Inglis Classic Yearling Sale
Extreme Choice filly takes a starring role on day one at the Classic sale
Trevor Marshallsea
ANZ News
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The rareness of Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) stock, an enticing blend of grandfathers and an imposing physical form inspired Star Thoroughbreds and Vin Cox to land a surgical strike and secure the top lot on a fair first day at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale.
While a torrid bidding duel had played out, Denise Martin’s Star and Cox succeeded with a single bid - $425,000 - to emerge with the filly, offered by the home of subfertile sensation Extreme Choice, Newgate Farm, in partnership with Gooree.
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The chestnut is the fourth foal out of Nais Ko, who is a daughter of a surging broodmare sire Exceed And Excel (Danehill). The mare is a winning half-sister to Group 1 victor Your Song (Fastnet Rock) whose page also includes Europe’s Horse of the Year of 2001, Fantastic Light (Rahy).
One of just 44 live foals for the 2024 crop for Extreme Choice, the filly ranked as the top lot ahead of the $400,000 colt by Hellbent (I Am Invincible) bought from Riverstone Lodge by BK Racing’s Benny Vassallo who’ll be sent to renowned two-year-old trainer Gary Portelli.
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Day one of the sale yielded a mixed bag of results.
The clearance rate of 80 per cent eclipsed the 73 per cent figure at the close of day one last year, but the average was down 3.7 per cent at $96,167. The median also dropped 6.25 per cent to $75,000.
With 198 lots sold compared to 177 for 2025, the gross stood at $19,041,000, a 7.6 per cent increase on the corresponding session 12 months ago.
Sale statistics - Day 1*
2026 |
2025 |
|
|---|---|---|
Catalogued |
270 |
270 |
Offered |
246 |
243 |
Sold |
198 (80%) |
177 (73%) |
Aggregate |
$19,041,000 (+7.6%) |
$17,691,500 |
Average |
$96,167 (-3.7%) |
$99,952 |
Median |
$75,000 (-6.25%) |
$80,000 |
Top Lot |
$425,000 |
$400,000 |
* stats from 2025 are taken at the close of trade on day 1
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Inglis bloodstock CEO Sebastian Hutch was optimistic the auction could still clearly outstrip last year’s as trading continues, including on passed-in lots, but conceded selling had been tough for vendors in the sub-$100,000 market.
“I’m pleased with the day,” he said. “The metrics read well, the clearance is up significantly on the equivalent stage of last year. The gross is up. The median is back a little bit, but that’s consistent with the clearance being up.
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“There’s been a good bounce in it, certainly in terms of gross.
“You can prepare however you like, and I feel like we were well prepared for today, but you still can’t make people put up their hand.
“So it was pleasing to see the sale start very well. There were some good results early, it was very strong through the middle of the day.
“But I don’t think there’s any disguising that in the sub-100 grand bracket, it feels very much like a buyers’ market.
“Those horses cracking through six figures really seem to kick on, but it is a buyers’ market in that less than $100,000 bracket.”
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Hutch added: “I’d like it to be better than last year, and I think we’ve put ourselves on a good footing to do that, but I’d be reluctant to expect that to happen.
“With 270-lot days like today, you get a pretty fair spread of horses.”
Ten yearlings sold for $230,000 or more - identical to the completed figure for day one last year.
“You can prepare however you like, and I feel like we were well prepared for today, but you still can’t make people put up their hand
Top of the hill was Lot 233, one of three yearlings by Extreme Choice catalogued at the sale, who was swooped upon in dashing style by Martin and bloodstock agent Cox. Like all Star horses - including one of the sire’s six Group 1 winners in another female, Espiona - the filly will be trained by Chris Waller.
“It was just the one bid,” Cox said. “You judge the market as you will. We figured she’d be somewhere in the $400,000 to $500,000 range and were hoping there wasn’t going to be anyone north of that.”
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Cox said aside from the precious shortage of offspring of the sire, a large part of the allure stemmed from the grandsire and damsire.
“There were plenty of others going on her, but with Extreme Choice, it’s just a case of ‘You’ve got to get on, don’t you?’” he said of the 12-year-old, who boasts a 12.24 per cent stakes winners to runners ratio.
“You judge the market as you will. We figured she’d be somewhere in the $400,000 to $500,000 range and were hoping there wasn’t going to be anyone north of that
“They’re rare commodities, they have that scarcity value, and when you see a nice one, you’ve got to dig deep and put the seatbelt on and get into it.
“She’s a lot like her sire and a lot like her grandsire in Not A Single Doubt. She’s quite a strong, precocious looking filly, she’s got a good head on her - she’s sensible. She looks like she’s one who’s up and ready to go.
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“The sire’s done exceptionally well in the [Waller] stable, and Star’s done very well with the breed as well, so let’s hope the purple colours with the white stars come to the fore again.”
He added: “She’s typical of the breed, and the Not A Single Doubt breed as well.
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“And being out of an Exceed And Excel mare - you can’t get enough Exceed And Excel mares. They’re flying at the moment.
