$2.5 million Queen heads up Chairman's Sale bonanza

Cover image courtesy of Inglis

At A Glance

•

The Sale average exploded to $532,736 up from $431,769 in 2020 and $422,455 in 2019.

•

The overall Sale aggregate finished at $28.2 million across 53 sold lots, up from $24.2 million (56) in 2020 and $23.2 million (55) in 2019.

•

The clearance rate was an impressive 91 per cent, up significantly on last year's COVID-19 impacted Sale.

•

The Sale median ended at $330,000, up from $280,000 last year and in 2019.

•

The $2.5 million paid by Tom Magnier for Bob Peters' mare Celebrity Queen was the highest price ever at the Chairman's Sale.

•

Coolmore's three mare purchases are all headed to new stallion Wootton Bassett (GB).

•

Twelve months after In Her Time (Time Thief) topped this Sale at $2 million, she sold again to Yulong for $2.2 million and is destined to go to Written Tycoon.

•

Brilliant sprinting mare Pippie (Written Tycoon), a winner of two Group 1 races, is headed to Cressfield with a likely mating to Exceed And Excel.

Wootton Bassett fit for a Queen

Coolmore Australia's desire to support its new shuttle stallion Wootton Bassett was to the fore as its Principal Tom Magnier secured three star mares at the Inglis Chairman's Sale for seven-figure amounts, including the Sale-topper Celebrity Queen.

Wootton Bassett will stand his first season in Australia in 2021 at $71,500 (inc GST) and while he has already nearly filled his book, Coolmore is keen to add to the considerable strength of its broodmare band, with Celebrity Queen to start her breeding career with the son of Iffraaj (GB).

"She was real quality, lovely physical. Obviously, Redoute's Choice is a very good broodmare sire. We are looking for mares for Wootton Bassett now and she's a standout. We thought she was a queen. We are just very lucky to have her," Magnier said.

"Where we see the Australian market, we feel it is extraordinary at the moment, you see what is happening at the yearling sales and we are trying to bring the best stallions in the world down here, with Justify and American Pharoah.

"We've gone along and acquired Wootton Bassett and we think he is a stallion that is really going to suit Australia. We are taking the same as we did to Justify. We're going to go out and buy the best mares for him."

Offered as Lot 11 by Holbrook Thoroughbreds on behalf of her breeder Bob Peters, bidding for Celebrity Queen began at $800,000 and Coolmore was determined to see off all competition as she sailed through the $1 million mark, and then $2 million mark, before Magnier, bidding from a suite overlooking the sales arena, won out.

Celebrity Queen hails from one of Peters' best families and franked that value when she dead-heated in this year's G1 Oakleigh Plate for Grant and Alana Williams, one of her seven racetrack victories from 16 starts. She was also runner-up in the G1 Winterbottom S.

She is out of Listed winner Celebrity Miss (More Than Ready {USA}), who is a daughter of Peters' dual Group 1 winner Miss Margaret (Marscay). Miss Margaret also produced the stakes winner Confront (Bluebird {USA}) and is the grandam of another of Peters' stakes winners in Stageman (Written Tycoon).

"Bob Peters is an unbelievable breeder, and anything that he is associated with is always of a very high calibre and we were just delighted to get her," Magnier said.

More joy for Peters

WA-based Bob and Sandra Peters have had an amazing run of success on the track in the past few seasons, and while they retain many of their better mares, were rapt with the result they got for Celebrity Queen, with the $2.5 million the highest price in the Chairman's Sale history.

"We’re delighted. I thought she’d bring $2 million so it was great to get $2.5 million, it really was," he said.

"You could just about say that if you were writing the history of breeding in Australia, you could use her as a prime example - you look at her page and there’s her sire Redoute’s Choice, which also gives you Danehill, there’s Sir Tristram, Marscay, More Than Ready etc., all of them champions, just as she was. There’s a Group 1 winner on every level of the pedigree. It’s just outstanding.

