Snitzel colt tops Easter opening day, but it's Vinery's time to shine

Cover image courtesy of Bronwen Healy

At A Glance

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The $2.5 million pricetag for Lot 45, the colt by Snitzel offered by Arrowfield Stud and purchased by Team Hawkes, represented the highest price for an Australian yearling in two years.

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Vinery Stud's eight yearlings averaged an amazing $816,250, including the $2.1 million Shane McGrath paid for Lot 5, an Exceed And Excel colt, on behalf of Tony Fung Investments.

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Major players Ciaron Maher Racing, James Harron, Coolmore and Victorian Alliance all bought $1 million-plus lots, of which there were 11 in total.

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The Day 1 Sale average was $368,440, on par with the $369,371 on the first day in 2019 (2020 Sale was held in online mode).

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The median was $260,000, down from the Day 1 median of $280,000 in 2019.

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The overall aggregate was $64.47 million, a daily record and surpassing the previous record of $64.27 million set on Day 1 in 2019.

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The clearance rate was 85 per cent, comparable to the 86 per cent on Day 1 two years ago.

Vinery's day out

Vinery Stud enjoyed a banner first day at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, selling three lots for over a $1 million, including the second top-lot of the day, when Shane McGrath paid $2.1 million for Lot 5, a colt by Exceed And Excel.

The top lot on the day was sold by Arrowfield Stud, with Lot 45, a Snitzel colt, selling to Hawkes Racing for $2.5 million, but all the remaining plaudits of the opening day belonged to Vinery.

In what amounts to the most successful sales day for Vinery in its 21-year history in Australia, it finished with eight sales at an extraordinary average of $816,250 including two seven-figure lots by Exceed And Excel and one by Snitzel.

Vinery Stud General Manager, Peter Orton, said the quite stunning run of results were reward for the hard work in putting together the draft by his team as well as years of planning in building the farm's broodmare band.

"It’s been a massive day. We've come along with a good draft, with a very sound draft and we are really proud of the horses we had. It’s one of those situations where you put a collection of horses together and you arrive at market as strong as this, so we are having a good time," he said.

"The market is all about playing the long game and you can't sort of jump into it one year and expect to cash-in the next. Those who have been doing at a right level for a time will get the right benefits when markets like this come along. We are under no illusions about that.

"We happened to put a good bunch of horses together that were very sound, and they came together at the right time and the market was strong."

The string of massive sales results come off the back of a successful run from Vinery graduates on the track in recent years such as feature 2-year-old race winners Farnan (Not A Single Doubt), Artorius (Flying Artie) and Exhilarates (Snitzel).

"Your brand is a very important thing, and the market has to respect the brand no matter what business you are in. The farm has got a great history of breeding strong horses and growing and presenting them all," Orton said.

"Our horses are reared in big groups in big paddocks. They have all had the opportunity to be strong and be raised to their optimum, rather than be held back. They are genuine horses and we have had a great run. We have had a Blue Diamond and Golden Slipper and Magic Millions winner from the farm in the past few years.

"We started off at Vinery racing a lot of horses that ran in our colours. We have got strong partnerships and we’ve got some great broodmares around us. Whatever stallions we have, we have to believe in them ourselves, because we use them ourselves.

"It's not a bad business plan to follow through. You just have to be patient and back the stallions you believe will upgrade your mares and having bloodlines that are most suitable for the strongest level of racing possible."

Fung/McGrath get in early for Exceed stunner

It was McGrath, buying on behalf of Tony Fung, who got the ball rolling early for Vinery, going to $2.1 million to secure Lot 5, a colt by Exceed And Excel.

The colt, who is out of the stakes winner Peace Force (Bernardini {USA}), was the busiest in terms of inspections all week and expectations were that he'd be near the top of the pricelist, and after a battle with Coolmore, it was McGrath that prevailed in what will provide a further boost to Annabel Neasham's stable.

“I thought he was the best colt. He is obviously by a fabulous sire and he’s a gorgeous individual who looks sharp and early. He really suited our mould as an early running 2-year-old type," he said.

“He’s got a great temperament. He handled everything really well, he has a fabulous action and a huge hip on him. I was watching him walking around and you could see him with a saddle on his back and hopefully he’s looking for it.

