‘A captivating spectacle’ – Winx’s Snitzel colt to sell at Inglis Easter sale in 2026
Winx’s (Street Cry) part-owner Debbie Kepitis said she won’t pitch up again to buy the mare’s Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) colt, after it was confirmed on Sunday that the youngster will head to next year’s Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.
Fellow owner Peter Tighe, however, hasn’t ruled out that he might make a bid, but concedes the colt could end up out of his price range.
With Sunday’s news that the mare’s ownership group has once again elected Inglis to sell the mare’s second living foal, few would dare to predict a repeat of the wild scenes at the same auction in 2024, when Kepitis went to a world record filly’s price of $10 million to stave off American giant John Stewart and buy Winx’s Pierro (Lonhro) filly.
Then again, as Tighe pointed out, the clamour for this colt could also reach extraordinary levels, after the death of four-time champion sire Snitzel, who was euthanised aged 22 earlier this month following age-related health issues.
Not only is the colt one of just two live offspring of the 25-time Group 1–winning rising 14-year-old Winx, but the statistics around his bloodlines pack a hefty punch.
The cross of Snitzel over Street Cry is running at 25 per cent stakes winners to runners, with five from 20 – Snitzel’s second-strongest stakes winner to runners percentage, for more than 12 runners.
Along with potential stallion value, that’s part of the reason some observers believe that while $10 million is a hard figure to match, the Winx colt is well poised to become a record breaker himself – set to eclipse the top Australian mark of $5 million, paid at Inglis Easter in 2013 for Black Caviar’s (Bel Esprit) half-brother by Redoute’s Choice (Danehill) – AKA, the short-lived “Jimmy”.
Asked by ANZ News if Winx’s Snitzel colt could fetch as much as his half-sister did in 2024, Tighe said: “It’s a bit hard to know, but being a colt, we don’t know if there’s going to be any more yet. He could be the last one, we just don’t know.
“He’s the only colt son of Winx. It will depend on the market at the time and what they’re looking for. But they’re not making any more Snitzels, so that’s one thing we’ve got in our favour.
“The cross is good. We’re more than happy with the colt and with the breeding. He’s certainly going to be quite valuable, I would think.
“So we’ll just see what the market thinks.”
Like his half-sister, the colt has been raised at, and will be consigned by, Coolmore Stud.
As always, the yearling’s value will depend on who enters the game. The presence again of Stewart, who went to $9 million for Winx’s Pierro filly, and of some major colts syndicates, plus ever-ready Australian-based heavyweights such as Yulong and Coolmore, could lead to the colt’s value spiralling.
Two things appear certain: an intense, dizzying bidding battle will ensue, and Kepitis won’t be a part of it.
She would not put herself through another nerve-jangling ride to buy the colt, as she did to keep Winx’s Pierro filly “in the family”.
“You can’t do those sorts of things very often, so there’s no way in the world I could justify doing that,” Kepitis told ANZ.
“But I will be very keen to follow his progress and keep in touch with whoever is lucky enough to secure him.”
Asked to predict a price, Kepitis said: “You really don’t know. It all depends on who’s interested. If there’s competition, if he’s liked by a lot of people, et cetera.”
Tighe concurred: “I’ve got no idea. I just know I was very wrong the first time. Nobody thought that would go the way it did. So we’ll wait and see what happens.”
Depending on price, Tighe – who with Kepitis and the late Richard Treweeke was one of Winx’s original three owners – did not rule out that this time could be his turn to buy one of their mare’s offspring.
“Never say never. We’ll just see what happens, see how it plays out when the time comes,” the Brisbane businessman said. “I won’t rule it in and I won’t rule it out, definitely not.
“It just depends on the money that he makes and what the story is at the time. But we’ll go to market, it’s an auction, anything could happen.”
Winx, who missed on a first cover from Snitzel in 2022, delivered her colt around a month overdue last November 25.
Kepitis and Tighe said Winx’s owners – who also include Treweeke’s daughter Elizabeth and son Rick – had no hesitation in again choosing Inglis Easter as the auction for the colt.
