North Star Lass shines bright fetching $1.525 million on Inglis Digital
Yulong come out on top for Group 2 winner who is now set for a date with Written Tycoon
Yulong’s powerhouse owner Zhang Yuesheng handed the Inglis online portal another memorable result yesterday as the operation went to $1.525 million for Group 2 winner North Star Lass (Zoustar), a price tag that made her the most expensive horse to sell online in Australia so far this year.
With yesterday’s result, the daughter of Zoustar (Northern Meteor) became the third highest–priced mare to have sold on Inglis Digital, with only Funstar (Adelaide) ($2.7 million) and Sierra Sue (Darci Brahma) ($1.55 million) having made more.
It has been a brilliant few months for the online platform, with North Star Lass the fourth seven-figure mare to sell via Inglis Digital in 2023, with Another Award (Shamus Award) having set set the pace when she became the first mare in 2023 to break over a million after Yulong secured her for $1.2 million on July 12.
Miss Roseiano (Exceed And Excel) became the second mare to soar over the $1 million mark when Coolmore’s Tom Magnier forked out $1.275 million to secure the daughter of Exceed And Excel (Danehill) a few days later. A week later, Jamaea (Headwater) capped off a lucrative July for Inglis Digital when she sold to Yulong for $1.025 million.
Trained by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, North Star Lass landed last year’s Furious Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m), beating subsequent Group 1 winners She’s Extreme (Extreme Choice) and Madame Pommery (No Nay Never) in the process.
Two starts later she produced a fine performance to finish a close-up third in the Flight Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m), coming home two and a quarter lengths behind the winner, Zougotcha (Zoustar). North Star Lass retires the winner of two of her 11 starts, which saw her accumulate $337,950 in career prize-money.
Yulong chief operating officer Sam Fairgray told ANZ Bloodstock News last night the mare would be immediately retired and the operation’s headline stallion Written Tycoon (Iglesia) has been elected as the mare’s first cover.
“She was obviously a very good racemare. She came up against the best and raced and was very competitive with the likes of Zougotcha and In Secret, she was a very tough and consistent mare,” he said.
“She is a beautiful physical and when these mares become available they are hard to purchase so it is great for her to be joining what is a very nice broodmare band.
“She is lightly raced and we know she has the ability, so she can retire and go to stud. She will visit Written Tycoon and if she leaves a foal as good looking as herself we will be very, very pleased to be taking it to a sale.”
Purchased by her trainers and Bruce Slade’s Kestrel Thoroughbreds for $260,000 from the Rosemont Stud draft at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in 2021, North Star Lass is out of the winning, Group 3-placed mare Sheila’s Star (Snitzel), who is also the dam of dual winner Ethekwini (Savabeel).
Sheila’s Star is herself a daughter of Group 3 winner Northeast Sheila (Keltrice), dam of six other winners, headed by Tattersall’s Mile (Listed, 1600m) scorer Jacqueline Rose (Ne Coupez Pas).
Further down the pedigree, this is the same family as Listed winner Dashing Granada (Keltrice), who in turn produced fellow stakes winner Celebrity Girl (Starcraft), the dam of Group 1 scorer Instant Celebrity (Not A Single Doubt).
This is the second time this year Yulong has made a heavy investment in this family, with the Chinese billionaire’s operation having teamed up with Waterhouse and Bott to secure North Star Lass’ Zousain (Zoustar) three-quarter-sister for $650,000 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast sale last January.
“We actually own her two-year-old three-quarter-sister, who we bought at Magic Millions. She is with Gai and Adrian and they are pleased with the way she is going,” Fairgray explained.
“We like to keep building these families and keep giving the pedigree depth. She is from a very fast family that has performed very well here in Australia and we were thinking that she would be able to produce very quick foals. When you are buying quality, a mare like her still looks good value, even at that price.”
Despite Written Tycoon being in the twilight of his stallion career, Yulong has built an exciting roster of young stallions at their Victorian farm to take up the mantle after his career is over with the nursery being the home to Group 2-producing stallion Grunt (O’Reilly), Alabama Express (Redoute’s Choice), Tagaloa (Lord Kanaloa), Lucky Vega (Lope De Vega), Pierata (Pierro) as well as Japanese-bred Diatonic (Lord Kanaloa).
