‘Hopefully we’ve got the next Autumn Glow standing in one of the boxes at Riverside right now’
Autumn Glow (The Autumn Sun) is one of the most exciting horses anywhere in the world right now and Silverdale Farm, the operation responsible for selling the star at the 2023 edition of the Inglis Australian Easter Sale, is hoping another high-class talent is waiting to be unearthed among the group of yearlings they will offer at this year’s renewal of the Sydney auction.
Steve Grant’s outfit sold the daughter of The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice) to Arrowfield Pastoral, the home of her sire, in partnership with Hermitage Thoroughbreds for a sale-topping $1.8 million, having secured her for $600,000 from her breeders, Newhaven Park, at the Magic Millions Gold Coast National Weanling Sale the previous year.
Now trained by Chris Waller, the sky looks the limit for Autumn Glow, whose race record stands at a perfect 11 from 11, headed by three Group 1 wins, which could swell to four should she maintain her foot-perfect career in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) at Randwick on April 11.
And for Silverdale Farm, there can be no better advertisement for what they can produce.
Rob Petith, Silverdale manager, said: “Autumn Glow’s fantastic for Silverdale, fantastic for the sales company, fantastic for the breeders and fantastic for racing enthusiasts. She captured the imagination of the public and we obviously feel very fortunate to have been able to play a part in her development. It’s a huge thrill, it really is. She’s very special.
“She was very special from the very first time we saw her, she was a beautiful filly to do anything with. The wonderful attitude you see at the races now, that’s what she was like at Silverdale.”
Autumn Glow came under the hammer with stellar credentials. Out of three-time South African Grade 1 winner Via Africa (Var), the filly is a three-quarter sister to Newgate’s Golden Rose (Gr 1, 1200m) winner In The Congo (Snitzel). Petith said her star quality shone through and was easy to spot.
“She was definitely something out of the box and she just caught your attention,” he said. “She conserved energy and was very efficient with the way she moved, which was one of the things we really loved about her.
“I have three beautiful kids and naturally take a lot of pictures of them, but for that period when she was at Silverdale I think I took more photos of Autumn Glow when you look back through my phone.
“It was a huge thrill to sell her for $1.8 million and a lot of people ask now if we wish we’d have kept her and of course who wouldn’t? But we’re a commercial farm, so we took her to sale and presented her as well as we could.
“The market was able to work out what she was worth and she found some fantastic owners in Arrowfield and Hermitage. It’s great for the farm and hopefully we’ve got the next Autumn Glow standing in one of the boxes at Riverside right now.”
Since presenting its first yearling draft at Magic Millions in January 2021, Silverdale has come a long way in a relatively short period of time. Petith said the meticulous approach taken by Grant and his team of investors has allowed the farm to thrive.
“Steve and Kenny [Lowe] and the other guys who invest in the bloodstock and their other shareholders have been out and have been accumulating a really impressive group of mares without going and buying the top-priced mares,” he said. “It’s exciting to see them being mated well to proven stallions to give them an opportunity.
“The attention to detail at Silverdale is amazing. It’s the infrastructure and the money that’s been put into developing the farm and turning it into an incredible place to rear racehorses and athletes. It’s the pedantic and meticulous approach we manage those horses with and the team we assemble around us to do the best by those horses.
“We buy some expensive mares, but we’re still trying to find value like anyone else. We work very hard, but they still have to tick certain boxes and it’s a long game. We try to breed the mares to the most proven option that they justify for their own value.”
Over the course of the two-day sale, Silverdale will offer 14 quality yearlings – 11 fillies and three colts – by some of the best sires in the world, the perfect snapshot of the onus the farm places on quality rather than quantity.
Petith said: “I said to Steve [Grant] before the sale, it’s a very nice bunch of horses and you’d want to race any one of them,” he said. “It’s an exciting draft by some amazing stallions out of some beautiful, fast mares.
“You need those deep pages and those black-type horses and I’m confident that we have that. You look at our 14 horses and line them up, they line up on paper, but they are all beautiful physical types – there is a lot to be excited about.
“Easter is where you bring quality and that is how I summed up Autumn Glow and I could definitely use that word to summarise our whole draft.”