Kepitis said: “They did a fabulous job with the filly. Sales companies are all wonderful. Magic Millions is an amazing operation as well, but with their main sale being early in January, and with the colt being a later foal, you’ve got to give them as much time as possible. That figured into our decision making.”
While a late November foal, the weanling colt – bay like his parents and sporting a similar white blaze to his sire – Kepitis said he was showing more than satisfactory development, physically and mentally.
“He looks like his dad, but he’s definitely got Mum in there. He’s quite sassy. He tried to dominate a bit in the paddock, but she made sure that didn’t happen,” she said.
“He’s not so feisty, but he was very playful and he would race at her. She made short work of that.
“She’s a bit of a no-nonsense mum. She let him go so far but doesn’t like to tolerate too much nonsense. That’s in keeping with her old personality from her race days. She hasn’t changed at all.
“But the colt has grown out well, and he weaned well. As a late foal, he weaned not that long ago. He took to it well, and he’s happy with his paddock mates.
“We feel he’s going to go on and be a great horse and I can’t wait to watch his journey.”
Tighe added: “He’s a good looking little fella. He’s got everything in the right place, so we’re very happy with him so far.”
While the colt was late born, Kepitis said that may be offset by the fact most Snitzels run early, as evidenced by the late stallion’s imminent fifth two-year-old sires’ title, and his three Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) winners in Estijaab, Shinzo and Marhoona.
“There’s no talk yet about what the colt will do as a racehorse,” Kepitis said. “To be fair to him, he’s a later foal so you would give him time, but Snitzels don’t generally need a lot of time.”
Winx’s filly is now a two-year-old named Quinceanera in the stable of his dam’s trainer Chris Waller, awaiting her first start. Winx was not covered last spring, after the late birth of the Snitzel colt, but will go to Darley’s shuttle sensation Too Darn Hot (Dubawi) this year.
“She gave birth late in the season last year, and we felt she was much better off to have the time to herself, and give her the time to really recover,” Kepitis said.
“There’s no urgency to breed with her. We’re not doing it for any reason but to give her a purpose in her life.”
Kepitis said Winx, whose first foal by I Am Invincible died shortly after birth in 2020, was put to Snitzel with a mind to his successful Street Cry cross, with its five stakes winners headed by Waller’s five-year-old million-dollar earner Vienna Princess, a Listed victor who also claimed Randwick’s $1m Silver Eagle (1300m) in 2023.
“She was worthy of a proven horse, and Snitzel was the best proven horse,” she said. “We tried with I Am Invincible, but he’s too big for her. So you’ve got to go to the best, and we picked Snitzel.
“It’s a good cross. We don’t do our matings lightly. And obviously we’re as hopeful as we can be. You just never know, there are plenty of beautiful horses that have been bought for a lot of money and have never done anything, but that’s the game we’re in. It’s the unknown. That’s the excitement.
“This spring she’s going to Too Darn Hot. It’s lovely that he’s coming back and we’ve got the opportunity of working with his bloodlines.”
Inglis Bloodstock CEO Sebastian Hutch said he was again humbled by the chance to offer a second Winx yearling at Riverside.
“To have the first male offspring of the mighty Winx coming to the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale is an absolute thrill and something we’re hugely grateful to the ownership group for,’’ Hutch said.
“I have been lucky enough to see this colt a number of times through his development. He has always looked like a good horse and I think he is going to present as a very good yearling at the sale.
“First and foremost, the objective of the ownership group has been to try to breed the best racehorse possible out of the mare and I think this colt gives them genuine cause to be very excited.
“He is a handsome colt with great movement and an unflappable temperament. He’s a special sort of horse.
“His presence at next year’s Inglis Easter Yearling Sale is going to make for a captivating spectacle.
“The sale typically engages an incredibly broad group of bloodstock investors and enthusiasts from around the world anyway, but having this colt as the focal point of the sale is only going to enhance that further.”