Extreme Warrior follows in father’s footsteps as curtain draws on ‘tremendous’ Premier sale
Like father like son, Extreme Warrior (Extreme Choice) was in high demand as his home farm Rosemont Stud finished the Inglis Premier sale powerfully in a solid Book 2 sale.
Following on from his super sire’s typically robust results in Book 1 – where Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) ranked third on aggregate despite only eight lots sold – Extreme Warrior had Tuesday’s equal-top and equal-third priced yearlings.
Lot 757, the colt fourth foal of Who’s Zooming Who (Sepoy), fetched $220,000 when sold from Rosemont’s draft to trainer Lloyd Kennewell, Group One Bloodstock and SP Bloodstock.
Kennewell prepares the leading light amidst Extreme Warrior’s promising first batch of runners in Eternal Warrior, winner of Caulfield’s Merson Cooper Stakes (Listed, 1000m), third in the Blue Diamond Prelude (C&G) (Gr 3, 1100m), and an eye-catching 2.1-length sixth from well back in the Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) itself.
With Eternal Warrior on the fifth line of betting for the Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m), it was unsurprising to see Kennewell being keen to acquire another son of Extreme Warrior.
He shared top billing from Book 2 with Lot 794, a colt by Widden Stud’s Zousain (Zoustar) sold from the draft of Victoria’s Blue Gum Farm to Taiwan concern Elysian. The colt is the ninth foal of Group 3 winner Cavalry Rose (Charge Forward).
Comfortably behind those two $220,000 lots, Extreme Warrior and Rosemont also shared equal-third rank via Lot 614, bought by trainers John O’Shea and Tom Charlton in league with James Bester Bloodstock for $160,000.
The colt is out of the unraced Grammys (Starcraft), a daughter of AJC Gimcrack Stakes (Listed, 1000m) queen Spurcent (Flying Spur) and a half-sister to the dam of six-time stakes winner Revolutionary Miss (Russian Revolution).
On a strong day for the two leading Victorian studs, Blue Gum also shared third ranking with Rosemont thanks to Lot 646, a colt by Dirty Work (Written Tycoon) knocked down to Top Pick Bloodstock and Pang Chi Ping.
Rosemont was the leading Book 2 vendor by aggregate, with 11 lots sold for a combined $911,000, ahead of Blue Gum, who had ten lots sell for $674,000. Rosemont ranked second by average ($83,000), for three or more lots sold, behind NSW stud Fernrigg Farm, which sold three at $87,000. Blue Gum came in third, on $67,000.
Continuing Book 1’s strong momentum, Book 2’s metrics were up on last year.
On Tuesday evening, the gross stood at $7.15 million – up from $6.41 million in 2025 with 16 more lots sold (157 to 141).
The average of $45,567 had increased slightly from $45,436, with the median at $37,500 ($32,000) and the clearance at 78 per cent (72 per cent).
Those numbers were in keeping with the Book 1 stats showing a leap in the gross figure – from $53.67 million in 2025 to $61.44 million, with 30 more lots sold. The average was up $8,000 to $144,569, with the median climbing from $100,000 to $120,000 and the clearance rate up one point to 81 per cent.
For the overall sale, the gross on Tuesday night sat at $68.59 million, up more than $8.52 million, or 14 per cent, from the corresponding stage last year.
In a show of middle-market strength, 283 lots had sold for $100,000 or more, a significant 22 per cent rise on last year’s figure at the corresponding stage, while there were 15 per cent more $200,000-plus lots sold, and 17 per cent more $300,000-plus yearlings sold.
“There is incredible momentum behind this sale now, with an excellent set of results, particularly in the context of the market, following last year’s market-defying sale,” said Inglis Bloodstock CEO Sebastian Hutch.
“While it’s always satisfying to see the financial benchmarks improve year on year, what stood out to me as much as anything was the amount of people on the grounds not just on sale days but inspection days as well. The buying bench really got behind the sale again this year.
“We’re hugely grateful as always to the breeders and vendors who have supported the sale and I’m very proud of the effort the team at Inglis put into the sale.
“The diversity at the top of the market was great – the top 12 lots were all by different stallions, off service fees from as little as $16,500 so it goes to show there really is something for everybody at Inglis Premier.
“To have Premier as the southern hemisphere’s best performing yearling sale to this point of the season for the second consecutive year is a great thrill.’’
After Rosemont had another Extreme Warrior colt – Lot 349 – fetch $180,000 in Book 1 when sold to trainer Mick Price, the farm was delighted by the popularity of their seven-year-old stallion, whose encouraging start with runners comes despite some fertility issues, reminiscent of those of his sub-fertile sensation father Extreme Choice.
“We had a good time [on Monday] helped along by the fact we had a couple of very nice Extreme Warriors, since he’s got some momentum behind him at the moment,” Rosemont principal Anthony Mithen told ANZ News.
“And if they were picking the catalogue a week or so ago, rather than last spring, these two would have been Book 1 horses.”
Mithen said the equal Book 2-topper out of Who’s Zooming Who was “the busiest horse I’ve ever had at a sale”.
“He came out of his box over 200 times, which is a massive load for a horse to carry, and did it with great aplomb and great temperament,” Mithen said.
“There was good reason for that. Everyone quite rightly thought the average for a nice horse in Book 2 would be about $30,000 to $40,000. What became apparent was that sort of price range was not befitting of this horse.
“He’s a beautiful horse. He looks like a two-year-old, with an early good strength-to-stretch ratio, where your strength matches your physical length and development.
“I’d be surprised if he wasn’t bobbing up somewhere before Christmas.”
Kennewell was ecstatic to secure the colt.
“The sale’s been tremendous, so many nice horses, and this horse … a very good judge and someone I respect said he’s in the top five per cent of the whole catalogue of colts, and I felt he was the best colt in the sale,’’ Kennewell said. “We go on physicals, we want fast two-year-olds and he looks all of that.”
Mithen said Lot 614 likely benefited from a slightly older relative, another Extreme Warrior colt out of a Starcraft (Soviet Star) mare who Rosemont sold at Magic Millions Gold Coast for $220,000 to Team Archibald et al.
“He’s a lovely horse that I think was probably helped a little by the fact our other Extreme Warrior out of a Starcraft mare was very well received at the Gold Coast,” he said.
“It might just be a cross that works, which would suit us, because we’ve got a few Starcraft mares given he spent a bit of time at Rosemont.
“We’re quietly optimistic Extreme Warrior’s trajectory is headed the right way.”
Rosemont sold 27 of their 30 lots across Premier’s two books.
“That’s not a bad effort from a draft our size,” Mithen said. “It’s been a busy week, but a successful one, to only take three home.”
Gilgai Farm ended the sale as leading vendor, enjoying a ‘perfect’ sale selling all 13 lots offered for $3,740,000, while Bell River Thoroughbreds ended with the highest average (for three or more sold) at $301,250, having sold all four lots offered.
Ciaron Maher Racing ended Book 1 as leading buyer with 13 purchases with different partners, ahead of Lindsay Park (12) and Clinton McDonald/Shane McGrath (11).
Swettenham Stud’s Toronado (High Chaparral) was leading sire by aggregate, with 31 lots sold for $5.03 million, ahead of Darley’s Ghaiyyath (Dubawi) with 12 for $2.57 million.
Sale statistics – Book 2
2026 2025
Catalogued 227 238
Offered 201 196
Sold 158 (79%) 147 (74%)
Aggregate $7,159,000 (+9%) $6,573,500
Average $45,310 (+1.3%) $44,718
Median $36,250 (+13%) $32,000
Top Lot $220,000 $260,000