Zoustar filly out of Nudge lights up strong Premier opening
A combination of two expert judges of fillies by Zoustar (Northern Meteor), a powerful cross, and the buying power of Ozzie Kheir combined to produce the top lot on a particularly strong first day of trading at the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale at Oaklands.
Lot 238, the second foal out of $1.2 million prize-money earner Nudge (Fastnet Rock) from progressive Victorian breeders Two Bays Farm, was knocked down to Chris Waller and his main bloodstock agent Guy Mulcaster, in concert with Kheir and his regular partner Group 1 Bloodstock, for $850,000.
The filly was the stand-out lot ahead of a $520,000 Ghaiyyath (Dubawi) colt and a $410,000 son of Toronado (High Chaparral) on a day when a strong middle market pushed metrics markedly up on last year’s Premier auction, continuing strong momentum from the Australasian yearling sale season so far.
On Sunday evening, the sale’s average stood at $157,784 compared with $146,240 (an increase of 7.89 per cent) at the same stage last year, with the median up by $30,000 at $130,000, a massive 30 per cent increase.
With a clearance rate up six points to 77 per cent, the gross was up from $26.17 million to $30.61 million, with only 16 more lots sold (194 from 179).
Inglis Bloodstock CEO Sebastian Hutch was delighted with how the day transpired, with the quality of stock on offer and how it was taken up, particularly at a time when “the market is not easy” and buyers are “very discerning”.
“In advance of the sale, we thought we had a good catalogue and good buyer engagement, and with even luck we should be able to run a good sale, and that’s the way it’s played out,” Hutch told reporters.
“The clearance is up five points on last year, the median is up $30,000; I don’t think I’ve ever been involved in a sale where the median is up a third year-on-year. The average is up, which is a good effort given the clearance is up significantly, and it felt like a strong sale.
“On balance, the majority of horses sold and sold well and that was very pleasing.”
Hutch added: “The median tells you there was tremendous strength in the middle part of the market.
“For the median to go from $100,000 to $130,000 on the equivalent day 12 months ago – that’s very rare. Whether that can hold true through tomorrow, I don’t know – I expect as the clearance goes up, that will taper off.
“But we’re starting day two from a far stronger position than what we started day two on 12 months ago. And we felt pretty good at the end of day one last year.”
The Zoustar-Nudge filly, sold after a tense bidding duel involving several bidders on site and online, is the highest-priced yearling so far for the Mornington Peninsula’s Two Bays Farm, and represents tried and true pathways in many respects.
Zoustar over Fastnet Rock (Danehill) counts as probably the reigning champion sire’s finest nick. While others have a stronger stakes winners to runners ratio than this one’s 12 per cent, it has yielded eight black type victors, including three at Group 1 level, to be the Widden stallion’s only nick with multiple elite-level winners.
Two of those top-level stars are females trained by Waller – three-time Group 1 winners Joliestar and Zougotcha – the latter of whom was bought by Waller and Mulcaster at Inglis Easter for $500,000. The third such winner is Robert Sangster Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) queen Climbing Star.
Group 1 Bloodstock’s Mat Becker said he and Kheir knew just who to contact when they were drawn to the Zoustar-Nudge filly at Oaklands last week.
“We identified her and thought there’s no better judge of a Zoustar filly than Guy and Chris,” Becker said. “We reached out to see if they wanted to do something and they loved her as much as we did. They really wanted to buy her. We were thrilled to put our team together with theirs. Hopefully she’s the next Zoustar filly star in their stable.
“Chris also trained the mother, so they know the family. It’s a great cross – Zoustar over Fastnet Rock mares. It’s the right nicks.
“It gave us a lot more confidence when Guy and Chris came and they loved her as well.
“She would have been not out of place at Easter with the best fillies.”
Waller trained Nudge to four wins from 1400 metres to 1700 metres, highlighted by victories in a Brisbane Group 3 and Eagle Farm’s $500,000 Magic Millions National Classic (1600m). She was raced by a syndicate headed by the late Winx (Street Cry) part-owner Richard Treweeke, whose children Elizabeth and Rick now share ownership of the broodmare with Two Bays Farm’s Ross Ferris.
Hinting at the quality of this filly, her sister fetched $300,000 at the Premier sale last year, sold to trainer Grahame Begg and Rohan Hughes Bloodstock. With echoes of her dam and that mare’s co-owners’ famous family history, she’s now a two-year-old named Wink Wink, and is awaiting her first start.
Becker voiced great respect for his fellow Victorian Ferris, whom he’s known for “many years”, and who strongly patronises his local Premier sale.
“Ross is a great breeder and he sells his best horses here. She was in Melbourne Premier and she stood out. She was the star of the show,” Becker said.
“She’s a big and strong filly but she had great movement. She moved like a medium-sized horse. She had all the right features you look for in a Zoustar filly.”
He added: “We thought she’d make that sort of money. We were prepared to go as hard as we had to, to get her.