“I thought he was the benchmark horse of the Sale. There’s some fabulous colts here, as you’d expect at Easter, and everything’s going so well here in Australia in racing and breeding. I think the breeders of these top horses will be really well rewarded as they should."

It was the highest-ever price for a yearling by Darley's champion sire Exceed And Excel.

Emotional success breaks records

It was an emotional result for Vinery Stud's Bloodstock Manager Adam White, as it represented the best-ever yearling sale result for the farm.

"It's pretty amazing, it’s really amazing for the whole team, it’s a bit emotional actually. There's a lot of hard work that goes in to get this result," he said.

"It’s massive for us, to start with a bang like that. We always knew he'd go very well. He's an outstanding colt, as good a colt that I have anything to do with in any draft. It's a good team of horses but we knew we’d start off really well with him."

White revealed that the colt had more parades - 230 - than any other yearling at Riverside Stables this week, and so he always knew he'd be in demand.

"It's a big thing for a horse to be out 230 times and be put back in their box and be asked to do it over and over again. He handled it to a tee," he said.

"We knew all the right groups were on him, and he sold accordingly.

"I didn't think he'd go for quite that much. I knew he'd be over the $1 million mark quite comfortably, but I wasn't sure where he'd pull up after that. When you have got two to three large groups, some strong stallion farms on a horse like that, you are not really sure when they will pull up.

"The horse deserved it, he's from a fantastic pedigree, he's got a great attitude and he's just an athlete."

The colt is the second foal out of Peace Force, who won a G3 Glenlogan Park S. for trainer Gerald Ryan before being purchased by Vinery Stud on behalf of Encompass International at the 2016 Magic Millions Broodmare Sale for $520,000.

Peace Force is a half-sister to five-time Group 1 winner Eremein (Timber Country {USA}) as well as Listed winner Gliding (Flying Spur). Her first foal, a now 2-year-old by Snitzel, was retained, before she was sent to Exceed And Excel.

"We paid a lot of money for the mare off the track when she was racing. She's a big scopey mare and by Bernardini, who we thought would make quite a good broodmare sire. She was a good running mare and we gave her a good go, sending her to Exceed And Excel in one of her first seasons at stud, and got a great colt, hopefully, he can go out there and do a good job," White said.

"He was a lovely foal and even right through to the weanling stage. It sounds like a bit of a cliché, but you walk into the paddock and he was just a headturner, you’d just look at him and think wow. He's a ripper."

Since foaling this colt, she had a filly to I Am Invincible last year before getting in foal to Vinery Stud resident Exceedance.

Exceed formula repeated

McGrath returned to the formula again, with Lot 63, another Exceed And Excel colt offered by Vinery Stud, for which he paid exactly half the price, $1.05 million.

He is out of Sanity (Lonhro), who was bought by Laceby Lodge for $800,000 in 2019, and was sold on behalf of A List Stud. Sanity is a sister to Group 3 winner Trim, whose Exceed And Excel filly Manicure has won two stakes races. It is also the family of G1 Makybe Diva S. winner Gatting (Hard Spun {USA}).

“That is our model, to try and source these colts and we’re fortunate that we have a great team that goes behind the selection process. It’s a huge outlay but at the end of the day, it’s risk versus reward," McGrath said.

"Full credit to Vinery, they are a great farm, and we’ve had a bit of luck buying Farnan out of there, so hopefully lightning can strike twice.”

Turbo colt heads to Maher

The third million-dollar lot from Vinery, Lot 139, by Snitzel out of Group 3 winner Turbo Miss (Sebring), went to Ciaron Maher Bloodstock for $1.15 million.

Turbo Miss is a half-sister to Group 1 winner and Newgate stallion Russian Revolution, and secured her G3 Francis Tressady S. win at the expense of Rising Romance (NZ) (Ekraar {USA}), the dam of the day's top lot, who was also by Snitzel.

"She belongs to a really good client, Brian Backshall. He bred Russian Revolution too," Orton said. "We had Russian Revolution's mother on the farm. He obviously kept this daughter of hers. He's always been a good client of the farm and has always bred a nice horse. We sold Russian Revolution as a yearling as well."