Silverdale could be responsible for early fireworks with the farm set to offer two lots in the first stanza of trade, led by a Zoustar (Northern Meteor) filly (Lot 9) whose half-brother has been advertising the family’s credentials on the track this season.
The filly is out of the Listed-placed winner Paredo (Better Than Ready), a $400,000 pickup for Silverdale at the Inglis Chairman’s Sale in 2023 when carrying this year’s Todman Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) victor Paradoxium (Extreme Choice) in utero. The farm enjoyed almost instant reward when selling the son of Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) to Bjorn Baker, Jim Clarke and Ridgmont for $400,000 at Magic Millions the following year.
After last year’s fine result, Petith is confident this year’s offering can continue the mare’s good results in the sales ring.
“She loves her work. She’s broad through the hip with big wide hocks, she has a good action on her,” he said.
Having pinhooked Autumn Glow, buyers will no doubt be intrigued to inspect this year’s offering of yearlings the Silverdale team secured as weanlings.
Among the cohort this year is a filly by Darley’s former stalwart Exceed And Excel (Danehill) (Lot 362) who was plucked from Burnewang North Pastoral’s draft for $320,000 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast National Weanling Sale last year.
The youngster is out of the Queensland Listed winner Je Suis Belle (Bel Esprit), meaning she is bred on the same cross as one of Silverdale’s leading graduates, Group 2 winner Eneeza, who realised $1.1 million on the Gold Coast in 2023.
Petith said: “The filly out of Je Suis Belle is a lovely type and she is bred on the same cross as Eneeza who we sold a few years back and she was a Group 2-winning two-year-old who won the Percy Sykes, the Ottawa Stakes and the Merson Cooper for Kia Ora and TFI.
“It’s the same Exceed / Bel Esprit cross and she’s a gorgeous filly. We bought her as a weanling and she’s done very well. She’s pure speed and she looks like a two-year-old, she actually looks like Eneeza.”
The other pinhook (Lot 74) in the draft is a sister to Tea Rose Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) runner-up Artistic Venture (Trapeze Artist) who was added to the Silverdale fold at a cost of $70,000.
Petith said: “We’ve got the only Trapeze Artist in the sale and she’s a full-sister to Artistic Venture. Trapeze is doing a brilliant job at the minute and she’s a lovely filly.”
Eneeza’s dam, South Australian Group 2 scorer Sweet Sherry (Bel Esprit), will be represented by an I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) filly (Lot 133), whose physical traits remind Petith of the farm’s leading star.
“There are certainly hints of Autumn Glow there – she’s very special,” he said. “You should see the way she moves. She has a lovely temperament and a good brain. She’s going down very well.”
Buyers flock to the Easter sale not only to source elite racing prospects, but also to strengthen future broodmare bands and stallion rosters and given the recent results, I Am Invincible will be a target for both those buying camps over the two days of trade.
The son of Invincible Spirit (Green Desert) is carving out a reputation as a world-leading sire of sires, with his son Home Affairs having sired last weekend’s Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Guest House, underscoring the ability consistently shown by the the Yarraman Park stallion’s other son and barnmate, Hellbent.
Silverdale have covered their bases in terms of colts by Vinnie and will offer two this week. The first (Lot 78) is out of the stakes-placed winner Sense Of Hite (Street Sense), who showed her aptitude at paddocks when throwing Quintessa (Pierro), who made it on to the podium in the Australian Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m).
The second colt (Lot 150) by the four-time champion stallion is the second foal out of the brilliant Group 3-winning mare Threeood (Star Witness).
“He’s a proper colt – he’s a beauty,” said Petith. “Threeood is a lovely Star Witness mare we bought from Tricolours. This is only her second foal and her first, a Zoustar filly, made $600,000.
“He has always been a nice colt, but he’s really bulled up recently. He’s presenting very well and has a real stallion’s head on him. He’s an exciting horse, and the mare is back in foal to Vinnie now based on the quality of what we’re offering this year.”
For Silverdale, it’s a long-game philosophy, producing elite athletes rather than chasing short-term wins, that continues to define the farm’s rise.
“To play that long game we want to produce elite athletes that allow the farm to continue to develop and enhance its reputation,” Petith said. “It’s incredible to think that Silverdale in six years has gone from its first yearling draft to having a good brand and reputation who offer a good product.”