Fairgray said they are building a top-class broodmare band to support these young stallions and give them the best start to their careers in the breeding barn.
“She’ll go to Written this year, but then next year she will branch out and go to one of our other stallions and it is great to be able to give those younger stallions the support of these very nice mares,” he explained.
“With these sorts of quality mares, you can’t get enough of them because they are the ones that produce and get the results in the sale ring, so for us to be able to have another mare like her is obviously great.”
Meanwhile, Bott was delighted with yesterday’s outcome, hailing it as a wonderful result for the mare’s owners.
“You can still get that same buzz and excitement out of the result without being at a live auction and all the owners were absolutely delighted to achieve that price today [yesterday],’’ Bott said.
“Gai and I are always trying to find these types of fillies, horses that will predominantly be forward and precocious types, she was purchased at reasonable value being by Zoustar, she got her black type and now sells for $1.525 million. It’s fantastic for everyone.’
“That’s the big benefit of Inglis Digital in that we had a filly who was ready to potentially retire and head straight to stud and the owners had this option to offer her to the market and give her a chance to realise her fair value in a timely manner.
“To have a strong market benchmark like Inglis Digital is a real asset for the industry and that was showcased again today [yesterday].”
North Star Lass was prepped for the sale at Ridgmont Farm in the Hunter Valley and Bott was quick to pay tribute to the effort everyone had put in on the farm ahead of the auction.
“Full credit to Mitch Cunningham, Chris Phillips and the team at Ridgmont, they were able to pull everything together at short notice, they’ve been very professional in their approach and helped us to achieve a great result for the owners,” he added.
For good measure, Yulong also took home the second highest-priced lot yesterday when they paid $190,000 for Tuscan Heat, an unraced daughter of Oasis Dream (Green Desert), who was being offered on the Inglis platform for a second time having been purchased by John Dutton for $100,000 in August last year.
Offered by Willow Park Stud on behalf of the owners and in foal to Coolmore Stud shuttler Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj), the mare is out of Listed winner Novellara (Sadler’s Wells), making her a half-sister to Newcastle Gold Cup (Gr 3, 2300m) winner Disclaimer (Dansili).
“There were three clients who owned her and she was sold to dissolve the partnership and we’re all very satisfied with the result,’’ Willow Park’s Glenn Burrows said.
“We’re delighted Yulong liked her enough to buy her and if she has a nice foal they could easily recoup today’s price and more, given it’s a Wootton Bassett foal and given he’s booked out at a $93,500 service fee at Coolmore.’’
Fairgray added: “She’ll come back to the farm and go to Lucky Vega once she’s foaled down the Wootton Bassett. We’ve got some Wootton Bassett weanlings and yearlings at the farm and they’re great, he’s a beautiful stallion and it’s great to have another one by him.’’
Arcadia Grace (Hinchinbrook), who was bred and raced by leviathan owner Bob Peters, was the third highest-priced lot of the sale when selling to Cathy Hains’ Burnewang North for $120,000.
A four-time winner, Arcadia Grace is out of Peters’ 2016 Western Australian Derby (Gr 2, 2400m) winner Arcadia Dream (Domesday), a half-sister to multiple Group 1 winner Arcadia Queen (Pierro), Group 3 scorer Arcadia Prince (Pierro) and Listed scorer Arcadia Rose (Kheleyf).
Liam Peters – representing Peters Investments – was delighted with the result and said it far exceeded their expectations.
“That was a bit surprising actually, we were really happy with the price,’’ Peters said.
“I was expecting around the $75,000 mark so to get more than 50 per cent more than that, it’s a great result.’’
Attention now turns to the Inglis Digital September (Late) Sale for which Expat (Makfi), winner of the 2022 Millie Fox Stakes (Gr 2, 1300m) and 2021 Belle Of The Turf Stakes (G3, 1600m), is already confirmed as an entry.
Entries for the auction are now open and will remain so until midnight on September 20, with the sale set to take place from September 22 and conclude on September 27.