Six of the best at the Inglis Classic sale
Here, in lot order, is a look at a handsome half dozen yearlings to be offered at the Inglis Classic sale from Sunday.
Lot 261: Ole Kirk – Eye For Fun by Snitzel, colt
Vendor: Fairview Park Stud
Offered by Fairview Park Stud, this superbly-built colt is a prime specimen from the first crop of Australian Champion Three-Year-Old colt Ole Kirk (Written Tycoon), and has some powerful close relatives.
He’s a half-brother to a Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) winner in Mossfun (Mossman), who herself has left a Group 3 winner in Dajraan (Frankel).
And Mossfun is also the mother of the unraced Tumooh (Fastnet Rock), who could be on the verge of something big as the dam of Bodyguard (I Am Invincible), the $1.6 million James Harron yearling colt who impressively won the VRC Maribyrnong Trial Stakes (Listed, 1000m) on debut and is now among the top handful in the market for the Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) and Golden Slipper.
With five winners from as many runners, this colt’s unraced dam Eye For Fun (Snitzel) has also thrown 11-time winner Mawahibb (Magic Albert), who scored at Moonee Valley before going to Singapore (as Aramco), where he won thrice at the top level and was named Champion Sprinter of 2019.
The colt boasts the successful cross of Written Tycoon (Iglesia) – sire of Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) – Golden Rose (Gr 1, 1400m) double winner Ole Kirk – and Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice), which is one of Written Tycoon’s best with 12 winners from 20 runners including two at stakes level, including this year’s Karaka Millions 2YO (RL, 1200m) winner Velocious.
“He’s a lovely big colt, good and strong, with a top pedigree,” said Fairview Park’s Linda Duckworth.
“He’s got a beautiful temperament, like his mum, and is just a very well-balanced colt, very correct and a good mover. We’re very happy with him.”
Lot 275: Merchant Navy – Fiorentina by Dubai Destination, colt
Vendor: Alma Vale / Kitchwin Hills Partnership
Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Merchant Navy (Fastnet Rock) was moved on from that farm last year, in a switch which brought instant paydirt for his new home, Kooringal Stud. Four weeks later his son Royal Merchant won The Goodwood (Gr 1, 1200m) at Morphettville, becoming the sire’s second stakes-winner.
Hopes are high from the Alma Vale-Kitchwin Hills partnership that this colt could have what it takes to further push his sire’s cause.
With a powerful, chunky build and rich bay colouring, he’s a half-brother to the ultra versatile star mare Silent Sedition (War Chant), who won the MVRC William Reid Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) amid six stakes victories up to 1800 metres. She also posted elite-level seconds in the ATC Coolmore Classic (Gr 1, 1500m) and SAJC Australasian Oaks (Gr 1, 2000m).
The pair’s unraced dam Fiorentina is also a half-sister to Dubai World Cup (Gr 1, 2000m) winner Monterosso (Dubawi) and to the dam of ATC Expressway Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) winner Happy Galaxy (Nadeem). Fiorentina’s had four winners from five runners, also including the twice stakes-placed Perfect World (Pride Of Dubai).
“He’s got a great pedigree, and Fiorentina has been such a good mare,” says Alma Vale stud manager Verna Metcalfe. “He’s got a very good walk on him, nice and fluid. I’d say he’s make a good later two-year-old, but he’ll be even better at three.
“The Classic sale is often about good horses who might slip through the cracks a little, who look like they’re going to mature a bit later. This one’s a bit in that mould, and he ticks a lot of boxes. I think he could make a good, cheap buy for somebody, even though he’s from a really good family.”
Bred by Coolmore, the colt sold as a weanling for $52,500.
Lot 325: Too Darn Hot – Hell It’s Hot by Zeditave, filly
Vendor: North
Things are heating up for new concern North Bloodstock, with this 16-horse draft only the second presented for sale by the Hunter Valley farm.
And heading the list is this eye-catching filly, an attention grabber on looks and pedigree, by Darley’s first-season smash hit Too Darn Hot (Dubawi).
The bonus is she might not just be fast but she might come with a ready-made name, being out of Hell It’s Hot (Zeditave), a two-time winner who’s a half-sister to Sin Sin Sin, dam of Everest winner Yes Yes Yes (Rubick).
“Hot Hot Hot!” says North’s co-owner Mick Malone. “The name picks itself.”
More importantly, the filly hails from an extremely rich pedigree. Hell It’s Hot is the dam of star sprinting mare In Her Time (Time Thief), winner of two top-flight contests in the ATC Galaxy (Gr 1, 1100m) and Black Caviar Lightning Stakes (Gr 1, 1000m), and four other stakes races.
In-demand Darley shuttler Too Darn Hot (Dubawi) is off to a flyer in Australia, with the likes of Arabian Summer and Too Darn Lizzie helping him to second and fourth respectively among Australia’s first season and two-year-old sires.
On top of that, Malone describes the filly as “a stunner”.
“She’s a beauty. She just looks fast. I’ve never had a better Classic yearling,” the long-time industry figure says.
