Yearlings by Coolmore shuttlers shine at the Inglis HTBA Yearling Sale
Progeny of a pair of Coolmore shuttlers proved most popular during Sunday’s Inglis HTBA Yearling Sale with Alma Vale’s filly by Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj) selling to Tony and Lynn Ottobre’s Cape Schank Stud for a sale-topping $140,000.
Despite the worries of economic pressures and a downturn in the market, Sunday’s sale recorded robust numbers with the aggregate finishing at $4,471,800, up 52 per cent on the 2024 edition, while the average of $22,471 and recorded median of $16,000 also enjoyed 16 per cent and 60 per cent gains respectively.
Inglis bloodstock CEO Sebastian Hutch was very pleased with how the day played out and said the sale ‘exceeded expectations’.
“For the last few years, we have seen an increasing trend of supply exceeding demand in this part of the market across a broad cross section of sales, so to produce results like these today, particularly in terms of the clearance and median, is very satisfying for our team,” Hutch said.
“As has been the case all year, we worked hard in advance of the sale to consolidate as strong a buying bench as we could for the sale and it’s been very effective again, with a strong clearance and good competition, particularly for those lots that met the expectations of buyers and vetted well.
“Nicky Wong, to his credit, got on a plane a few days after the Easter Yearling Sale to travel to Hong Kong, Indonesia, Philippines and Korea to canvass buyers for our sequence of sales through this period and that trip has already paid dividends, with excellent participation from Philippines-based buyers today in particular.
“We also had particularly strong participation from a number of buyers who will look to trade through our market-leading two-year-old sale back here in October and I think there are a lot of encouraging signs for that sale at this time.
“I must also thank vendors for their support of the sale and their willingness to meet the market in the majority of instances.
“While we are pleased to have been able to facilitate a market that exceeded the expectations of just about everybody, there is no disguising the challenges faced by breeders in this part of the market, where returns for many would be failing to meet the costs of production.
“This is an important sale in terms of providing a broad cross section of participants a viable live sale market in which to participate and I think today demonstrates that there is a robust market here for quality stock at this stage of the season.”
Catalogued as Lot 127, the Wootton Bassett filly is out of the placed Lonhro (Octagonal) mare Zezolla and hails from the same family as dual stakes-placed mare Tennessee Magic (Bletchingly), who finished fourth in the Blue Diamond (Gr 1, 1200m) and is also the dam of Group 2 winner Trezevant (Flying Spur).
The filly was one of 11 yearlings sold by Alma Vale on Sunday and the operation finished with an aggregate of $250,500. Oscar Engelbrecht, stud manager of the Scone-based farm, told ANZ Bloodstock News they were pleased with how the market responded to the filly.
“She was very athletic and very professional,” he said. “She never played up once, just put her head down and got on with the job. I think if you’ve got a nice horse they’ll sell well anywhere. She was a nice type and she had a pedigree to back it up.
“It’s hard to top any sale, so to top this one is still very rewarding. Wootton Bassett’s a stallion that can do no wrong, he’s just a very, very good horse. The most important thing for us is that she’s been bought by the right people so will be given every chance.
“I’d like to thank the staff at home for all the hard work they do, they keep it all ticking over.”
Alma Vale’s general manager Verna Metcalfe added: “That’s a really good price, we’re really rapt with that, we didn’t think she’d bring that much.
“She was reared at Yarraman and we just prepped her for the sale and she did everything right and thrived during the prep. She’s got a really lovely walk on her and is just really professional.’’
Tony Ottobre said he had arrived at the sale in search of horses who could target the lucrative Inglis Race Series and said the filly fit that brief.
“This filly, she’s a nice athletic build and that’s what I’m looking for,” he said.
“I’m really happy with that. We had a good look at her and she scoped up well, she X-rayed fine so she’s certainly worth a chance.
“I’ve purchased horses for the Inglis Race Series and I thought I’d come out today and have a look to see if I could find the diamond.’’
The Ottobre’s name all their horses after their late daughter Jenni, with multiple Group 1 winner Pride Of Jenni (Pride Of Dubai), their best horse to bear the moniker, herself a graduate of the Inglis Classic Sale.
“She’ll definitely be named Jenni of some sort. A lot of [the naming process] has got to do with the name of the dam or the sire but I’ve already got a Wootton Bassett filly running around the farm who’s going to be named Jenni Bassett so we might have to use the dam with this one,’’ Ottobre said.
The day’s second highest-price went the way of a colt by St Mark’s Basilica (Siyouni), who was offered by Bowness Stud and sold to Graeme Gathercole for $130,000.
“It was a great result – he was built very much in the mould of his sire,” Bowness Stud’s James Daly told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“It is hard to know in a sale like that, but he was a quality colt and he paraded like a quality colt. He’s by an exciting first-season sire and I think that’s why he was so well found.
“I thought he might make over $50,000, but I wasn’t sure after that. I thought the sale was good. The quality horses were well found and if they paraded well and looked well they sold accordingly and I think that’s been the theme at the sales this year.”
Out of Kristy Lee (Encosta De Lago), the colt is therefore a half-brother to six-time winner Smarty Lee (Smart Missile).
Kristy Lee herself is out of dual Group 2 scorer Shania Dane (Danehill) and is from the same family as New Zealand Group 1 winner Summer Passage (Snitzel).
The Wootton Bassett filly and St Mark’s Basilica colt were two of four yearlings to fetch six figures at the Inglis HTBA Yearling Sale on Sunday, with a filly by Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice), who was offered by Segenhoe Stud, also breaking that barrier when selling to Dean Harvey’s Baystone Farm for $120,000, while Blake Ryan snapped up Carramar Park’s Zousain (Zoustar) colt for $100,000.