"It’s a great result. Inglis has done a great job with the promotion of her which I’m grateful for and while I’m not at the Sale, I’m aware it’s a great night there tonight."

More mares for Wootton Bassett

Magnier would later go on to purchase two more Group 1-quality mares to go to Wootton Bassett, in El Dorado Dreaming (Ilovethiscity) for $1.35 million and Savanna Amour (Love Conquers All) for $1.25 million.

El Dorado Dreaming, the winner of the G1 Inglis Sires' and placed in the G1 Coolmore Classic and G1 Champagne S., was offered by Torryburn Stud on behalf of her owner and breeder Yvonne Pearce.

She is out of the Zabeel (NZ) mare Solanas (NZ), the daughter of Listed winner Pepite D'Or (Dieu D'Or) who is closely related to Group 2 winner Sea Battle (Quest For Fame {GB}) and Group 1 winners Gold Ace and Final Card.

Being Danehill-free she has great scope in terms of her breeding options, but will be headed to Wootton Bassett for her first assignment this spring.

So too will Savanna Amour, who was offered by B2B Thoroughbreds in foal to Fastnet Rock.

Bred by SF Bloodstock, she was initially a $100,000 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale purchase for Ontrack Thoroughbreds. During a brilliant career for Chris and John Meagher, she won five stakes races and won over $660,000 in prizemoney, while she finished fourth in a G1 Tatt's Tiara.

Her dam, Savanna La Mar (NZ) (Stravinsky {USA}) is a half-sister to Group 3 winner Voodoo Beat (Sir Tristram {Ire}) from the family of G1 Golden Slipper S. winner and influential sire Marauding (NZ).

"When those kind of blue hens come into the ring, you know you are going to have to pay to get them. We had a plan for a long time to acquire mares like this for our stallions. We’ll keep going and support those stallions and try to get the best mares possible along the way," Magnier said.

"Some of the top breeders in the country have already booked their mares into him. He's effectively full. He'll get the cream of the crop. We made sure that Justify got the best mares possible and Wootton Bassett will be the same."

Coolmore makes it mark again

Inglis General Manager Bloodstock Sales and Marketing, Sebastian Hutch, paid tribute to the continued investment Coolmore makes into the Australian industry.

"The fact that they have been willing to invest as much as they have in this country for as long as they have is a testament to the regard in which they hold the market here," he said.

"The nature of that investment has been nothing short of extraordinary over the past 10 years, but it really seems to have heightened in the past two to three years. It’s tremendously exciting for the market. Everybody does well out of it.

"It gives people breeding to good stallions the knowledge but if you breed a good product, people like Coolmore are going to be in the market looking for the best stock."

Time returns and Yulong strikes

In Her Time (Time Thief) topped this Sale last year when sold to Orbis Bloodstock via Newgate for $2 million, and this year was expected to bring a little bit more of a premium, given she was carrying a pregnancy to leading stallion I Am Invincible.

While the first bid was at $1.5 million, it was Yulong, who recently acquired one of Australia's other major stallions Written Tycoon, who won a bidding dual for the two-time Group 1 winner, paying $2.2 million.

There was no great surprise who her next mating will be to.

“Mr Zhang, obviously having Written Tycoon wants to continue the process of buying these really nice mares to add to our broodmare band and he’s always loved her. I think he tried to buy her last year and this year he had his mind set on buying her, being in foal to I Am Invincible. She will visit Written Tycoon this year," Yulong Chief Operating Officer, Sam Fairgray, said.

“She’s a high-class sprinting mare. The industry is so strong at the moment and mares of this quality are certainly worth their value."

In Her Time's brilliant racetrack career featured nine wins from 27 starts. Six of those wins were at stakes level including the G1 The Galaxy and G1 Black Caviar Lightning, while she was placed in another five Group 1 sprints.

