Zoustar colt sets new Great Southern Sale benchmark as buyers crave quality
Fifteen weanlings reach six figures as Blue Gum’s ’Star fetches $360,000 on opening day of trade at Oaklands
The decision by Blue Gum Farm’s Phil Campbell to chance his arm with a Zoustar (Northern Meteor) colt at the Inglis Great Southern Sale paid off handsomely yesterday, with the opening session’s top lot setting a new Melbourne auction record of $360,000.
Strong trade on day one of the delayed Oaklands Junction sale saw 15 weanlings make $100,000 or more, with three hitting the $200,000 mark and beyond as pinhookers seeking select sale quality yearling candidates dominated the top-end of the market.
There wasn’t the frenzied nature of the earlier weanling sales in Sydney and on the Gold Coast conducted by Inglis and Magic Millions, but the company’s Victorian bloodstock manager James Price was satisfied with how the day transpired given the circumstances leading up to the auction.
“There were obviously a few hurdles and I think we’ve had an incredibly successful sale today and a top price of $360,000 is incredible,” Price said last night.
“Talking to vendors and buyers it is really hard to buy the nice horses at this sale and that was proven today with many people walking away with nothing.
“The clearance rate (76 per cent) is very satisfactory and it will continue to grow over this evening and into tomorrow and, all things considered, with border restrictions and what we had to go through to get to this sale, it is a very pleasing result.”
There were 175 weanlings traded for $6,160,750, up four per cent on the same day in 2019, at an average price of $35,204 (up two per cent) and a median of $18,000 (down $2,000), highlighting the continued sales season theme of quality being rewarded by the buying bench.
The clearance rate was sitting at 76 per cent last night ahead of today’s second session.
Campbell relieved after Zoustar colt sets new record
Blue Gum Farm’s Campbell, this year’s leading vendor at the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale, seized the opportunity to capitalise on a buoyant market and recoup some of he and his partners’ investment on the Zoustar colt’s mother, Group 3 winner Vergara (Snippetson).
An opening bid called at $250,000, placing the powerful colt immediately on the market, knocked out any buyers hoping to “steal” him as the genuine competition went back and forth before the final price landed at $360,000.
Inglis bloodstock consultant Harry Bailey signed for the colt on behalf of BBT Breeding and Racing after bidding for his client over the phone.
Rothwell Park’s Scott Irwin, who was at Oaklands Junction, was the under bidder.
“It’s a great result and we’re really rapt for the people back at the farm, especially Wendy Smith, our yearling manager and her team, and also Stuart Murray who has done all the work with the colt down at the sale,” Campbell said.
“He has paraded so well, he had a ripping pedigree and is a ripping style of colt. The first emotion is relief because when you have a colt like that who you think is worth a good quid you’re always very mindful that you have to get him to the ring in one piece and every time he parades you hope he puts his best foot forward and doesn’t turn anyone off.
“I’m emotional about the horse because he’s such a professional horse. I’m really excited to watch him race because he’s got a great brain and a great action.”
The session-topping colt, who surpassed the previous Great Southern record of $310,000 set in 2017 for a son of More Than Ready (Southern Halo), is the the third foal out of the Anthony Cummings-trained Epona Stakes (Gr 3, 1900m) winner Vergara (Snippetson), a mare Heritage Bloodstock bought for Campbell and partners T J S Bloodstock for $460,000 at the 2016 Inglis Australian Broodmare Sale.
Vergara’s first foal, three-year-old Focus On Fame (Tavistock), is in training with Ben and JD Hayes while the Written Tycoon (Iglesia) two-year-old colt Growl was also retained and is in work with Ciaron Maher and David Eustace.
“It’s all well and good to sell them for a lot of money but the most important thing is that they have to go on and race well and I’m looking forward to him doing that,” Campbell said.
“We targeted this sale with this colt, we spent a lot of money on his mother off the racetrack and we’ve kept the first two foals out of the mare.”
The Blue Gum Farm principal added: “If they sell him, I hope they get a good result and if they keep him to race even more so because we’ve got the mare at home in foal to Snitzel and she’s going to Exceed And Excel because we believe in her.”
$290,000 Deep Field colt exceeds expectations
Earlier, Willaroon’s Sally Watkins handed over the reins to her close friends David and Kayley Johnson of Rushton Park to sell her colt by Newgate Farm’s Deep Field (Northern Meteor) and the figure received of $290,000 was wildly above the Victorian breeder’s expectations.
The colt, a half-brother to the Group 3-placed, Group 1-performed filly Shebringzit (Sebring), was bought by an undisclosed client of Inglis who intends to reoffer the colt as a yearling.
A $120,000 reserve was placed on the colt and David Johnson thought he could reach $200,000 given the level of pre-sale interest in the weanling who is by the same sire as this season’s Oakleigh Plate (Gr 1, 1100m) winner Portland Sky.
