Newcomers on show at Inglis Weanling Sale

Lots 127 and 140 at the Inglis Weanling Sale this Thursday are the first progeny of Triple Crown champion American Pharoah (USA) (Pioneerof The Nile {USA}) to be offered in the southern hemisphere.

The winner of nine of his 11 starts, including eight at Grade 1 level, American Pharoah’s clean sweep of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness S. and Belmont S. in 2015 was the first since 1978. In a ‘grand slam’ that has never been matched before or since, he also won the Breeders’ Cup Classic later that year in what was his final career start.

Shuttling between Ashford Stud in Kentucky and Coolmore Australia, American Pharoah has made a near-perfect start with his first northern hemisphere progeny, siring two winners from his first three runners in Ireland and the United States.

“The early success of American Pharoah’s first two-year-olds comes as no surprise,” said Paddy Oman, Sales & Nominations at Coolmore Australia.

“Despite being a Triple Crown-winning world champion at three, you must not forget that he was also a dual Grade 1-winning champion two-year-old.

“He is a horse with incredibly rare ability, quite clearly the best racehorse at stud in Australia, and he has the looks to match.

“His progeny are outstanding, they possess immense quality and have great, great presence with incredible temperaments.

“We have supported him with some of our very best mares and are very excited to offer his first southern hemisphere-bred weanlings to the market in 2019.”

The two American Pharoah weanlings in the Inglis catalogue are a colt out of the stakes-placed Fastnet Rock mare Triband, offered by Coolmore, and Fairhill Farm’s colt out of the Not a Single Doubt mare Yuma Desert.

Watch: Lot 127 American Pharoah (USA) x Triband

Newgate four on show

Also watching this week’s proceedings with bated breath will be the team at Newgate Farm. This sale marks the debuts of a quartet of their stallions – Group 1 winners Capitalist (Written Tycoon), Extreme Choice (Not a Single Doubt) and Flying Artie (Artie Schiller {USA}), along with the multiple track record-breaker Winning Rupert (Written Tycoon).

The catalogue features seven weanlings by Flying Artie, four by Winning Rupert, two by Capitalist and one by Extreme Choice.

“It’s a really exciting time for the team at Newgate to have all of these stallions at the stage of having their first weanlings up for sale,” said Bruce Slade, General Manager of Newgate Farm.

“There isn’t a huge sample at this sale, but it’s a taste, and we’re looking forward to seeing how they go. Then there’ll be another taste at the Magic Millions on the Gold Coast a bit later on.

“We’ve done a lot of inspections and got a really good feel for the stock, and we’re very happy with how they all look and how they’ve been received.

“Our focus is on horses that will best suit the commercial market here in Australia, and we’re confident that these horses will fit that bill. There’s certainly a lot of anticipation among the team heading into these sales.”

Other freshman sires

The catalogue also features weanlings from the first crops of Godolphin star Astern (Medaglia d’Oro {USA}), multiple juvenile Group 1 winner Shalaa (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) with his paternal half brother Cable Bay (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) and Japan’s Hong Kong Mile, Champions Mile and Hong Kong Cup hero Maurice (Jpn) (Screen Hero {Jpn}).

Schillaci S. winner Star Turn (Star Witness) also features, alongside Caulfield Guineas victor Divine Prophet (Choisir) and the wide-margin dual New Zealand Group 1 winner Xtravagant (NZ) (Pentire {GB}).

Rounding out this year’s batch of first season stallions are G1 Prix Jean Prat winner and 2000 Guineas runner-up Territories (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), multiple Japanese Group 1 winner Mikki Isle (Jpn) (Deep Impact {JPN}), well-related stakes winner Sooboog (Snitzel), dual Group 1 winner Stratum Star (Stratum) and the Group 1 performer Odyssey Moon (Snitzel).

Flying Artie and Sooboog have the largest representations among first-season stallions this year, with each having seven weanlings in the catalogue.

Lots by first season sires