Her page has been enhanced further in the past couple of years by The Everest winner and now Coolmore stallion Yes Yes Yes, who is out of a half-sister to her dam, Hell It's Hot (Zeditave), who also has stakes-winning siblings in Flaming Hot (County) and Craig's Dragon (Catbird).

“She’s furnishing and as gets further along towards foaling, she will develop up. She’s a lovely mare, she’s got a lot of quality about her, hopefully we get a really good foal who we can bring back to a yearling sale," Fairgray said.

Fairgray also confirmed that Viddora (I Am Invincible) and Unforgotten (Fastnet Rock), two high-priced mares bought by Yulong last year, are both likely to be covered by Written Tycoon in 2021.

For Newgate Managing Director Henry Field, the result was a vindication of the faith that Orbis had put in the Newgate Consignment.

"It’s a great result for Orbis Bloodstock, who decided about six weeks ago that they would change their strategy away from those high-end mares. We were very pleased to consign her," Field said.

"She was put on the market at $1.5 million. There were three or four on her and it was great to Yulong get her at what was fair price. It was a good result all around.

"She is a beautiful mare, and was a champion sprinter, and it was good result all around, Orbis have sold her for a fair price, Yulong got what they wanted. All around it was fair trade."

Pippie heads to Cressfield

Dual Group 1 winner Pippie (Written Tycoon), who was offered by Sledmere Stud on behalf of her owners at Heran Racing, was always expected to fare well and courted the interest of several buyers before Tasman Bloodstock won out, paying $1.8 million on behalf of Cressfield.

The mare is likely headed to Darley's Exceed And Excel for her first mating.

“She’s obviously one of the mares of the Sale. She was well-performed on the track and will certainly complement the band of broodmares we have at Cressfield and are continuing to build. She really is perfect for us," Cressfield General Manager, Wayne Bedggood, said.

"We know the market is strong, quality horses make big money and she’s a quality horse. We knew we were going to have to be strong to get her. She was one of our top three mares of the Sale and we missed out on a couple of others so it was nice to take her home.

"We couldn’t be happier with the purchase, we’re really pleased."

The flying chestnut won both the G1 Oakleigh Plate and G1 Moir S. for trainers Chris and John Meagher.

Originally a $60,000 Inglis Classic Sale purchase for John Meagher, she was bred by Eureka Cambooya Thoroughbreds and is out of Coupe Express (Ne Coupez Pas {USA}), who is a half-sister to Timely Truce (Brief Truce {USA}). Group 2 winner Merry Ruler (The Carpenter {USA}) also features on her page.

Pippie won six of her 15 starts, including a trio of stakes wins, and collected over $1.2 million in prizemoney.

Sledmere Stud's Treen Murphy was understandably chuffed with the Pippie result.

"We’re over the moon that she was able to achieve $1.8 million. She’s a dual Group 1 winner with an unflappable temperament. You can do anything with her, so she’s got the ability to go anywhere in the breeding barn, that’s for sure," she said.

“She’s a very, very impressive physical to look at. She’s one of the most high-quality physicals I’ve ever come across and she’s been extremely popular. Any time she came out of the box, everybody fell in love with her. There wasn’t one person who was disappointed with her - you could stare at her for hours."

She said it was a terrific outcome for Glenn and Martin Heran.

“It’s been an incredible journey for them. To buy her through the ring as a yearling and then to have two Group 1s and now to have her make $1.8 million, that’s what everybody strives to do when they enter the racing and breeding game," she said.

Zoustar fits perfectly for Meuse

Superbly bred stakes-winning mare Meuse (Snitzel) has a date booked with Zoustar after Widden Stud paid $1.2 million from the Newgate Consignment.

Sold on behalf of Hilldene Stud, Meuse, who is in foal to Dundeel (NZ), is out of the Group 3-winning mare Precious Lorraine (Encosta De Lago), meaning she carries a double cross to the blue-hen mare Shantha's Choice (Canny Lad).