“It was a fabulous result. He’s a very special colt, he’s a great type vetted well and every one on the complex loved him,” Johnson said.
“Inspections haven’t stopped since we got here, he had 30 hits on his X-rays which I’ve never had at a sale before.
“It’s for one of our very best friends in Sally Watkins and she’ll be over the moon with this result.”
Catalogued as Lot 112, the flashy and well-marked colt is the fifth foal out of the unraced Passarelle (Not A Single Doubt), herself a half-sister to stakes winners Silverstream (Al Maher), Speedy Natalie (Al Maher) and Calanda (Snitzel).
In the afterglow of her result, Watkins said: “It’s absolutely incredible, I’m thrilled to bits. My reserve was $120,000 and with the opening bid being $150,000 it just blew us all away so we’re very, very happy.
“To get a result like this is incredible, we’re going to go out tonight and have a big celebration.”
$200,000 swansong for Rangal Park’s Buttler
Another North East Victoria breeder to enjoy sales ring success yesterday was Rangal Park Stud’s Eric Buttler whose involvement in the thoroughbred industry will officially come to an end at the conclusion of the Great Southern Sale.
The long-time breeder, who was forced to sell his Euroa property and disperse his bloodstock interests owing to ill health, was understandably emotional after a colt by Arrowfield Stud shuttler Maurice (Screen Hero) fetched $200,000.
He was bought by Shrone Bloodstock in conjunction with Silverdale Farm’s Steve Grant who have the intention of reselling him as a yearling after being signed for by Brian McGuire.
The colt, the ninth foal of the placed mare Seven Year Itch (Keltrice), is a half-brother to Listed winners Scratchy Lass (U S Ranger) and Rich Itch (Danerich) and was offered as Lot 157. Seven Year Itch was sold for $32,500 through Inglis Digital in January to Cranbourne trainer Shawn Mathrick while her yearling colt by Tosen Stardom (Deep Impact) made $50,000 at the Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale this year.
Rangal Park Stud manager Tim Jackson said: “Seven Year Itch has been a really good mare to him, but the farm’s been sold up and Eric’s moving on to greener pastures, so it’s a big result for Eric and I am just happy for him.
“He’s been a good, loyal servant to the racing industry in Victoria and it is very pleasant to see the result for him.”
Without wanting to be disrespectful to Seven Year Itch’s previous matings, Jackson saw Maurice as an upgrade and the colt’s physical presence was also not lost on buyers.
“Good horses will always sell. Very rarely do you come to a sale, any sale, where (they are missed as) there are too many good judges around,” he said.
“They go through the whole lot and anything that’s got any substance to it or a bit of pedigree, they usually spot them.
“If you pay attention, the good ones normally come back and that was the case with this fella.”
Impending colt Duley worth the wait
New Zealand trader Dave Duley, who has been crossing the Tasman regularly this year in a bid to boost his 2022 New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Yearling Sale draft, yesterday finally landed a blow with the purchase of an Impending (Lonhro) colt for $120,000 and he believes he was worth the wait.
The Lansdowne Park principal has been impressed by what he has seen of the second crop foals by Darley’s Victorian-based Impending, who won the 2018 Kingsford-Smith Cup (Gr 1, 1350m) in Brisbane.
“Last year New Zealanders couldn’t get over from Karaka and see the Impendings and this year I’ve managed to see a few of the foals by him and I’ve been really impressed by his stock.
“I’ve been to all the weanling sales so far and we haven’t managed to get anything. So, to get this guy is really good.
“He will certainly get better as he gets older but he might go a bit earlier. However, we certainly don’t rush them in New Zealand.”
Catalogued as Lot 15, the Esker Lodge-consigned Impending colt is the fifth living foal out of three-time winner Keltara (Exceed And Excel), a half-sister to the Robert Crabtree-owned mare Missy Cummings (Magnus), herself the dam of Group 2 winner Mizzy (Zoustar).
Mizzy was bought by Coolmore for $2.2 million at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale in May.
“The Impending foals that I have seen are all great movers and they look athletic which is what we try and look for,” he said.
“We got to our price limit there so we were certainly happy we were able to get him.”
This year’s Karaka Million (RL, 1200m) winner On The Bubbles (Brazen Beau), who is raced by Te Akau, was a graduate of the 2019 Great Southern Sale, and Duley hopes his colt can find favour with domestic and international buyers at Karaka.
“We’re hoping the Aussies might come over to New Zealand for a holiday and someone from over here comes and buys him back,” Duley said.
“The Impending foals that I have seen are all great movers and they look athletic which is what we try and look for.
“We got to our price limit there, so we were certainly happy we were able to get him.”
Day two, which encompasses a broodmare session, starts at 10am and Inglis’ Price expects the strong competition between buyers to continue.
“(Today) will continue the strength and, looking through the list of nice horses, it seems as though there’s even more nice horses to be offered,” he said.
“Buyers are certainly keen to return and I expect the competition to only get more fierce.”