Erinvale’s nursery on show in Inglis’ $400,000 two-year-old race
Brazen Beau colt Boldinho and Capitalist filly Capital Eye to represent Victorian breeder in rich Randwick race
The market might not have shared the high opinion of John Kenneally about two of his horses sold at the Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale earlier this year, but he can feel a sense of vindication when the pair line up in tomorrow’s $400,000 Inglis Nursery (RL, 1000m) at Randwick.
The Erinvale Thoroughbreds principal bred, raised and sold Inglis Nursery favourite Boldinho (Brazen Beau), runner-up in the Merson Cooper Stakes (Listed, 1000m) last month, as well as another contender in the Annabel Neasham-trained first starter Capital Elle (Capitalist).
The Ciaron Maher and David Eustace-trained Boldinho, a son of Petite (Reset), and Capital Elle, who is a daughter of Laeta (All Too Hard), are both out of Erinvale Thoroughbreds’ partnership of trading mares who were purchased in foal carrying the Inglis Nursery runners.
Petite was bought in 2019 for $60,000, a price Kenneally at the time believed was a “real steal” and he was further convinced when the colt was born at his Victorian property.
“As soon as he was born, at three days’ old he looked like he was three weeks’ old. He was just a bull, a very forward, mature-looking foal with a lot of quality and strength,” Kenneally told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“We normally sell in the weanling market and our (2019-born foals) were all destined for the weanling sales but with Covid last year we couldn’t get to the Sydney sale and we couldn’t get to the Gold Coast, so we ended up keeping them for the yearling sales.
“(Despite that) we received a very good offer on him (Boldinho) as a weanling, but he failed a vet with a stifle issue.”
The stifle issue remained with Boldinho, prompting many buyers to steer clear of the impressive-looking colt when Kenneally took him to Oaklands Junction in late February to be sold at the Premier sale.
“All the vets canned him, but Ciaron doesn’t worry too much about x-rays. He liked the horse and he bought him for $90,000. If he’s clean (on x-rays), he makes $250,000. He was that kind of horse.
“We let him go (under what I thought he was worth), but I always had a big opinion of the horse on type.”
With the yearling sales season just around the corner, the Boldinho story is another reminder of how tough it can be for breeders to have a horse who meets the criteria required to reach top dollars in the sales ring.
Kenneally remains philosophical about his apparent misfortune, particularly as he sold the colt’s mother online for just $7,500 earlier this year.
“There’s been so many instances of vets knocking horses saying they won’t run or whatever and then they do. I don’t think anybody really knows,” the breeder said.
“It’s a killer, but that’s the way it goes. It can play against you sometimes, but then you get a beautiful, clean horse (such as) a lovely So You Think foal that I thought an awful lot of (who I took to the Magic Millions National Weanling Sale in May).
“I thought he’d make $250,000 to $300,000, he’s as clean as a whistle, and he made $475,000. There’s swings and roundabouts, isn’t there?”
Capital Elle, whose mother Laeta was bought for $105,000 by Kenneally and his business partners in 2019, sold for $120,000 at the Premier sale to Neasham and Brian McGuire, an amount that was bang on Capitalist’s (Written Tycoon) median yearling price in 2021.
The Golden Slipper winner’s second crop fillies sold up to $720,000 and his colts up to $1.05 million.
Despite not receiving a huge windfall for their investment, Kenneally and his partners elected to retain a five per cent share each in Capital Elle, who showed enough ability in a recent Canterbury barrier trial, finishing a closing fourth over 900 metres, to be considered for the Inglis Nursery.
“Look, I suppose if she was a big, strong, forward-looking Capitalist we would have got a lot more money for her, but she was a little foal, a little immature as a yearling, and that’s typically not the sort of Capitalist that everyone is looking for,” he said.
“But she was a nice filly and we were happy to keep a bit of her. I don’t know how good she is or anything at this stage, but Annabel is pleased with what she’s done.
“She’s not a big, strong filly and she always looked like she might need a bit of time to me, but anyway, Annabel knows what she’s doing and she’s having a good run, so we’ll see what happens.”
Capital Elle, who was scratched from a two-year-old race at Warwick Farm on Wednesday, is also accepted for a race at Kembla Grange tomorrow.
The filly’s half-sister by Darley shuttler Harry Angel (Dark Angel) was sold as a weanling for $12,000 in July, but Kenneally still has Boldinho’s half-brother by Pride Of Dubai (Street Cry) on the farm and he will be offered at the Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale in March.
“Petite went back through the online sale last week and made $35,000 in foal to Russian Camelot and I was very tempted again (to buy her back),” he said.
“I underbid on her when she made $7,500 and I underbid on the Capitalist’s mother when she sold as well as the partners wanted to get out. I might have been a bit too miserable at the time (not to buy her back).
“They didn’t make a lot of money, but I let them go because they were empty. You kind of stick to a plan and want to be buying pregnant mares and not have to wait too long.
“We are trading horses, that’s what we are trying to do. I might have let a couple of good ones go, but anyway, so be it.
“In hindsight, I guess you’d like to keep them but we buy so many, you can’t keep all the mares. When you’re buying with a plan in mind, to buy pregnancies and move the mares on and try and make money out of the weanling sales, otherwise you end up with a farm full of mares.”