“There’s a lot of Dubawi in her – she looks very much like Dubawi himself and his progeny, and she’s got a brain that not many horses have. She handles everything so well, and she’s been extremely well received at Riverside so far.”
For good measure, the filly’s two-year-old sister Flame Of Hestia – a $280,000 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale buy for Yulong last year – had her first trial for Kris Lees at Wyong last week, and won by over four lengths.
Lot 437: Churchill – Loving New by Choctaw Ridge, colt
Vendor: Riversdale Stud
Riversdale Stud presents this striking looking, intriguingly bred son of emerging European Champion Two-Year-Old Colt, Churchill (Galileo), the Coolmore shuttler starting to fulfil his promise with Group 1 winners here in Attrition and in Europe with four-time top-flight winnerBlue Rose Cen and dual Group 1 winner Vadeni.
With a beautiful dark colouring, four white socks and a blaze, the colt is out of Loving New (Choctaw Ridge), a rare commodity in the studbook in that she came from Brazil.
Loving New took two Group 1s amid four wins from 1300 metres -2000 metres in her native country, where she was Champion Three-Year-Old Filly in 2004-05. She then had Questing New (Romarin), who herself won at the top level amid three wins from 1000 metres-1600 metres before bearing Xic New (Refuse To Bend), who became another Group 1 winner and scored over 1400 metres and 1800 metres.
Brought to Australia, Loving New had another stakes-winner in First Crush (Husson), who took the Grafton Cup (Listed, 2350m) alongside three black-type placings, and the stakes-placed Dark Matter (Stratum), who went abroad and won nine races from Singapore to Malaysia and Dubai, from 1100 metres to 1400 metres.
“He’s a lovely style of horse,” Riversdale’s Nick Hodges says of the colt. “He’s a later foal, so he’s still got a bit of growing to do, but he’s a nice little horse. He’s always been a head-turner, with his four white socks, but he’s also got a real presence about him and he’s had a lot of interest this week.”
The colt is also the last of a kind, with Loving New dying last year of old age, at 22.
“She was an amazing mare, a very sweet old girl, and she was a great producer,” Hodges said of Loving New, who has seven winners from nine runners.
Lot 461: Wootton Bassett – Marchena by Deep Field, colt
Vendor: Coolmore Stud
Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj) is a sire of the moment.
With many runs on the board in the Northern Hemisphere through several seasons, the new shuttler blitzed the averages for first-season sires at the Magic Millions Gold Coast last month, sitting fifth overall for sires with more than seven lots, and averaging $465,625 through his hefty selection of 32 sold yearlings.
The trend looks set to continue at Classic, where Wootton Bassett has seven lots, none finer than this colt from the draft of his own stud Coolmore.
Imposing, and standing over some ground, he’s the first foal of Marchena, a city winner over 1000 metres, who was Group 3-placed at Flemington at two, while his second and third dams were also stakes-placed sprinters.
“He’s a lovely horse, up there with the best in the sale, and he’s the best in our draft,” said Cold Santry, nominations and sales manager from Coolmore, which has 18 lots at Classic.
“He’s a great mover, with good size and scope and strength. He’s just got quality all over him. He’s got a good attitude, and he’s a bit of a stand-out.”
With 40 stakes-winners from 464 runners worldwide at 8.6 per cent, and nine northern hemisphere Group 1 victors, Wootton Bassett is sure to prove as popular at Classic as at the Gold Coast last month.
Lot 707: Extreme Choice – Skylight Glow by Northern Meteor, filly
Vendor: Newgate Farm
Henry Field believes the Group 1-placed Skylight Glow has “a good horse in her”, and Newgate Farm hopes they’ve maximised her chances, given that this filly looks a lot like her explosive sire, Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt).
She’s the fifth foal of the triple stakes-placed Skylight Glow, who won twice up to 1400 metres, and her fourth dam is Clabber Girl (Alydar), a Group 1 winner of eight races from 1300 metres to 1800 metres in the US.
Given Extreme Choice has sired top-level winners from Stay Inside in the 1200 metres Golden Slipper, the She’s Extreme from the 1600 metres of the Champagne Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) to the 2500 metres of the VRC Oaks (Gr 1, 2500m), there could be an abundance of versatility on offer in this filly, stamped also by her father’s distinctive chestnut colouring.
“She’s a beautifully put-together filly, very much in the mould of her amazing sire Extreme Choice,” Field said.
“She’s a terrific mover and just amazingly similar to her sire, in that she’s not overly big but is wonderfully put together with a great action.
“We could’ve taken her to Magic Millions or Easter – she was accepted at both – but we wanted to make her a nice filly for our Classic draft.”
Half-sister Love And Light (Capitalist) has two seconds from three starts for Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, and “looks to have a lot of speed about her”.
“This is a very well-built Extreme Choice filly out of a Group 1-placed Northern Meteor mare,” Field said. “She’s been popular at Riverside this week, and I’d be confident she’s got what it takes to be a very good filly.”