Last chance for buyers to snap up top-quality weanlings as Inglis unveils Great Southern catalogue
Mares in foal to Kingman, Toronado and So You Think also set to go under the hammer next at Oaklands month
Offspring of Australia’s hottest sires including Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice), I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) and Written Tycoon (Iglesia) headline a sparkling catalogue of 377 weanlings at next month’s Inglis Great Southern Sale at Oaklands.
And a mare in foal to outstanding British sire Kingman (Invincible Spirit) is among the more tantalising of 65 broodmares to be offered – along with others carrying to the likes of So You Think (High Chaparral), Toronado (High Chaparral) and Russian Revolution (Snitzel) – at what is the last chance of the southern hemisphere sales season to secure top-quality weanlings and broodmares at a live auction.
The sale, which has hatched such Group 1 winners as Montefilia (Kermadec), Behemoth (All Too Hard), Gytrash (Lope De Vega) and Sopressa (So You Think), offers an opportunity for buyers of various budgets to tap into some of Australia’s finest thoroughbred horseflesh, particularly those who may have found dizzying yearling prices so far this year beyond their reach.
It has also proven a boon for pinhookers, with last year’s auction leading to a host of lucrative turn-arounds topped by the $360,000-into-$900,000 result for the Zoustar (Northern Meteor)-Vergara (Snippetson) colt sold via Newhaven Park’s draft at Easter this year.
With its catalogue now online, the June 9-10 sale features weanlings by 112 different sires and includes the only weanling colt by Snitzel to go to public auction in 2022.
“This year’s catalogue has all the right ingredients for buyers to enjoy success, no matter what their end goal is,’’ Inglis’s Victorian bloodstock manager James Price said.
“There is an insatiable appetite for quality stock and to that end, I think there is plenty in the catalogue for buyers to be excited about, particularly amongst the weanlings, with the catalogue featuring the only Snitzel weanling colt to be offered at public auction this year.
“There have been some fantastic stories from the sale in recent years and some life changing results, so we are looking forward to another competitive renewal of the sale.’’
Broodmare buyers are expected to engage in spirited competition to secure Irish-bred Marjoram (Kodiac), who’s carrying her first foal after a southern-time mating with Kingman, sire of the champion Palace Pier and the triple Group 1-winner Persian King, among many more.
Offered via Shadow Hill Thoroughbreds’ draft as agents listed as Lot 437, Marjoram, though unplaced, is out of a half-sister to Sydney Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) and Moonee Valley Cup (Gr 2, 2500m) -winner Grand Marshal (Dansili).
“We’re incredibly delighted to offer a mare in foal to Kingman. Kim Alderton at Shadow Hill said she arrived at her place recently and is a mare with wonderful quality about her,” Price told ANZ Bloodstock News. “We think she’ll be very well-found.”
Among the most keenly sought weanlings is expected to be Snitzel’s only offering, Lot 26, a chestnut colt offered by Victoria’s Noorilim Park as agents. Dam Queen Of The Air (I Am Invincible) is a three-quarter sister to Flight Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) -winner and dual Group 1-second placegetter Oohood, while second dam Flying Single (Flying Spur) is a half-sister to now-retired super sire Not A Single Doubt (Redoute’s Choice).
I Am Invincible has Lot 19, a filly by Perth Listed winner Private Dancer (Oratorio) offered by Victoria’s Rushton Park as agents.
Written Tycoon is represented by three fillies. Lot 11, offered by Diamond Park is out of a Snitzel mare in Paris Lights whose dam was Melbourne Listed winner City Of Song (Bel Esprit). And Morningside Stud offers both Lot 34, out of well-related stakes-placed mare Rare Occurence (Star Witness), and Lot 151, from the dual stakes-placed Zumbelina (Stratum), whose fifth dam Leica Show (Showdown) left Group 1 winner Leica Planet (Planet Kingdom) and the dam of triple Group 1-winner Pharaoh (Sackford).
Other stallions represented include Australia’s current General Sires List leader So You Think, with five fillies and a colt, the in-vogue Toronado with nine colts and five fillies, Shamus Award (Snitzel) with three colts and two fillies, and Deep Field (Northern Meteor), with two colts.
Street Boss (Street Cry) has three colts, current two-year-old sires chart-topper Rebel Dane (California Dane) has a colt and two fillies – his only weanlings on offer this year – while runaway first season sires leader Russian Revolution has two fillies and two colts, as does last season’s two-year-old and first season sires’ runner-up Capitalist (Written Tycoon).
Rebel Dane, sire of Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m)-Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) double winner Fireburn who’s about to take up residence at Widden Stud in the Hunter Valley after limited opportunities in Victoria, is represented by a colt from the Two Bays Farm draft out of city-winner Mahogany Room (High Rolling), to be offered on Day 2 as Lot 335. The dual Group 1-winning stallion’s former home, Glen Eden Stud, offers his fillies: Lot 69, out of an unraced half-sister to French Group 1 winner Shemaka (Nishapour); and Lot 30, from Umatilla (Miswaki) mare Rainonyourparade.
“We’re thrilled that we’ll have the only offering of Rebel Dane weanlings this season,” Price said. “He’s bound to be in demand as the sire of Fireburn. He’s only got eight in his crop, and we have three of them in the Great Southern Sale.”
Other notable pinhooking results from last year’s sale include the Maurice (Screen Hero)-Seven Year Itch (Keltrice) colt bought for $200,000 and sold at Easter for $500,000, the Nicconi (Bianconi)-Charlie’s Storm (Myboycharlie) colt bought for $75,000 and sold for $250,000 at the Magic Millions in January, and the Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt)-Bloodlette (Authorized) filly purchased for just $25,000 and sold at Premier this year for $200,000.
“The Great Southern Sale has been a fantastic opportunity, particularly, for end-users to come and buy a weanling at what we call an affordable price,” Price said. “Whilst we look at pinhookers wanting a financial return, in terms of actual racehorses who’ve come out of the sale, there’s been a lot of high quality, with the likes of Montefilia, Behemoth, Extra Brut, et cetera.”
The sale’s weanlings will go under the hammer on day one – Thursday, June 9 – and into day two, after which the broodmares will be sold.
All weanlings sold at Great Southern are eligible for the $7.55m Inglis Race Series, which features the $2m Inglis Millennium (RL, 1100m) for two-year-olds and the new $1m Pink Bonus Scheme. Supplementary entries for the Great Southern Sale will be accepted until 5pm on Wednesday June 1.