Group 1 winner Benedetta to star at Inglis Chairman’s Sale
Group 1 winner Benedetta (Hellbent) is a high-class addition to this year’s Inglis Chairman’s Sale, with the Ciaron Maher-trained mare set to go to market as one of the most accomplished race fillies offered in the southern hemisphere in 2026.
A standout performer since her three-year-old season, Benedetta has built an elite resume defined by consistency at the highest level. She won six of her first eight starts, including the $750,000 Inglis Sprint (1200m) at Flemington, where she defeated a field featuring 11 individual stakes winners, and placed in her first nine career outings.
Her crowning moment came in the 2024 Goodwood (Gr 1, 1200m) at Morphettville, where she defeated a deep field including Amelia’s Jewel (Siyouni), Skybird (Exosphere), Climbing Star (Zoustar) and I Am Me (I Am Invincible). She has since proven a model of durability and class, finishing top five in ten of her 16 starts at Group 1 level.
A four-time Group 1 placegetter – including dual placings in the Black Caviar Lightning (Gr 1, 1000m), as well as the William Reid Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) and Robert Sangster Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) – Benedetta is also a dual Group 3 winner and is rated competitively alongside the likes of Amelia’s Jewel, Legarto (Proisir) and Learning To Fly (Justify).
Purchased by Laurence Eales for $75,000 from Mill Park’s 2021 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale draft, the mare has won eight races and over $2.4 million in prize-money.
Still in peak form aged five, she has enhanced her record this further this preparation, particularly when looking an unlucky placegetter when third to Tentyris (Street Boss) in the Black Caviar Lightning last month.
Further targets may include the All Aged Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m), Robert Sangster Stakes and $5 million The Quokka (1200m) before her appearance in the sale ring, where she will be offered as a racing and breeding prospect through Widden Stud’s draft.
Inglis Bloodstock CEO Sebastian Hutch was delighted to secure the mare for the Chairman’s Sale and said Benedetta would be among the standout offerings at Riverside on May 7.
“I think I can comfortably say that she’s the most accomplished mare confirmed as a sale entry at this stage,” Hutch told ANZ News.
“We have a good relationship with Laurence – we’ve spoken regularly about her. He’s obviously inclined to enjoy her racing career which is totally understandable, but always said should he get the chance to sell her, Inglis would be at the forefront of his thoughts because she’s a Premier graduate. It’s a great part of our narrative at Chairman’s to bring these narratives full circle.
“We had a meeting with Laurence prior to the Classic Sale and discussed his provisional plan for the mare and it’s worked out for her to end up in the Chairman’s Sale in May.
“I’m delighted because she’s just so talented. She’s a filly that showed talent from the get-go, whose race record I don’t think necessarily reflects her ability. She was desperately unlucky not to beat Tentryis in the Lightning Stakes. Those sorts of things are crucial to the profile of a horse. She has phenomenal talent, she’s good looking, she’s a nice pedigree – it’s hard not to be really enthusiastic about her.”
By emerging sire Hellbent, a son of I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit), Benedetta boasts a pedigree profile expected to appeal to a wide range of leading Australian stallions.
“I Am Invincible is obviously a champion stallion, but he’s becoming hugely significant as a broodmare sire,” Hutch said.
“A few of his better-bred fillies haven’t had the opportunity to produce racing stock yet but that’s beginning to happen and the results have been eye-catching, to say the least. I think it’s inevitable he’ll end up a champion broodmare sire as well.
“And then you have Hellbent, who appears to be following an eerily similar trajectory to his own sire as a stallion. He started off as something of an unheralded young stallion. He had a Hong Kong Derby winner on Sunday, significant 2YOs, significant 3YOs, older horses who train on, in the end all from his starter books. His profile will only grow as better mares start to come on stream.
“And so this his best daughter on offer really does make significant appeal, especially when you consider she’s out of a very capable Doomsday mare. Doomsday as a broodmare sire has produced the likes of Trapeze Artist – there’s a lot to like. It’s pretty exciting.”
Widden Stud’s Antony Thompson described Benedetta as “a rare opportunity.”
“High-end Group 1-winning mares like Benedetta are seldom offered at public auction,” Thompson said. “She has a progressive pedigree, an ideal physical type and all the attributes to become a significant broodmare.”
Benedetta joins a strong Chairman’s Sale line-up that includes triple Group 1 winner Provence (Savabeel), millionaire mares Arabian Summer (Too Darn Hot) and Generosity (Divine Prophet), and stakes-winning juvenile Kiki Express (Sepoy), among others.
Supplementary entries for the Chairman’s Sale remain open until April 24. To enter, click here.