More Gold for Supreme as Blue Point colt tops Melbourne auction
Colt by Darley shuttler brings $200,000 having failed to make $80,000 reserve at the Inglis Premier sale two months ago
Buyers may look back at the opening day of this year’s Inglis Premier sale a little more than eight weeks ago with a tinge of regret, having let Lot 4 – a colt by Darley shuttler Blue Point (Shamardal) – pass on by at an $80,000 reserve, with the same horse yesterday fetching $200,000 to top the auction house’s Melbourne Gold Yearling Sale at Oaklands.
For a third year in succession, a yearling offered by the Romsey-based Supreme Thoroughbreds operation emerged as the star of the show, with the Blue Point colt the only yearling knocked down for a six-figure price, as he became the joint second-highest-priced yearling ever sold at the sale.
The colt, who is out of the veteran Strategic (Zeditave) mare On The Loose, ended up in the hands of John Leek Jnr, who struck for the winning bid after an engrossing bidding duel between the Pakenham-based handler and young Mornington-based trainer Kane Harris.
The Inglis Gold sale again presented a reduced offering this year, with 172 lots offered compared with 213 last year and 306 across two days in 2021. The sale’s aggregate revenue dropped nearly 50 per cent year-on-year to $1,823,700, with the average falling 25 per cent to $15,198.
Last year, Supreme Thoroughbreds topped the sale with a filly by Frosted (Tapit) who sold for $150,000, while in 2021 they presented an Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) filly who made $260,000 and, although Supreme Thoroughbreds’ Neil Shaw said this year’s result surpassed their expectations, he felt the ‘big, strong’ Blue Point colt, whose reserve was slashed at Inglis Premier, reached his meritorious value in the ring.
“Where we’ve topped the sale in the last two years it’s been with horses that didn’t make it to Melbourne, but this year, it was slightly different,” Shaw told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“There was nothing wrong with this colt at Melbourne, but he was Lot 4 and we had five Blue Point colts in our own draft. We thought he was one of our better ones, but we just didn’t get a bid for him on day one. We had a reserve of $120,000 in the ring at Melbourne and it was $80,000 out [of the ring].
“The vendors were not prepared to take under $80,000 and today, they decided they just wanted their service fee back from the horse, and he was on [the market] at $40,000 and we let everyone know that, it was no secret.”
Buyer John Leek Jnr, who had originally budgeted $100,000 for the colt, which was to be trained by his son, Mitchell, went far beyond that figure as he described the colt as one of the nicest horses he’d ever seen in his years as a trainer
“I’ve had a lot of good horses over the years, some handy two-year-old that have been cheaper purchases and I’ve never paid anything like this for a horse,” Leek Jnr said.
“But that said, I’ve not seen a horse as nice as this for a long, long, long time, if ever. He’s got a lot going for him, he’s just an absolute standout.
“He’s totally magnificent, not only very well bred but just a phenomenal horse all round.
The colt, catalogued as Lot 119, was bred by long-time Supreme Thoroughbreds client Shane Higgs and partners and is the 12th foal from his three-time-winning mare On The Loose.
The mare, who was retired from breeding duties last year, has already produced Caulfield Guineas Prelude (Gr 3, 1400m) and HDF McNeil Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) placegetter Wazzenme (Wanted) and Listed placegetter Free Of Doubt (Not A Single Doubt), who at the 2011 Premier sale became the most expensive yearling by Not A Single Doubt (Redoute’s Choice), at $260,000.
She has as her final foal a weanling colt by Widden Stud’s Russian Camelot (Camelot).
Much of the appeal towards the Blue Point colt can be attributed to the start his sire has made with his first-crop northern hemisphere juveniles. Since the colt first went through the Premier sale ring on March 5, the Darley stallion has made a record–breaking start, producing six winners to date from 20 runners to be the leading first season sire in Europe by winners.
Aided by the sale-topping colt, dual Royal Ascot winner Blue Point ended the auction as the leading sire, with two yearlings sold for $206,000.
