Cool Kanaloa colt tops Day 2 at Premier Sale

Cover image courtesy of Inglis

At A Glance

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With the Premier Session to conclude with a short session on Tuesday, the Sale average is at an all-time high of $143,195, up from the final 2020 average of $127,259.

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The Sale clearance rate is also very positive, standing at 86 per cent, up from 83 per cent at the end of last year's Premier Session.

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The median of $110,000 is equivalent to last year.

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There has been close to $57 million of sales across the first two days, with 398 yearlings finding new homes.

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Lot 504, the Kulani Park-offered son of Lord Kanaloa (Jpn), secured the day's top price when two of the Australian buying bench's most powerful buyers combined to pay $900,000.

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Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young strengthened their stable with the acquisition of Lot 287, a colt by I Am Invincible offered by Vinery Stud.

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Trainer Lindsey Smith, in partnership with Boomer Bloodstock, and vendor Caithness Breeding went to a new level for Lot 492, with the Capitalist colt headed to Smith's Warrnambool stables after selling for $600,000.

Arrowfield colt snapped up by Coolmore and Maher

Arrowfield sent a quality draft to Melbourne for Kulani Park to prepare and consign and was rewarded with a huge result with Lot 504, the colt by Lord Kanaloa out of Believe Yourself (Sebring), who sold for the second-highest price of the Sale to date, $900,000.

Believe Yourself was a G2 Sweet Embrace S. winner before racing with success in Singapore and her first foal had kept Kulani Park very busy all week, with an amazing 220 parades.

After an opening bid of $300,000, several bidders were onto the colt, keeping auctioneer Chris Russell and his bidder-spotter-in chief, Jonathan D'Arcy very busy. In the end, it was the partnership of Maher and Coolmore who prevailed in an early evening showdown at Oaklands Junction.

"He is a great physical. There’s not many Lord Kanaloas out here and he is out of a sharp, early running mare. I thought he was probably the colt of the Sale, and he had the price tag to match. We’ve seen the likes of Tagaloa and horses like that and hopefully he can be the next one," Maher said.

“I saw the horse up at Kulani and they do a great job preparing horses for the Sale and he presented beautifully. He has got a beautiful temperament. There was a horse playing up out the back next to him and he just went about his business.

“That is something that is very important in colts. You want them to go on and be stallions and I think he’s got the necessary characteristics to do that."

It is not the first time that Coolmore and Maher have come together, and Maher said it was great to rekindle the partnership.

“It was great to purchase another colt like with this with Coolmore. We’ve had the likes of Merchant Navy and some other really nice horses through the stable. We’ve got Loving Gaby’s sister as well out of Magic Millions, so they are great to race with and hopefully we can find the next Coolmore or Royal Ascot winner," he said.

“It was pretty early on in the sale when we thought he was an obvious colt and they (Coolmore) indicated that they were keen to have a chat."

Kulani Park basking in outstanding result

Rhys Smith, of Kulani Park, was delighted with a result which vindicated the faith Arrowfield had shown in the Goulburn Weir-based operation.

"It was a great result and a privilege to sell for Arrowfield. $900,000 is a lot of money, so we are very pleased," he said.

"He's a great colt, a really early horse, good muscle and did everything right and looked a treat. He did over 220 parades, which is a lot of parading."

Smith was also pleased with who ended up purchasing him, knowing his future is in good hands.

"I was really interested in seeing who was bidding. There was probably three or four of them from $500,000 upwards," he said.

"Coolmore has bought him, so obviously they’ll look to win an early race and get him to stud. He's going to get every chance. I think Ciaron is the right trainer for him. Whether it be in Melbourne or Sydney I'm sure he'll be in those early 2-year-old races."

Believe Yourself foaled a colt by The Autumn Sun last spring and is back in foal to that stallion again.

Stunning colt highlights another big day for Inglis

As the third-highest priced lot ever sold in Victoria, it was the highlight of a day which continued to rewrite record books in many ways.

The Sale average continues to be very strong at $143,195, and with a high clearance rate of 86 per cent, things are on track for record numbers when the Sale concludes on Tuesday, with the finale of the Premier Session followed by the Showcase Session.

