Frankels to the fore at Inglis Easter
Sunday’s Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale Round 2 will not only be a strange occurrence in a strange environment, capping off a strange year, but it will also offer a catalogue unlike any other Easter Sale in history.
One noteworthy feature is that the sale will feature the largest consignment of Frankel (Galileo) yearlings offered in the southern hemisphere at a single auction since they first stepped out in 2016. Six yearlings were catalogued, although that had already been reduced to five through withdrawals as of yesterday, with the majority offered by Victorian farm Yulong.
Juddmonte stallion Frankel has never shuttled away from Banstead Manor Stud, but has had 25 Australian runners – 13 of them foaled in Australia – for 17 winners.
Among the 13 Australian-bred Frankels are Group 2 winners Miss Fabulass and Hungry Heart, as well as last weekend’s W J McKell Cup (Listed, 2000m) winner Frankely Awesome. His imported sons include Group 1 placegetters Finche, Mirage Dancer and Eminent.
The Yulong draft includes three fillies: Lot 6 , a chestnut out of a Shamardal (Giant’s Causeway) half-sister to Group 1 winner Sobetsu (Dubawi), Lot 41 , a bay or brown filly out of a High Chaparral (Sadler’s Wells) half-sister to Maraahel (Alzao) and Lot 90 , a bay out of Poet’s Voice (Dubawi) mare Hersigh, a two-time winner in the UK.
Also included is a colt from the family of top British sprinters Pastoral Pursuits (Bahamian Bounty) and Goodricke (Bahamian Bounty), which will be offered as Lot 57.
“The Frankels have been coming along really good. There are three fillies and all of them are nice fillies. We’re really happy to be able to take Frankel yearlings of this quality,” Yulong’s chief operating officer Sam Fairgray told ANZ Bloodstock News. “There’s definitely some nice horses there and Inglis has worked hard to make it happen. Let’s hope that it holds up. A lot of the horses in Easter Round 2 have gone through preparations for Magic Millions, Melbourne or Easter 1, whereas ours are entering here as fresh yearlings.”
Fairgray said that Yulong had withdrawn their yearlings from the original Easter sale early, once the full ramifications of the Covid-19 outbreak became apparent.
“We withdrew ours from Easter Round 1 because no one was going to get the opportunity to see the horses,” he said. “Our yearlings going to this sale, although it’s not perfect, they haven’t been exposed. They’ve gone to the breaker, but they’ve just done that first educational preparation, they haven’t gone at any speed, they’re just learning to hack around the track. They haven’t lost any time and they’ll be roughly on the same timeline as the horses that sold in Easter 1.
“Buyers can check out the Inglis website, where there is video material of our offerings. For the yearlings, if any buyer is interested in hearing the notes from the breaker, then they can by all means contact me and I can send through the voice notes on each yearling where the breaker gives their thoughts on them which may be a little help for them going into the sale.”
Yulong will offer 12 yearlings, including the swathe of Frankels. It is two lots from the same family that Fairgray believes will attract the most attention, with a Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) filly out of Gypsy Tucker (Zabeel), Lot 86, and an I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) colt out of that filly’s three-quarter sister Gypsy Diamond (Not A Single Doubt), Lot 85.
“There’s a nice Snitzel filly in there too, but probably the pick of them all is the I Am Invincible colt out of Gypsy Diamond. He’s just a lovely, lovely horse and I’m sure he’ll be super popular,” he said.
Of those keeping a close eye on Sunday’s events will be Frankel’s Northern Hemisphere home Juddmonte Stud, and stallion nominations manager Shane Hogan has lauded his start with his Southern Hemisphere runners.
“Given the limited numbers in Australia, Frankel has done really well. He’s had four Stakes winners, two Group winners and two Group 1 performers,” said Hogan yesterday to ANZ Bloodstock News.
“Frankel – he’s just world class. They’ll sell well in Europe, America, Japan, Australia, wherever.”
Juddmonte have been encouraged by the mares visiting the world champion racehorse, with many of Australia’s notable breeders supporting Frankel with mares making the trip to the UK to be covered.