“We and Ozzie don’t buy a lot of yearlings. We try to buy quality – a handful each year to complement the team and the horses we have, especially in the [foreign] tried horse market. We try to buy quality and that’s what she was.”
Sunday’s top lot was also reward for concerted investment in mares in the recent past by Two Bays Farm.
“We’ve upgraded the quality of our mares in the last five years,” said Ferris, whose farm ended the day in second place among vendors by aggregate and average.
“Nudge came in as one of the earlier group. We went from just dabbling in the industry a little bit with moderately-priced mares and we decided to really up it. We’ve bought six or seven high-quality mares in the last two to three years as well.
“We’ve now got about 15 to 20 and it’s a really good group of mares. We’re over the moon with it in terms of the quality they’re producing – their conformation, their racetrack performance, their pedigrees.
“Probably next year we won’t have four or five fillies like the Nudge filly, but we’re hoping the year after we’ll be selling a really higher quality product here.”
Revelling in his most lucrative individual sale to date, Ferris said the filly had had 250-plus inspections and “took it all in her stride”.
“I’ve never had this experience before – people shoving microphones in front of my face,” he told the media pack.
“A big shout out to the Treweekes. They’re great partners, great people as well.
“It’s what you dream about. It’s not even so much about the number of dollars. It’s about the feeling of doing something really well, and being recognised by the industry and the buying board as well.
“Hopefully the next best feeling will be if she goes on and performs on the racetrack.”
Sunday’s second top yearling was Lot 19, a son of surging Darley sire Ghaiyyath sold by Stonehouse Thoroughbreds to Lindsay Park for $520,000. The colt is a half-brother to VRC Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) winner Extra Brut (Domesday).
“We had to put a couple more bids in than we wanted to, but we really liked him,” said Lindsay Park co-trainer Ben Hayes.
“We’ve got some really nice clients who are coming in. The page is nice, Extra Brut was superb, and [other half-brother] Toronto Terrier was a good horse.
“He’s an athlete, he comes from a good farm and to get him, we’re really excited.”
Ranking third on the day was Lot 125, a colt by Toronado sold by South Australia’s Mill Park Stud to Malaysian trainer HY Cheng. The colt is a half-brother to Adelaide Listed winner Harleymoven.
“Absolutely thrilled. He was a colt that was really well sought from day one. He had pretty well everybody we could possibly imagine on him,” said Mill Park’s Chris Watson. “It was one of the highest number of inspections we’ve had on a horse here in Melbourne.”
Fittingly, a Victorian stallion topped the aggregates on day one, with Swettenham Stud’s Toronado grossing $3.04 million from 15 lots sold. Zoustar was number one by average, at $483,333, with three lots sold.
Lindsay Park and Dean Hawthorne Bloodstock were leading buyers, with four lots purchased for $1.05 million, ahead of Mick Price, buying four for $1.03 million.
Widden Stud was the top grossing vendor, with 13 yearlings realising $1.84 million, ahead of Two Bays (six for $1.73 million) at Yulong (12 for $1.69 million). Best by average (with three or more lots sold) was Bell River Thoroughbreds, on $335,000, ahead of Two Bays’ $288,333.
Meanwhile, Young farm Penfold Thoroughbreds and Adelaide hobby breeders Greg and Wendy Barber enjoyed a boom result riding the wave of Ghaiyyath, when their filly by the Darley stallion was bought by Begg for $300,000.
Lot 116 is the fifth foal out of I’m Wicked (More Than Ready), whose dam Rose O’ War (Danehill) won four stakes races and ran second in the VRC Oaks (Gr 1, 2500m).
The Tabilk farm’s owner Hannah Penfold was overwhelmed by the sale, which came after considerable drama as she prepared her 11 yearlings for Premier, thanks to Victoria’s January bushfires.
That meant her horses were already familiar with the Oaklands complex, since Penfold moved them there while the fires raged.
“When the fires started rolling through, I may have been a bit over-dramatic in evacuating, but it was me and 11 yearlings,” said British expat Penfold, who set up her operation little more than two years ago.
“I wasn’t putting people in danger, I wasn’t putting my horses in danger. I think I made the right decision to bring them to Oaklands.
“The fire never reached us, but I could see it, and then lightning sparked a fire just two kilometres down the road. I thought, ‘I’ve got to get out; I’ve got to get these horses to safety’.
Penfold, who moved the yearlings back home after four days, was delighted for the Barbers.
“I don’t think they’ve sold a horse of that calibre before. Their top lot was something like $80,000, and they’ve never ventured out of Adelaide with a horse,” she said. “I’m delighted for them. This is life-changing.”
Sale statistics – Inglis Premier Yearling Sale 2026*
2026 2025
Catalogued 290 283
Offered 254 252
Sold 194 (77%) 179 (71%)
Aggregate $30,610,000 (+17%) $26,177,000
Average $157,784 (+8%) $146,240
Median $130,000 (+30%) $100,000
Top Lot $850,000 $1,000,000
* stats from 2025 are taken at the close of trade on day 1