"It’s been a sterling two days. We knew there some good horses right the way through the catalogue, and there are some good horses to come tomorrow, but the nature of the competition on the really sought after horses was fantastic," Inglis General Manager Bloodstock Sales and Marketing, Sebastian Hutch, said.

"The Lord Kanaloa colt, anyone that saw him was particularly taken aback by him. He was a beautiful colt by a fabulous stallion which has already bred a Blue Diamond winner out of a mare that had elite ability as a 2-year-old.

"It was exciting to get him into the catalogue and then for him to measure up the way he did was great and the competition on him was ferocious."

Maher, who trains with David Eustace, is the leading buyer of the Sale with 13 purchases in his own name, totalling $3.27 million as well as three other yearlings in partnership.

The top vendor on aggregate at the moment is Blue Gum Farm on aggregate ($4.925 million), while Glentree Thoroughbreds tops the average price on $330,000 across six lots sold.

Vinery's Vinnie colt off to Cranbourne

Earlier in the day, Trent Busuttin held his nerve to land another marquee colt of the Sale, Lot 287, who was by I Am Invincible and was offered by Vinery Stud, for $700,000.

The colt is the first foal from Group 1 winning mare Risque (NZ) (Darci Brahma {NZ}) and was bred in partnership by Neil Werrett and Darren Thomas.

"They purchased the mare over in New Zealand after she won the 1000 Guineas and raced her over here with some success, so she’s a lovely mare. To send her to a stallion like I Am Invincible and get a really athletic, forward-looking colt like he was, is always a terrific result and he sold accordingly, so we are over the moon," Vinery Stud Bloodstock Manager, Adam White, said.

White said Vinery thought it would target this colt at the Victorian sale, looking to give him some clear air, and that tactic certainly appeared to have worked.

“We knew there’d be a lot of I Am Invincibles up at Inglis Easter and we really wanted a headline horse here for our Premier draft. We’ve always had a successful Premier Sale and we always wanted to bring a really nice colt to help the draft overall and he was obviously very popular," he said.

"He is a very good-looking and great-moving horse, so I think he did his job for what we wanted him to do. To see him sell well and to go into a good Group 1-producing two-year-old stable is tremendous for the mare going forward."

Busuttin, who trains at Cranbourne with his wife Natalie Young, said the colt shaped as a logical purchase.

“He’s by the right stallion and he’s a nice type of colt. He looks like a runner and he looks like a 2-year-old. He’s got all the attributes that everyone wants and he’s out of a Group 1-winning mare, so he was never going to be cheap," he said.

“He’s compact and he looks like he will be running at two and hopefully he can be. It’s the old saying, but he ticks all the boxes. We paid enough for him but they don’t miss them."

Since foaling this colt, Risque has produced a More Than Ready (USA) filly and then visited Written Tycoon.

I Am Invincible is the leading sire on average on $325,000, with six sales, while Written Tycoon leads on aggregate with $3.6 million across 14 sales, including the current sale topper, Lot 70, a colt which James Harron Bloodstock paid $1.1 million for on Sunday,

'Handlebars down' for Smith

Lindsey Smith was forced to elevate to another level when coming together with his usual partner, Craig Rounsefell of Boomer Bloodstock, to pay $600,000 for Lot 492, the Capitalist colt offered by Caithness Breeding.

Smith had purchased a Capitalist at the recent Magic Millions Perth Yearling Sale, but had to reach a whole new price bracket to get the half-brother to stakes-placed Alshibaa (Street Cry {Ire}), out of the Redoute's Choice mare, Asheerah, the daughter of Group 1 winner Rewaaya (NZ) (Singspiel {Ire}).

"It’s 'handlebars down' for me now. If you want to play the game, you have to have some skin in it, so that's what we've done," Smith said.

"He's the best colt I have seen at the Sale. We thought we’d get in while we could, we went in hard early and that didn't work. I was just about to give up. I got very nervous, I have never bought a horse that expensive before but he's the nicest colt I have seen here."

Smith put in an audacious first bid of $300,000, only to see others join in with almost as much enthusiasm.

"When you have got no money, you have to try something. It was a bit of a bluff, but it backfired on me. I moved to Melbourne and have to change my model and get some up-and-coming young horses. I always say you buy the one you like," he said.

