Clearance Rates Dives At Chairman’s Sale

[Wandering Eyes]

SYDNEY, Australia–The Chairman’s Sale of Elite Breeding Prospects picked up the sales action in Sydney on Thursday the day after the conclusion of the Easter Yearling Sale. While the Easter sale showed some polarization the Chairman’s sale was markedly tougher, with a clearance rate of just 58% at the end of the day’s trade casting a dark cloud over proceedings.

The Chairman’s sale was inaugurated last year and was deemed a success, with 70 sold (86%) from 93 catalogued over the evening session, including three seven-figure lots. With more than double catalogued this year, 105 were sold for A$24,010,000, at an average of A$228,667 and a median of A$160,000. There was one seven-figure sale on Thursday (Editor’s Note: Inglis continues to update the statistics on its website post-sale with private sales).

Inglis Managing Director Mark Webster was quick to admit the sales company had got the timing of the sale and the selection criteria wrong.

“We introduced the Chairman’s Sale last year with a view that we wanted to assemble and offer a catalogue of elite breeding prospects and we were quite strict about the selection criteria for that sale,” he said. “We kept the catalogue at a manageable level to be held the day after the Easter yearling sale. We had 90 in the catalogue and had quite a strict standard of foals and mares. They sold really well, we had a fantastic sale.”

“This year, there were two things we should have done: with a catalogue of 200, we should have moved the sale back a day and given everyone a bit more time to inspect the foals and mares. We weren’t expecting 200, we were thinking we’d get another 90 and just offer an evening session, but it’s ended up being a more challenging day with so many to offer.”

“The second thing would be that I don’t think we’ve maintained the standard of the foals and mares in the catalogue, so that has affected the clearance rate. There is plenty for us to improve upon when it comes to this format next year. We did talk to vendors about their preferred time for this sale and a lot of them said, ‘just keep going after the yearlings like you did last year.’ I think we should have changed it and given everyone a day’s break when the catalogue got up to 200. We made an error and that’s affected the overall feel of the sale; we’re happy to admit that we can improve in the future.”

The sale included a mix of race fillies, mares, foals, and stallion seasons and shares, with mares filling the top eight prices. A A$150,000 Pierro colt topped a very selective foal section, while Phoenix Thoroughbreds spent A$575,000 on a lifetime breeding right to I Am Invincible (Aus) to top that portion of the sale.

Yulong Loads Up…

Yuesheng Zhang’s Yulong Investments has made a significant commitment to Australia in recent years, including the development of his Yulong Park breeding and training establishment and the purchase of quality stock to fill it. Zhang will add two more gems to his 80-strong Australasian broodmare band after signing in quick succession for the young Group 2 winner Gypsy Diamond (Aus) (Not A Single Doubt {Aus}) (lot 67) (a sale-topping A$1.35-million) and her dam, Gypsy Tucker (Aus) (Zabeel {NZ}) (lot 68) (A$800,000), at the Chairman’s sale on Thursday.

Both mares were offered as part of the unreserved reduction of Finemore Thoroughbreds and Planette Thoroughbred Trading. Gypsy Diamond was a winner three times at group level and was Group 1-placed, and was sold in foal to I Am Invincible (Aus), having produced a Brazen Beau (Aus) colt in 2016 and having slipped when in foal to Tavistock (NZ) last year. Her 13-year-old dam, who has produced three winners from three to race, was sold in foal to Snitzel (Aus). They descend from the same family as the great producer Fanfreluche.

“Gypsy Diamond was a great race-performing mare and she’s in foal to I Am Invincible, so the chance of coming back through the sales ring and getting a good return is great,” said Yulong’s Sam Fairgray. “What Mr. Zhang is trying to achieve here in Australia is building a good commercial broodmare band for the future when we eventually stand stallions, so we’ll have a good broodmare band we can support them with.”

“We really like the pedigree with Redoute’s Choice, Zabeel, Mr. Prospector; there are so many things that will work with Australian stallions within that pedigree,” he added. “She’s a lovely young mare and a great type of mare and it’ll be great to have her in our broodmare band.”

Of Gyspy Tucker, Fairgray added, “We have several Zabeel mares on the farm and she has produced Gypsy Diamond. There are a couple other fillies in the family that have gone to stud so the family will keep on improving. I know both of them well as when I was at Arrowfield we had Gypsy Tucker there when she went to stud and foaled down Gypsy Diamond.”

The market across both this week’s Easter Sale and Chairman’s Sale showed some polarization at the top end, and Fairgray said, “I think the way the market is you have to branch out to get these sorts of quality mares. As we’ve seen in the sales ring and the way racing is in Australia at the moment and the international interest, the industry is so strong at the moment. Being able to access mares of this quality and add them to our broodmare band will be good for our future. I think the industry has become a lot more educated on what’s required for yearlings and mares and so forth. People are zeroing in on the certain individuals that have the right pedigrees, are the right type and have the right performance to be able to get a return.”

The scope of Yu Long encompasses breeding to race and sell, and the farm offered its first consignment at the Inglis Premier sale last month.