Turbo Miss has a weanling colt by The Autumn Sun and then visited Deep Field last year.

Maher said the colt fitted all the requirements of being a million-dollar yearling who would hopefully convert into a fast and precocious 2-year-old.

"He's an athletic colt by the right stallion and with a big page. He's the type of colt that you expect to see here at Easter and we knew he'd have a healthy pricetag. He's a quality horse and we are rapt to have got him," he said.

"He looks that sharp, early Slipper-type of horse."

Vinery Stud also had Lot 89, a colt by I Am Invincible out of Group 1-winning mare Snitzerland (Snitzel) sell to Tom Magnier for $950,000.

Inglis hails deserved success

All in all Vinery's yearling fetched $6.53 million, which put them well clear on the averages ($816,250), while its aggregate of $6.53 million was behind only Arrowfield ($11.725 million) and Yarraman Park ($7.28 million).

Inglis General Manager, Bloodstock Sales and Marketing, Sebastian Hutch, said Vinery's golden day at the Riverside Stables was very much deserved.

"It’s a really likable group of people. It’s very competitive among the top studs in terms of clientele and horses," he said.

"Chris Russell does inspections at Vinery in the spring and he came back and said Vinery have got a really good group of horses for Easter. Then I spoke to a very prominent buyer a few weeks ago, who went to do the pre-Sale inspections there and they said it was as good a draft a yearlings as they have ever seen.

"Then you get to the Sale and you have everybody eulogising about their draft. Full credit to them. Denis Griffin (Yearling Manager) has done a fantastic job, they have presented immaculately and it was a pleasure to look at their horses.

"It’s evidence, if any was needed that if you bring the right horse here and you can get some extraordinary results."

Romance blooms for Team Hawkes

Lot 45, a colt by Snitzel out of Group 1 winner Rising Romance (NZ) (Ekraar {USA}) offered by Arrowfield Stud, carried high expectations into the Sale and his pricetag lived up to that as Hawkes Racing went to $2.5 million to secure him.

John, Michael and Wayne Hawkes train his sister, the promising Yearning, on behalf of a syndicate led by Arrowfield, and fought off a determined challenge from Maher to land the colt on behalf of existing stable clients.

Wayne Hawkes said the colt had made an immediate impression on inspection and they weren't going to miss out on him.

"He just oozed class. We got here last Tuesday and he was the second horse we saw Tuesday afternoon and Dad turned to me and Michael and said we are taking this one home by hook or by crook," he said.

"We just put a heap of stable clients into the horse, and when John Hawkes says 'I want', we have to do our best to put them together. Dad has got such a great record of success out of buying out of this Sale and hopefully this guy can go on to be the one."

Rising Romance won a G1 Australian Oaks and was placed in a G1 Caulfield Cup as well as a host of other top races, but Hawkes said this colt looks much sharper and should be the type that can measure up to the better 2-year-old races.

"He is probably more of a Snitzel type. We've had a bit of luck with them here. Just looking up on the wall at (G1 Golden Slipper S. winner) Estijaab, who was a top-priced Snitzel filly here, and so this guy will be heading down the similar path," he said.

"This guy is a dead-set 2-year-old. He looks like the real deal and he'll be going to get broken in on Monday and it’s 49 weeks to the Golden Slipper."

Yearning debuted with fast-finishing second at Randwick last month and contests the G2 Percy Sykes S. this Saturday. Hawkes said while there were similarities between her and her brother, there was much more to their determination to get him than just the connection to the family.

"When you got one at home and you look at this bloke and you look at the physical and you go 'wow', it makes sense," he said.

"But even though they are brother and sisters, you have to like the individual. You don't ever want to get caught up in buying the full brother or sister for the sake of it, because Michael looks like an athlete and I don’t, it’s as simple as that!"

A big result for Arrowfield

Arrowfield Chairman John Messara hailed a terrific result for the farm with a colt who had been on the market when the bidding reached $1 million.

“He was an ideal colt to be an early goer. He’s looks precocious even though he comes from a mare who got up to a mile and quarter, so he’s going to be a twin-purpose, I’d say," Messara said.

"He’s just a magnificent individual and the sister Yearning has had one start for an unlucky second and now she is in the Percy Sykes, so they had some inside information, if you like.