It means she is closely related to Australian thoroughbred royalty, including sires Redoute's Choice, Manhattan Rain and Rubick. The opportunity was too good to pass up for Widden Principal Antony Thompson.

"She's an obvious mare for Zoustar. She's just a rare jewel. There's champion sire after champion sire when you look down the page, from Snitzel to Encosta to Danehill. For mine, she is blue chip all the way and it’s hard to get into those families. She's a beautiful mare," he said.

"I think she will do a really nice job for us. We have had a bit of luck buying these really nice fillies. She's got the runs on the board on the track and she's got a super pedigree. It’s a long-term investment to have a position in that family, but we have got some really good clients who back us in these nice mares and we have had some luck, so we will keep going."

Meuse was purchased for $500,000 by Hilldene Farm's Nick Wakim from the Newgate Farm draft at the 2018 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, and delivered on the track for trainers Anthony and Sam Freedman, winning four starts, including the Listed Laelia S. at Morphettville.

Wakim said it wasn't an easy decision to opt to sell her, but one that made considerable sense commercially.

"She has been a great mare for us and we think she is a very high-quality broodmare, and I'm very, very pleased with the result," he said.

"She's developed into a lovely mare. She had a great pedigree. She's a stakes winner and Group-placed. We really think she's an excellent package. I'm very happy she has gone to Widden and hopefully they can enjoy her and do very well for her.

"I'm an owner-breeder, but sometimes you have to move the mares you have. We invest in high-quality mares, like Aloisia, Dream In Colour and Sweet Sister. We made a decision to test the market with a young mare, and we can take that and re-invest aback into the market."

Quality meets buoyant market

The other mare to go for a seven-figure amount was Shoko (Sebring), who sold to Ridgmont Farm/Boutique Thoroughbreds and Clarke Bloodstock for $1 million.

The Group 3-winning half-sister to Mimi Le Brock (Show A Heart) was offered in foal to I Am Invincible by Yarraman Park Stud.

Courcheval (Snitzel), the unraced half-sister to superstar Winx (Street Cry {Ire}), was offered by Segenhoe Stud in foal to Capitalist and is headed to Dundeel having been purchased by Arrowfield for $900,000.

“Very few have been sold out of this family and she’s by our champion stallion and is a half-sister to the best horses we’ve seen in decades. It’s a great opportunity and the rest is up to us," Arrowfield Chairman, John Messara, said.

“We have to mate her correctly and she’s carrying a very commercial mating to Capitalist, so I can see that we could recoup part of our outlay from the first foal, all being equal, and the rest is up to us.

“There’s no reason why a Snitzel filly out of that family, so close to the champion, is not going to make it."

Chairman's lives up the hype

The Chairman's Sale was a brilliant success for Inglis, with huge increases in all key indicators, something which may lead to an increase in the size of the boutique catalogue going forward.

"It was everything we hoped it would be and probably more," Hutch said.

"We were excited by the opportunities we had to sell the calibre of mares we had in the catalogue but by the same token, conscious of the responsibility of their quality. When you get mares that good, you have to make it work.

"The depth in competition all the way through, to have so many people involved, in what was almost frenzied bidding at various stages. I just think there were so many mares that sold tonight that far exceeded what anybody reasonably expected them to make. It was great.

"That felt really strong and we are very grateful for the support we got and it’s something we will look to build on heading into next year and future years."

Hutch said it was clear that there were opportunities to further develop the Chairman's Sale, while retaining the boutique format which has proven so popular to both vendors and buyers.

"We are very good at keeping an open mind on these things. If the last 18 months have taught us anything, you have to allow yourself to be fluid in your thinking in terms of how you plan for anything," he said.

"There's a capacity to grow the Sale a little bit, but we are sensitive to the fact that it is a boutique Sale and it works well that way but I certainly think we had the capacity to sell more mares tonight."

Top lots

Top buyers

Top vendors by aggregate

Top vendors by average (2 or more sold)

Top covering sires by aggregate