Cover image courtesy of Wentwood Grange
Wentwood Grange, run by the Hawkins family, has developed a strong affinity for the Classic Sale over the past decade, and was leading vendor by average in 2019, having earlier sold future Group 1 winner I Am A Star (NZ) (I Am Invincible) at the 2015 edition, when Bhima Thoroughbreds hosted its draft.
While COVID-19 has made international travel problematic in the past 12 months, Wentwood Grange was keen to take the punt of getting not just its horses, but its staff to Riverside Stables, a move that looked set to pay off as the Trans-Tasman travel bubble was established last month.
However, a COVID-19 outbreak in New Zealand led Australia to effectively close its borders again last week, putting a major question mark over how Wentwood Grange would resource its Classic draft.
In stepped Fleming, and his Bhima operation was able to meet the six strong Wentwood Grange draft off the plane on Sunday, and get inspections started on Monday.
Dean and Sean Hawkins | Image courtesy of Wentwood Grange
"We’ve taken a draft over there for the last four or five years. We wanted to try and keep it in our own name if possible. We have sold through Bhima before but we have got a bit of a name and have had some racetrack success," Dean Hawkins said.
"So we rolled the dice, and with the border closing at the last minute, it has made things a bit tricky. They are back open now, so hopefully we can get staff over in the next few days. We are very thankful to Mike for stepping in and helping us out."
"They (the borders) are back open now, so hopefully we can get staff over in the next few days." - Dean Hawkins
The opening up of the bubble again on Monday should allow the Hawkins to have the resources on the ground to ensure they can be on hand to present the six colts through the ring.
"They (yearlings) landed safely last night, which is a weight off our mind. We will let Mike do his job and he’ll be caretaker until we get in a position to get over there. Mike sold I Am A Star for us, so that was brilliant, and Bhima are still a big part of our team. All our mares go there, so it’s great," he said.
Sending the right horses
The Classic Sale fits into Wentwood Grange's strategy nicely, allowing it to target the early progeny of mares it feels will do well in the Australian market and by sires that hold resonance with the Australian buying bench.
"It’s mostly useful for us to get young mares away and to get their progeny over to the Australian market. The yearling prep fits in very well with our Karaka yearling prep, because it's only the week after, which means pretty much the same prep," Hawkins said.
"It’s a sale we have done very well out of, we were leading vendor on average the year before last, and we’ve sold I Am A Star through Bhima, so it’s a sale that we love and working with Inglis is fantastic."
Relevance to the Australian market, in particular the typical Classic Sale buying bench, which tends to contain a higher proportion of syndicators and trainers, is a key criteria for the horses Wentwood Grange sends to Sydney.
"We try and target sires that we think will sell there and we need a type that fits in to the Classic Sale. It’s always been a type sale," he said.
"We’ve targeted BOBS sires and we have three of the six that are qualified there, plus one for VOBIS. We've also got one by Almanzor, who was the leading first-season sire at Karaka and Magic Millions. Contributer is a sire that rates in Australia, we’ve taken one of them over there every year and he's done a great job."
Almanzor colts takes the eye
The colt by Almanzor (Fr), Lot 309, is set to create plenty of interest. Having sold to $800,000 at Magic Millions' Gold Coast Sale and NZ$560,000 at the New Zealand Bloodstock Sale at Karaka, the first crop of the Cambridge Stud-based son of Wootton Bassett (GB) has already made a huge impression on buyers. The colt is one of six Almanzors at the Classic Sale with three of those in Bhima's draft.
Lot 309 is out of stakes-placed She Is Stryking (Stryker), whose grandam Fashion Victim (Rory's Jester) won a Listed Maribyrnong Plate and is a half-sister to multiple stakes winner and Group 1 placegetter Celestial Show (Serheed {USA}).
"We wanted to make sure that we had Almanzors across all the sales, so he got a good representation. He's a beautiful big, strong colt out of a young, stakes-placed mare, so hopefully he will be very well received," Hawkins said.
Also in Wentwood Grange's Book 1 draft are Lot 378, a colt by Divine Prophet, Lot 428, a colt by Highland Reel (Ire), and Lot 607, a colt by Astern.
Hawkins is particularly keen to see how the market assesses the two colts Wentwood Grange presents in the Highway Session, in Lot 656, the colt by Contributer (Ire) out of stakes-placed Little Haast (NZ) (Faltaat {USA}), and Lot 765, by Kermadec (NZ) out of Beautiful Sister (NZ) (Black Minnaloushe {USA}).
"The two colts in the Highway Session are absolutely rippers on type, the Contributer and the Kermadec. They are just beautiful colts and hopefully in the Sale, they can get found on type. The stallions are both making strong starts to their career. We bred and sold Kermadec so that Beautiful Sister colt is close to the heart," he said.
"We bred and sold Kermadec so that Beautiful Sister colt (Lot 765) is close to the heart." - Dean Hawkins
With the health of the Australian industry in such good shape despite the global challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hawkins is looking forward to seeing what can be achieved over the three days at the Classic Sale.
"Racing in Australia has never been in a stronger position. Kudos to Inglis for keeping the Melbourne and Sydney catalogues smaller than they have been in the past. A lot of sales companies have made their catalogues bigger, but by keeping them smaller, that should keep the Sale in good stead," he said.