“We’ve had chats with big breeders with some high profile mares but obviously it’s not a straightforward trip coming from Australia,” added Hogan.
“It’s less about the numbers but more about the people using him. There are some of the best breeders coming to use Frankel. Cressfield, for example, they’re a very successful farm and Strawberry Hills are renowned for producing world class horses. There’s countless of them.
“Mr Zhang is a massive Frankel fan, he has been for many years, and it’s so rewarding to then see him come up with the Group 2 winning filly Hungry Heart.
“Bruce Neill is a massive Frankel fan too, and for him to invest in a filly like Rosental and send her to Frankel, it’s a great family and the cross is hugely successful, she’s the stand out of the sale.
While southern hemisphere numbers have been increasing for Frankel, it remains a select group of high-quality mares coming to visit him, including the Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Estijaab (Snitzel).
“Some really nice fillies have travelled up to visit him. The dam of Miss Fabulass has come up to see him again and Strawberry Hills have sent some quality mares over. Actually the Golden Slipper winner, Estijaab, came to visit him but on Northern Hemisphere time. She’s a gorgeous looking filly and you love to see horses coming like that.”
Frankel is not the only world-class stallion to call Juddmonte home, and interest from Australian breeders has gathered pace in Juddmonte’s star son of Invincible Spirit (Green Desert), Kingman, who has had just the one runner that was bred to southern hemisphere time.
“What helps with Kingman is that he seems to be doing very well with Danehill line mares and that’s going to be a massive plus with Aussie breeders.
“For us, we’re blessed, not only to have Frankel, who is out of a Danehill mare, but also Kingman who can cover all those mares.
“We’ve definitely seen increased numbers for Kingman over the last three seasons.”
The Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale Round 2 will kick off at 10am on Sunday, with inspections ongoing at the Riverside Stables complex. The Scone Yearling Sale will follow on immediately afterwards.
Godolphin to offer breeding stock through Inglis Digital
After a successful foray into the digital sales landscape last month, Godolphin will once again turn to an online platform to sell some of its breeding stock later this month, with a draft of 41 horses – 37 broodmares and four race fillies – to be offered through the Inglis Digital July (Early) Online Auction.
Last month, Godolphin offered 17 tried horses unreserved through the Inglis Digital June (Early) Online Sale.
The headline lot is set to be Light Fingers Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) winner Obsequious (Lonhro), who has produced three winners: Courtly (Street Cry), Submissive (Street Cry) and Deference (Exceed And Excel).
Listed winners Quidnunc (Lonhro) and Zubbaya (Dubawi) will also be offered, while Teenager (Canny Lad) – a sibling to Group 1 winners Hauraki (Reset) and Kidnapped (Viscount) – and Tactless (Commands), a half-sister to Complacent (Authorized), are other stand-out lots.
Four-year-old mare Rebukes (Sepoy) and three-year-old fillies Delicately (Medaglia d’Oro), Exact Replica (Exceed And Excel) and Torrid (Exceed And Excel) are being offered as racing prospects.
Godolphin’s racing and bloodstock manager Jason Walsh said: “Prospective buyers can buy with confidence and from our 41-strong consignment there are certainly offerings to satisfy a great variety of breeding objectives, be it purchasing mares with racing upside in the short-term or accessing bloodlines for the long-term.
“We were very pleased with our racehorse sale with Inglis Digital in June and we look forward to presenting another Godolphin draft online in the coming weeks.’’
Inglis Digital manager Nick Melmeth noted his delight at the opportunity to sell another quality draft from Godolphin.
“The response to the racehorse draft was extraordinarily positive and we are very grateful for the ongoing support from Godolphin,’’ Melmeth said.
“There are some particularly well-credentialled mares in the draft and people can buy from Godolphin with confidence knowing that in many cases the pedigrees will still be working for them for generations to come.
“We have seen countless examples over the years of breeders securing life-changing mares from drafts such as these and hopefully we can reflect on more such instances from this draft in years to come.”
Entries for the sale, which will be open for bidding from July 10 to July 15, close next Wednesday.