“She’s a glorious filly. Her pedigree’s good, she’s good physically, and just being by a sire that you can’t get many of them, you’ve just got to get in.”
Newgate stud manager Jim Carey was delighted with the outcome.
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“It’s a fantastic result and she was a lovely filly. We’ve always had success here at Classic in the past and she’s a sharp, mature filly and we just thought it would be a good sale for her and it turned out that way,’’ said Carey, whose farm will offer a colt by Extreme Choice as Lot 621 on Tuesday.
“I think we’ve run out of things to say about the stallion. It’s common knowledge the amount of enquiries we’re getting about him from all around the world from some of the biggest breeders in the world. It’s a testament to the stallion and how good he is - he’s a freak.”
Sunday’s second-top lot was a particularly fetching example of the progeny of Yarraman Park stallion Hellbent and the $400,000 Vassallo paid for the colt made him the 13-year-old stallion’s ninth most expensive yearling to date.
He’s the fourth foal of the unraced Miramare (O’Reilly), whose two runners have had one unplaced run each. Despite that, a pedigree point that will have pushed bidding north, given the large contingent of Asian buyers at the sale, is the fact Miramare is a sister to Group 1 winner Shamexpress, sire of Hong Kong phenomenon Ka Ying Rising.
Vassallo was thrilled with the purchase, having only led Portelli to first inspect the colt less than half an hour before he entered the ring.
“He’s a lovely colt by a super stallion, Hellbent, who we’ve had a lot of success with,” Vassallo said. “He’s an early foal, and he’s going to the right stable in that I think he’ll be up and going early for Gary.
“Obviously, he can train any horse, but he’s got a brilliance about him winning two Golden Slippers with about 40 or 50 horses in work, which I think is amazing.
“I believe he’s a horse who profiles that he’s going to get up and go early for us, so obviously he’s very attractive to buyers. We didn’t think it was going to be easy. To be honest, that [$400,000] was going to bottom us right out, so thankfully they [rival bidders] didn’t bid again.”
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Vassallo noted BK Racing had bought another smart Hellbent from Riverstone Lodge in the Brad Widdup-trained Savvy Hallie, winner of the Silver Shadow Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m).
His only horse with Portelli so far is Long Legs (Russian Revolution), a three-year-old filly with a Rosehill win and a Group 3 third from four starts so far.
“Benny said: ‘I want to buy you a nice colt at Classic’,” Portelli said moments after the gavel fell. “He said, ‘I’ll see you at 2.30. I’ll show you this colt’. Now it’s three o’clock, and we’ve got the horse.
“We thought it was going to be tough to get him because we thought he could be a horse Hong Kong would go for. But Ben went hard and the rest is history. Hopefully they’ll be rewarded now.
“He’s an impressive type, a real powerful two-year-old type. He’s by Hellbent, tough Australian stock, out of an O’Reilly mare. We’ve had a bit of luck with O’Reilly mares in our stable, so hopefully this one will work for us too.”
Four lots shared third place on the price list, at $300,000.
Arrowfield Stud’s Lot 180 - a filly by The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice) out of unraced Irish mare Memphis (Dubawi) - went to the Byerley Bloodstock concern of Liam Peters, son of mega Perth owner and breeder Bob Peters.
Lot 246, Sledmere Stud’s colt by Per Incanto (Street Cry) out of unraced New Zealand mare New Status Quo (Ocean Park), from the same family as Group 1 winners I Wish I Win (Savabeel) and Savy Yong Blonk (Savabeel), went to the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
Star stallion and Classic graduate Private Harry’s (Harry Angel) half-brother by Zousain (Zoustar) - Lot 56 - was bought by Team Archibald and William Johnson Bloodstock from breeders Rheinwood Pastoral.
And while Private Harry’s original owners Kurrinda Bloodstock didn’t buy that colt - despite buying the past two half-siblings by Anders (Not A Single Doubt) and Capitavant (Capitalist) also at Classic - they were among the $300,000 buyers on Monday after bidding in partnership with Waterhouse-Bott and Kestrel Bloodstock. The triumvirate bought Lot 124, Monarch Stud’s filly by Too Darn Hot (Dubawi) out of seven-time winner Lady Sioux (Jet Spur).
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Rheinwood’s Kirsty Willis was delighted to reap the same figure for the Zousain colt. That makes him the most expensive offspring of the mare Happy Pilgrim (Congrats), who’s now back in foal to Harry Angel (Dark Angel).
“It’s absolutely amazing - what a result for the entire team,” Willis told ANZ.
“I’m just so grateful for our team, they’ve prepared the horse to perfection and he hasn’t put a foot wrong all week.
“For me, he’s the best horse the mare’s thrown. He just oozes quality, he’s got a great temperament, he’s absolutely stunning.
“And I couldn’t be happier he’s gone to Rob and Annabel. They’ve tasted Group 1 success with one of our graduates in Libertad. Hopefully, this one will be adding to that Group 1 tally.”
The Classic sale continues on Monday with the action set to get under way at 10am.
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