retired dual Group 3 winner Meryl (Epaulette) was another to catch the eye when the catalogue for the May 8 sale was released yesterday, only 24 hours after the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale wrapped up for 2020.
Also of note are two mares each in foal to UK-based stallions Frankel (Galileo), Kingman (Invincible Spirit) and Lope De Vega (Shamardal), while mares in foal to many of Australia’s leading stallions are also represented.
Sebastian Hutch, Inglis’ General Manager, Bloodstock Sales & Marketing, said that the Chairman’s Sale has been a high priority for Inglis this year.
“We ran what we felt was a very good sale in 2019 and we felt on the back of that it gave us the platform to build on it into 2020,” Hutch told ANZ Bloodstock News last night. “We’ve been working on the 2020 renewal of the sale since the fall of the hammer for the last lot in 2019, so we’ve had it high on our list of priorities to try and put together a really exceptional fillies’ and broodmare catalogue.
“Irrespective of the circumstances, it’s come together tremendously well. We set out with a number of key objectives and we’ve satisfied all of those. We hope that the buying bench is excited about it as we are.
Inglis is coming off the Australian Easter Yearling Sale this week, which took the same “virtual auction” format that will be applied to the Chairman’s Sale, and Hutch said that the Easter Sale had demonstrated that a market can still be created for elite stock, no matter the circumstances.
“I think a significant part of the reason that we are so grateful to our vendors for showing the patience and support they did leading into the Easter Sale and then during it, was that it has given us the opportunity to demonstrate that we could make a major commercial sale of thoroughbreds work in that format,” he said.
“I think even the most optimistic amongst us were pleasantly surprised by how well the sale went. I’m not saying it was a perfect market, it was far from that, but under the circumstances, it was positive.
“There was plenty of liquidity in the market, it was healthy in many respects and, looking ahead to Chairman’s, it gives people confidence that the demand for quality stock hasn’t been suppressed by what’s gone on around the world in the last two or three months.
“There will be challenges ahead and challenges for the Chairman’s Sale, but I think it’s a great opportunity for vendors to put their stock into a viable market. Similarly, for investors, it’s a wonderful opportunity to try and acquire elite breeding stock in an era when it is exceptionally difficult to do so.
“Those good mares are really hard to buy and we’ve put together a catalogue that brings together plenty of nice mares that anybody would want to own.”
Hutch said that the difficulty with putting together a catalogue for a select auction such as the Chairman’s Sale is that elite breeding prospects are such a valuable commodity.
“I think it is the simple fact that people with quality breeding stock or breeding prospects, they don’t want to sell,” he said. “You only have to look at how sought after well-bred fillies were during the Easter sale this week to see how hard it is to acquire them.
“You go through the Chairman’s catalogue and some of the best pedigrees in the world are represented in it.
“We set out with a specific objective to try and ensure that there were some really high-class race fillies in the catalogue: mares like In Her Time, Unforgotten, Booker, Noire, Meryl, these are the types of fillies that people are desperate to get to breed from.
“Then to be able to supplement them with mares in foal to the likes of Lope De Vega, Kingman, Frankel, some really wonderful international stallions, as well as some of the leading domestic stallions like I Am Invincible, Zoustar, Not A Single Doubt, Dundeel and so on, it does look like a book that – even though it’s small – it satisfies the requirements of any major commercial breeder in Australia or any aspiring commercial breeder in Australia.
“Even for those looking to supplement international breeding operations, I think there are mares here that are good enough to be mated to any of the best stallions in the world.”
One of those mares is Youngstar, the 2019 Queensland Oaks winner, who retires to the breeding barn as a Group 1 winner and a million-dollar earner.
Purchased by Olly Koolman and his father Anton at the 2016 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale for $200,000, Youngstar’s pedigree has been enhanced since by the performance of her younger half-sister Funstar (Adelaide), while her three-quarter sister Baggy Green (Galileo) has produced the Group 1-placed Tofane (Ocean Park).
“We got a great deal of satisfaction from her racing career but we’re a racing partnership, not a breeding partnership and the plan all along was to enjoy her racing career and sell her as a broodmare, and that time has come,” Koolman said. “She’s going to be a very commercial proposition to the lucky buyer.”
“The genetics are there with her, the family is obviously getting continued upgrades through her little sister Funstar and she’s by a fantastic stallion in High Chaparral who is already recognised as a fantastic broodmare sire – a large number of yearlings at the Easter Sale this week were out of High Chaparral mares.
“It’s a very commercial pedigree and it’s come a long way since we purchased her.’’
Hutch added: “The sale-topper in 2019, Maastricht, came in as a wildcard. It’s a very important part of putting together any breeding stock catalogue, trying to pick up the mares that are current.
“We set out with the objective of trying to secure some quality wildcards and to have Youngstar join the catalogue as a wildcard is fantastic. She was a high-class race mare. It’s very hard to breed a Group 1 winner and she’s out of a mare who has managed to produce two of them in a very short space of time.
“You look at the credentials a mare like that can bring to a breeding barn; she’s very compatible with a significant number of the really sexy stallions in Australia.
“Somebody’s going to have a lot of fun breeding from her and someone’s going to really enjoy watching the pedigree just grow and grow.
“Between Youngstar and Funstar, you have two of the most valuable fillies in the country so to be able to offer Youngstar at a sale again is a great opportunity for us.”
The 2020 Inglis Chairman’s Sale will begin at 3pm on Friday, May 8 online at inglis.com.au.