“He’s been very popular all the time. We put what we thought was a sensible reserve on him of $1 million and that’s a lot of money in itself but it went straight past that and I’m very pleased that the Hawkes team got him. Our horses have had good success in their stable, so I am really happy."

Arrowfield and its Japanese partners had purchased Rising Romance privately off the track and have sent her to Snitzel all four years to date. She had another colt last year and is in foal to the Champion Sire again.

"We won’t be going far off Snitzel given these first two. I think it cost us about $900,000 or something like that but she’s turning out magnificent foals," Messara said.

“Snitzel has won four championships in a row, so he’s no slouch.”

Indeed, later on in the day, Arrowfield would secure its 12th million-dollar result at this Sale from the progeny of Snitzel when agent Dean Hawthorne paid $1.05 million for Lot 69, a colt out of Secluded (Hussonet {USA}), making him a three-quarter brother to Arrowfield stallion Pariah.

Secluded, who was purchased for $525,000 by Paul Messara as a yearling, is a half-sister to Group 1-winning mare Melito (Redoute's Choice). She visited The Autumn Sun last spring.

Snitzel had 14 yearlings sell on the day for a total of $8.82 million, and an average of $630,000. That put him top on aggregate of all sires and second behind Exceed And Excel ($1.105 million) on averages.

Vinnie filly brings group together

Coolmore was also involved in the purchase of the top-priced filly of the day, coming together with Hermitage and Guy Mulcaster to pay $1.25 million for Lot 149, an I Am Invincible filly out of Vezalay (Shamardal {USA}) offered by Widden Stud.

Mulcaster said the filly had taken his eye during on-farm inspections before the man who will become her trainer, Chris Waller, inspected her at Riverside on Friday.

“We saw her on the farm about three weeks ago and we really liked her and she’s just improved in the prep. We saw her here twice and then I took Chris to see her on Friday and he really liked her," he said.

“We’ve managed to put a nice group together of Coolmore and Hermitage. It was the top end of our budget, but we’re really happy to secure her."

Widden had paid $1 million for Vezalay, who was a Listed winner and stakes-placed on multiple other occasions, in foal with this filly at the 2019 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale in partnership with David Redvers Bloodstock. Principal Antony Thompson was delighted with the outcome of Tuesday's sale.

“We loved her from day one. We had very lofty expectations from the moment she was born really having paid so much for mum in foal and by how she looked. For it to all come together here was a great thrill," Thompson said.

"Obviously there was lots of competition and I know there will be lots of disappointed trainers and owners but congratulations to Guy Mulcaster. He pegged her a long time ago. He’d seen her before on the farm and got the sense then that he had her as the best filly he’d seen in a long time. There was a bit of a sense she was a superstar.

“It is not always that easy. There’s a lot water under the bridge and you hold your breath for a long time but it is another stunning result for ourselves and the team involved, Qatar who are also in her with us, David Redvers who trusted me to buy her, there’s a couple of other clients in there, so it’s a great ride for those guys to be a part of that."

Vezalay had a Zoustar filly last spring and returned to the Widden stallion again last year.

Harron, Coolmore link up for Vinnie colt

James Harron formed a couple of new partnerships to secure seven-figure lots on the opening day, including one with the outfit he started his career out with many years ago, Coolmore.

Harron and Coolmore Australia Principal Tom Magnier came together to pay $1.15 million for Lot 173, and I Am Invincible colt out of Zamzam (Redoute's Choice) who was part of the Shadwell dispersal through Yarraman Park's draft.

Harron said the opportunity to buy out such a strong family was too good to resist and he and the Coolmore team have worked closely to put together a partnership for this colt.

“It is a real privilege to buy into one of Sheikh Hamdan’s families. He’s been an incredible man in the racing world and hopefully this colt can continue on and do everybody proud," Harron said.

“We just loved the horse and we’ve bought him in conjunction with Coolmore Australia as well. We came together and absolutely loved him. We thought he was a very sharp colt, he has a very good mind.”

While it is a new association between the prominent bloodstock agent and the global powerhouse in terms of buying yearlings, they have a strong association through the stallion deal with dual Group 1 winner King's Legacy.