“There are 80 broodmares in our band and 20 of them are based in New Zealand as we’re shareholders in Preferment, a son of Zabeel that stands over there,” said Fairgray. “We’re wanting to grow that to 120. We have over 100 racehorses here. It’s all about getting those quality horses. Mr. Zhang has a real passion for the horse and the industry and just in the short time I’ve worked with him it’s fantastic to see his real passion for the horses. When he comes to the farm he goes out and pets them and loves them. He actually knows every horse on the farm when he goes there even though he’s not there that regularly, he can name every weanling, who it’s by, who it’s out of, who the mare is in foal to; it’s as much a business as passion for him.”

Sun Bloodstock picked up another daughter of Gypsy Tucker, Here Comes Gypsy (Aus) (High Chaparral {Ire}), in foal to Gypsy Diamond’s sire Not A Single Doubt (Aus) for her first covering, for A$260,000.

Yulong bought seven total mares on Thursday for a cumulative A$4.12-million. That haul also included the A$500,000 Veruschka (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) (lot 162), who had also featured at Tattersalls October in 2015 when bought by Coolmore connections for 2.1-million gns. The unraced filly is out of Loveisallyouneed (Sadler’s Wells), herself an unraced full-sister to Group 1 winners Yesterday (Ire) and Quarter Moon (Ire).

Global Pedigrees Under The Hammer…

Veruschka wasn’t the only well-related European-bred mare offered on Thursday; there were a handful of opportunities to buy into such coveted families at the sale.

Paul Fudge of Waratah Thoroughbreds spent 450,000gns on the Oasis Dream (GB) filly My Sanctuary (GB) as a weanling at Tattersalls in 2012 and exported her to race in Australia. The bay picked up two wins to bolster her impeccable pedigree–she is a daughter of the German champion stayer Albanova (GB) (Alzao) and a half-sister to three stakes winners–and My Sanctuary is now headed back to her country of birth after Dermot Farrington secured her for A$600,000 on behalf of Paul Makin. Catalogued as lot 106, My Sanctuary was sold in foal to More Than Ready for her first mating.

Fudge was dispersing his breeding stock at the Chairman’s sale but he is not leaving the industry, preferring to focus instead on racing going forward, and indeed he bought a colt by Shooting To Win (Aus) during the foal session on Thursday evening.

Debbie Kepitis has the current queen of Australian racing in her racing stable in the great mare Winx (Aus), and Kepitis added a gem to her boutique bloodstock business, Woppitt Bloodstock, when securing the impeccably bred Posing (Medicean {GB}) (lot 117) for A$500,000 on Thursday. Originally a 260,000gns Tattersalls yearling purchase by Demi O’Byrne in 2013, Posing was a winner in four starts for Coolmore connections and was offered by that operation at the Chairman’s Sale. The 5-year-old mare is a granddaughter of the great producer Magnificient Style (Silver Hawk), the dam of Group 1 winners Nathaniel (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), Great Heavens (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Playful Act (Ire) (Sadler’s Wells) and the matriarch of almost countless other black-type winners. Posing was covered by Frankel (GB) for her first mating before being exported to Australia.

“I saw Frankel race and I loved him, and I thought it would be a great opportunity to buy him, basically, and it’s a very nice mare with a great pedigree that we’ll be able to breed here to all sorts of stallions,” Kepitis said. “It was partly to buy the Frankel but also to get the overseas pedigree.”

Kepitis, herself the daughter of the legendary Thoroughbred breeder Bob Ingham, has eight mares as part of Woppitt Bloodstock. She races Winx in partnership with Peter Tighe and Richard Treweeke.

“Winx I race as myself, but I have a bloodstock business that I have broodmares, racehorses; it’s a very small team that I just run more for fun but with a business mind to it. I’m only small at the moment, I myself have eight mares and I produce to race and sell, but primarily I’m a racer. I like racing, but to make the business work I do sell my progeny as well.”

Another mare with a standout European pedigree on Thursday was Yarraman Park’s Pivotal (GB) mare Solar Moon (GB) (Dubai Sunrise) (lot 140), and Paul Willetts went to A$625,000 to take home the 6-year-old mare in foal to I Am Invincible for her third mating. Solar Moon is a granddaughter of Colorado Dancer (Shareef Dancer), and therefore her dam, Dubai Sunrise (Seeking The Gold), is a full-sister to Dubai Millennium.

An Invasion Of Mares…

Last year’s G1 Sires’ Produce S. winner Invader (Aus) (Snitzel {Aus}), who enters stud this year at Aquis Farm, had a few high-quality suitors enter his first book during Thursday’s sale.

Aquis went to A$750,000 for the 3-year-old Acqume (Aus) (Sepoy {Aus}) (lot 171). The current-season stakes-placed filly is out of the stakes-placed Acquired (NZ) (O’Reilly {NZ}), a half-sister to the stakes winner and producer Hips Don’t Lie (NZ) (Stravinsky), and Aquis confirmed she would visit Invader this year. Acqume was a A$350,000 yearling.

Invader has another confirmed mate from the sale in Moqueen (Aus) (Uncle Mo) (lot 102), who was bought by Andy Williams on behalf of an undisclosed client.