It was also a record result for Caithness Breeding, with Sean Dingwall reflecting on the significance of the occasion for the entire family.

"We breed a few mares and for him to make that sort of money is outstanding and by far our greatest result. We had our best result here last year with a Kermadec colt who made $230,000, so to have a horse to make $600,000 was amazing. I am thrilled," he said.

“The mare is a Redoute’s mare and there’s a lot of Redoute’s in that colt and there’s a bit more scope than a lot of Capitalists, from what people tell us. Ultimately, he has amazing temperament and that is what sold him.”

Asheerah, who since missed to Flying Artie and is now in foal to Toronado (Ire), was an $80,000 purchase from the 2018 Inglis Australian Broodmare Sale.

“She is a Shadwell mare and we bought her off Yarraman a few years ago. We took a Brazen Beau out of her and then put her in foal to Capitalist. She was a foal share, so we have got to thank Newgate as well for their support but ultimately we had an unbelievable specimen." Dingwell said.

O'Shea falls for Dundeel colt

John O'Shea and Suman Hedge Bloodstock came together in a partnership with Arrowfield to pay $550,000 for Lot 299, a Dundeel (NZ) colt offered by Glentree Thoroughbreds.

"I am really enamoured with the progeny of Dundeel. He's probably the best colt I have seen by him and he has the pedigree to match it. He comes off just a wonderful farm, Bruce Wilson has put together a great collection of broodmares, and this is a reflection of the quality of horses that Glentree is producing," O'Shea said.

"We are really enthused by the horse, and it’s a syndicate headed by Australia's premier breeding barn in Arrowfield. They understand the stallion better than anyone and consequently they were kind enough to join us in the syndicate.

"He made a bit more than we thought, but Jon Freyer, we were seeking his guidance while we were bidding, he kept saying, it’s a Group 1 horse, just buy it. Hopefully, he is right. He is a quality animal. We love to get a horse of his quality in the yard."

His dam, Ruby Falls (Flying Spur), is a half-sister to Group 1 winner Irish Lights (Fastnet Rock), and Glentree is set to get more from her in the near future.

"We’ve got full sister on the ground now, by Dundeel and she's currently not in foal. It’s great have that full sister," Glentree's Luke Simpson said.

"It was a testament to his temperament and he held that right the way through the whole week. He did fantastically well, and he was a very busy boy. It all resulted to that.

"We are absolutely delighted and it certainly exceeded our expectations."

It has been Sale dominated by colts, who are represented by 12 of the top 13 prices lot over the first two days.

Rosemont strikes for Sebring filly

The equal top-priced filly on Monday was Lot 321, a chestnut filly by Sebring out of Group 3 winner Shamalia (Shamardal {USA}), offered by Blue Gum Farm and purchased by Rosemount Stud for $450,000.

“There’s a bit of Brooklyn Hustle about her and they’re not making any more of the Sebrings and she was, for us, the filly of the Sale," Rosemont's Anthony Mithen said.

"She’s out of a Shamardal mare, she’s an out-cross filly and she’s off a farm that do a magnificent job and they continue to produce great results at Blue Gum and we were more than happy to be pretty strong on her.

“I had to be a little stronger than what I wanted to be, but you come here to buy the ones you want, rather than the ones that are left, as the auctioneers often tell you.

“When you’re a breeding farm, you’ve got to keep on replenishing with those fillies and we like to think that we breed a nice filly, but we don’t shut our eyes to what other people are producing and there’s plenty of people doing a good job breeding some nice horses, so we’re happy to share love by buying a nice horse as well as breeding them.”

The Victorian Alliance colts' fund, led by Rosemont, paid $520,000 for Lot 524, a Siyouni (Fr) colt from the draft of Yulong, late in the day in partnership with Suman Hedge Bloodstock and David Redvers Bloodstock.

The other filly to go for $450,000 was the Lot 317, by So You Think (NZ) out Senro Kisaki (Danehill Dancer {Ire}), which was purchased by David Pfieffer Racing from the draft of Edinburgh Park.

Top lots

Top buyers

Top vendors by aggregate

Top vendors by average (three or more sold)

Top sires by aggregate

Top sires by average (three or more sold)