“The mare’s been with us for about 12 years, she was one of our foundation mares,” Shaw said. “We’ve sold about ten out of the mare, this being her second-to-last foal.
“He might be out of an older mare, but you would not believe that. He was a Gold Coast type. He weighed in last week at 530 kilograms and is a big, forward, strapping colt.
“Lots of people thought he’d be early because of his size of strength, but others thought he’d take some time. So it was interesting to hear people’s different views on him.”
Supreme Thoroughbreds, the leading vendors by aggregate and average, sold all six of their lots presented for sale; including a $50,000 daughter of Strasbourg (I Am Invincible), one of seven lots at the sale to reach that figure or more.
James Price, Inglis’ Victorian bloodstock manager, acknowledged the challenges faced by the sale, but expressed his delight at the sale of the ‘stand out’ Blue Point colt.
“It was tremendous to see the Blue Point colt sell for $200,000, a horse whose value of $80,000 wasn’t realised at the Premier sale, so it’s amazing how eight weeks on, what a result we can see,” Price told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“It just highlights the importance of being the big fish in a small pond, which that horse certainly was. It was quite something to watch [when he went through the ring]. He wasn’t in the ring for very long, but the bids came thick and fast and it was a real two-horse race for a long way. We’re delighted for Supreme and their clients to achieve that result.
“I think the sale very much still has a place on the calendar. Yes, the numbers have dwindled, but there was a good crowd at Oaklands.
“There’s no doubt that the digital platform that we offer has skyrocketed during the Covid years and it’s an incredible avenue for vendors to offer their stock. The opportunities to sell online, and the far reduced costs that come with it, has meant that the numbers in our Gold yearling sale has dropped.
“The market was relatively soft in terms of people wanting to buy and speculate horses. It’s been widely noted that unfortunately is the market we’re in at the moment and what is most affected in that market is the end of the market that we’re selling today.
“Smaller trainers and syndicators are less willing to speculate for a fear of not being able to onsell them at the other end. And that’s why we saw a downturn in the figures”
The date of this year’s Gold sale also created debate, with the auction held in a later May slot, after the HTBA sale in Sydney and on Mothering Sunday, a fact which Price described as ‘not ideal’.
“After all our sales we sit down as a team and contemplate our sales calendar. The sale has been moved from April, but if we think about having it then, there might be less buyers to purchase the yearlings because they’ve got more horses on the shelves, but in May it’s given them a chance to sell the stock they’ve already bought and make them more inclined to buy. It’s six of one, half a dozen of the other,” Price said.
“Sunday has been the optimum date to sell in Melbourne at Oaklands Junction, it always pulls in those extra bids and it’s just unfortunate it’s fallen on Mother’s Day this year.
“On the back of the May sale in Sydney, if we pushed it back a week we’d have run into the Magic Millions sale, so really it was really the only feasible date. Looking ahead to 2024, Mother’s Day will be a day we choose to avoid with this sale.”
Shaw believed the live auction continued to play an irreplaceable role on the calendar, but said the sale date needed to be addressed.
“I think the one thing that has been identified is that the date needs to be looked at. It used to be earlier, but we’ve come out of Covid and landed on Mother’s Day, and I don’t think that’s ideal.
“There’s other things at play, it now takes place after the other Inglis sale (HTBA Yearling Sale) and perhaps that’s an issue. I can identify what the issues are, but it’s up to Inglis to deem what’s appropriate.
“I really enjoy the live format as I like to communicate with the people I’m selling to. There’s lots of quality horses that got up to the ring today, but the buying bench was just a little thin.”
Oaklands Junction will next play host to the Inglis Great Southern Sale from June 8-9, where 378 weanlings and 45 broodmares are catalogued.
Sale results
2023 2022 2021
Catalogued 191 232 339
Offered 172 213 306
Sold 120 (70%) 167 (78%) 261
Aggregate $1,823,700 (-46.7%) $3,419,500 $4,970,250
Average $15,198 (-25.8%) $20,476 $19,043
Median $8,000 $12,000 $11,000
Top Lot $200,000 $150,000 $260,000