Aquis, part of the partnership that raced Invader to a win in last year’s G1 Sires’ Produce S., will stand the stallion in partnership with Phoenix Thoroughbreds.

Aquis had earlier in the session secured a close relation to Acqume in the Fastnet Rock (Aus) filly Sia (Aus) (lot 137) for A$780,000. Coolmore had sold Sia, a daughter of the Group 2 winner Hips Don’t Lie and a full-sister to stakes winners Ennis Hill (Aus) and Lake Geneva (Aus), to Damion Flower for A$1.1-million at Easter two years ago and the filly raced for a partnership including those two entities and broke her maiden first-out at two last year. Aquis could not confirm what stallion the filly would visit.

Trade Tough For Foals…

The selective nature of the sale became quickly apparent early in the day when just 12 of 30 weanlings offered changed hands. Tops amongst them was a Pierro (Aus) half-brother to the Singapore stakes-placed Desert Fox (Aus) (Not A Single Doubt {Aus}) (lot 30) knocked down to New Zealand’s Lyndhurst Farm for A$150,000. The colt’s value was likely helped by the fact that the Golden Slipper-winning sire is in current hot form and has produced an Oaks and a Derby winner from his first crop. Pierro is well in front as Australia’s leading second-season sire.

The foal session began with the first foal to be offered at public auction by the G1 Golden Slipper winner Vancouver (Aus), a stablemate of Pierro at Coolmore Australia. The colt from Rothwell Park (lot 13), a half-brother to the Group 2-placed Moreau (Aus) (Snitzel {Aus}), was bought by Gippsland Bloodstock for A$130,000. Two foals were catalogued by another first-crop Coolmore sire, Pride of Dubai (Aus) (Street Cry {Ire}), but they were passed in at A$130,000 and A$100,000.

The third six-figure lot was a A$105,000 colt from the second crop of Darley sire Shooting To Win (Aus) (Northern Meteor {Aus}) (lot 38). The half-brother to the stakes-placed Hair Trigger (Aus) (Smart Missile {Aus}) was bought by agent Dermot Farrington on behalf of Paul Fudge, who will race the colt. Shooting To Win is the winner of the G1 Caulfield Guineas and is a full-brother to fellow first-crop yearling sire Deep Field (Aus), who stands at Newgate Farm.

The buybacks during the foal session included a Snitzel filly with a reserve of A$350,000; An I Am Invincible filly with a A$200,000 reserve and a colt by the same sire with a A$150,000 reserve.

Dermot Farrington also signed for the top offering from the stallion shares/breeding rights portion of the sale when acting on behalf of Phoenix Thoroughbreds to secure a lifetime breeding right to I Am Invincible (Aus) for A$575,000. I Am Invincible sits second to Snitzel on the Australian general sires’ table with five crops of racing age and is the sire of four Group 1 winners. I Am Invincible had five seven-figure yearlings at the Easter sale and was second to Fastnet Rock by average.

Phoenix, as it has done globally, has been making steady inroads into the Australian industry and was also active as both a buyer and a seller at Easter. Phoenix, through David Lucas’s Lucas Bloodstock, sold seven for A$1.63-million at Easter and bought an I Am Invincible filly for A$500,000.

Phoenix has thus far had one runner in Australia from its first batch of 10 2-year-olds, Hard As (Aus) (All Too Hard {Aus}), a winner on debut on the Sunshine Coast in February for trainer David Vandyke. Phoenix has about 22 broodmares Down Under and owns 25% of last year’s G1 Sires’ Produce S. winner Invader (Aus) (Snitzel {Aus}), who enters stud this year at Aquis.

“Our Southern Hemisphere operation is mostly focused on the breeding side so we’re trying to be strong with stallion shares and with broodmares,” said Phoenix’s Amer Abdulaziz. “We also have 2-year-olds and we’ve tried to buy some yearlings but some of them we liked were very highly priced so we passed on them. But the focus going forward is going to be the broodmares and stallions.”

“So far with stallions we have 25% of Invader and the share we bought today in I Am Invincible, but we’re looking for other opportunities,” he added. “If the right opportunity comes along we’ll definitely pursue it.”

(Click here for a TDN feature on Phoenix’s global operations).

First Pharoah Mares Offered…

Eight mares in foal to American Pharoah for his first Southern Hemisphere crop were offered at the Chairman’s Sale but even they were not immune to the day’s sticky market, with just three finding new homes. They were:

Lot 104, My Conclusion (Aus) (Redoute’s Choice {Aus}), a 10-year-old daughter of the New Zealand Classic winner Clean Sweep (NZ) (End Sweep), bought by Kingstar Farm for A$50,000;

Lot 120, Prontezza (Aus) (More Than Ready), a daughter of the G1 Robert Sangster S. winner Rostova (Aus) (Testa Rossa {Aus}) bought by Yu Long for A$370,000;

and Lot 129, the stakes-winning Sebring Sally (Aus) (Sebring {Aus}), bought by Belmont Bloodstock for A$400,000.

The sales action continues at Riverside Stable on Sunday with the three-day Australian Broodmare and Weanling Sale.

 

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