“I’ve got a very long history with Coolmore. I had my first job there when I was 15 years old and I’ve known the guys for a long time. They bought into King’s Legacy this year and I’ve really enjoyed racing him together as a group and we thought it’d be a good idea to buy a colt or two together and he was the one we came up with and let’s hope it’s the start of something exciting for us," Harron said.

“I was really taken by him when I saw him. He’s very racy, medium size. We’ve been studying and analysing I Am Invincible as hard as we can and I thought he was in that Brazen Beau type mould and hopefully he can be half as good as him."

Fastnet filly catches eye of Harron

Harron was also active in another partnership with an as-yet-unidentified new client in paying $1.1 million for Lot 53, a Fastnet Rock filly out of Rostova (Testa Rossa), making her a sister to multiple Group 2 winner Anaheed.

This time it was Harron buying from Coolmore, as opposed to buying with them, and he was very happy to pick up such a quality filly from a Group 1-winning mare.

“I am really glad to get her. Fastnet’s having a really incredible season and as a broodmare sire he’s doing an incredible job. She’s a real collector’s item and a really classy filly," he said.

“I’ve been working on this for quite a while for a new investor and it was great to get her.

“She took everything in, handled everything and she looks like a filly where we’re going to have to wait a little bit - she’s a November foal - but we’ll be expecting her to be running in races as a late 2-year-old and 3-year-old."

The filly was also bought with the purpose of developing into a broodmare in time.

"You have to look at this for eight to 10 years and that you will eventually have a beautiful broodmare. We quite like buying them at this stage because you can see exactly what they’re like and generally we’ve had good success doing that. She obviously has a lovely family and, as I said earlier, Fastnet Rock as a broodmare sire does kick a lot of goals," he said.

Alliance steps up for Snitzel colt and two others

The Victorian Alliance headed up by Rosemont Stud and involving a collective of prominent breeders, has been active buying colts throughout the year and filled its order of 11, buying three more on Tuesday, including a Snitzel colt, Lot 227, for $1.2 million.

The colt offered by Yarraman Park as part of the Shadwell dispersal, was knocked down to Rosemont Victorian Alliance, Suman Hedge Bloodstock and David Redvers Bloodstock.

He is out of Bulbula, a stakes-winning daughter of Shamardal (USA), from a family full of Shadwell-bred stakes winners, including this colt's half-brother Aryaaf (Epaulette).

"Shadwell have produced amazing horses for such a period of time, what an honour and privilege to be able to put on our silks and have the opportunity to carry on that tradition," Rosemont's Anthony Mithen said.

"He looks a fast horse. He's bred to be fast. He's got great pedigree. We haven't got a Snitzel but we have now, and I think we've waited till late and bought one of the best Snitzels on offer this season."

The colt's trainer will be decided in time as well the trainers for the other purchases on Tuesday.

The Alliance also bought another colt from the Shadwell aspect of the Yarraman draft in Lot 77, the colt out of Written Tycoon out of Shaaheq (Redoute's Choice), paying $200,000 for him, and Lot 213, an I Am Invincible colt out of Beat The Benchmark (USA) (Speightstown {USA}) from the Coolmore draft, for $525,000.

"I think we are done. We bought three lovely colts. With the bidders that were here today, you really needed to be strong and so hopefully we have been smart and saved our best for last," Mithen said.

Strong opening pleases Hutch

With a record daily turnover of close to $65 million and the average of $368,400 and median of $260,000 very comparable to the opening day of the Sale two years ago, Hutch was very much pleased with what evolved.

"The expectation coming to Easter for anybody is that it will be a strong Sale. It is one of the premier yearling sales in the world, so that is not unreasonable," he said.

"We do a lot of work to prepare for the Sale, but we were very confident that it would be a very fair and true market and that's certainly how we felt like it played out.

"I think it is very satisfying to have such a diversity of buyers right the way through. I think it bodes well for tomorrow that there are so many people who seem to be disappointed to the point of frustration by the end of the day. People with significant money to buy horses have struggled to buy at the top end.

"On the flipside, there are people who walked out of here feeling like they have stolen horses. That's the fun of Easter!"

The Sale resumes at 10am AEST on Wednesday morning.

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)