The two day Inglis Great Southern Sale concluded on Friday at Oaklands, with a daughter of Frankel (Galileo) topping the Select Weanling session when bought by Yulong for $475,000.
Another daughter of Frankel topped Thursday's sale when bought by Mitchell Bloodstock for $825,000 and it was the Esker Lodge-consigned filly by Juddmonte's champion sire who was the standout lot during Friday's second session.
The filly is the second foal out of Dubawi (Dubai Millennium) mare Murasaki , herself a winner in France and a daughter of the Group 2 winning mare Michita (Dynaformer) who also placed twice at Group 1 level in Europe.
"I've never been busier at a sale in terms of inspections, we were run off our feet and the right buyers were here and that turned into results in the ring so to sell eight from nine in the current market, I couldn't be happier,'' Esker Lodge's Darren Dance said.
"This Frankel filly, she's a very straight forward weanling, a lovely type, she was so popular during the week, everybody who looked at her loved her and she sold accordingly.
"[$475,000] is really good money in any market I think, it helps that Frankel is probably the sire of the moment right now and they've all been selling well so we're delighted with the outcome.''
Yulong's Sam Fairgray was delighted to add another Frankel filly to Yulong's ever-increasing number of purchases for 2023.
"Obviously Mr Zhang loves Frankel, he's a great stallion and the cross with this filly is fantastic as well, being out of a Dubawi mare,'' Fairgray said.
"She's a nice physical, moves well, we're really pleased to add her to our group of weanlings. We'll take her home and see how she develops and see closer to sale entries time whether we put her back through the yearling sales or keep her and race her.
"There's plenty of competition here [at Great Southern], it's very strong. We've been beaten a couple of times on some nice weanlings and there's been plenty of nice weanlings here.''
Friday's second-top lot was a Rushton Park-offered Capitalist (Written Tycoon) filly, which sold to Silverdale Farm and Brian McGuire for $460,000.
The filly will be re-offered as a yearling next year and McGuire is hopeful lightning can strike twice. He and Silverdale teamed up to purchase a filly by The Autumn Sun (Redoute's Choice) last year who then topped the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale earlier this year when sold for $1.8 million.
Their purchase this year is out of the unraced Not A Single Doubt (Redoute's Choice) mare Passarelle who is already the dam of two winners including the stakes placed pair Bases Loaded (Deep Field) and Shebringzit (Sebring).
"That was obviously a huge success and it's a driving force behind what Steve and Eliza and the team at Silverdale want to do, purchase and develop quality young horses that are going to go on with it,'' McGuire said.
"She was a queen this filly today, very athletic, all quality, good size and strength, a lovely head on her and we're really excited to get her.
"It's been a great sale, some fantastic horses on offer, I always love coming down here… touch wood we can repeat the luck we've had here before.''
The Capitalist filly was bred by Sally Watkins, who was understandably thrilled with the result.
"It's absolutely wonderful, I thought she was a three-to-four-hundred-thousand-dollar filly so to see her sell for $460,000 was just amazing,'' Watkins said.
"It's my best ever result. It's nerve wracking, we thought she'd sell well but I was nervous and very emotional because I do all of the work myself, I've prepped her myself and been with her since she was a baby. It's quite emotional.''
Isn’t she stunning! @silverdale_farm and @brianmg17 weren’t going home without lot 336, the Capitalist x Passarelle filly from @RushtonPark, securing her for $460k. Congratulations to all involved! #InglisGreatSouthern pic.twitter.com/vzgfvZk9Pw
— Inglis (@inglis_sales) June 9, 2023
The Select Weanlings section saw a turnover of $9,825,000 for 219 lots sold, while the average finished at $44,863 and the median was $16,000. During last year's Select Weanling sessions 267 lots sold for $12,103,500 at an average of $45,331 and median of $22,000.
Michell Bloodstock was the leading buyer having spent $1,555,000 on five lots including Thursday's sale topper.
Burnewang North, who sold the sale topper, was the leading vendor by both aggregate and average having sold 11 weanlings for $2,455,000 at an average of $223,182.
Veranskova tops broodmare session
Alderson Racing's Group 3 placed mare Veranskova (Written Tycoon) topped the Broodmare Session when bought by Andrew Williams on behalf of Peter Collier for $510,000.
"She's a lovely strong mare, classy and was purchased for Peter Collier who is an existing long-term client and good friend,'' Williams said.
"I thought she fitted in the four-to-five hundred [thousand dollars] range so we had to go a bit further than planned but we're thrilled to have got her.
"It's been a great couple of days, Inglis has done a tremendous job in attracting some lovely well-bred fillies and quality colts here and it's been really strong especially at the top.''
Best of luck to @AWilliamsBldstk with the purchase of quality mare VERANSKOVA (Written Tycoon) from @AldersonRacing. She sells for $510k at #InglisGreatSouthern! pic.twitter.com/q0iujc6EBj
— Inglis (@inglis_sales) June 9, 2023
The broodmare session grossed $2,125,000 for 27 horses sold, with the average finishing at $78,704 and the median was 40,000.
This week's Great Southern Sale results has capped an exceptional breeding stock sales season for Inglis, much to the delight of Bloodstock CEO Sebastian Hutch.
"To achieve an 11% rise in turnover for our breeding stock sales is very satisfying, especially considering supply is exceeding demand in certain parts of the market,'' Hutch said.
"There have been some fabulous results along the way. To sell almost $23m worth of weanlings – a market-leading figure for a second consecutive year - is a really pleasing result and we have only been able to achieve that due to the wonderful support of a broad cross section of vendors.
"There is no doubting that the market in respect of breeding stock and weanlings has been more selective, but we are very happy with the markets that we have been able to facilitate in Sydney and in Melbourne and as ever, we expect there will be any number of fantastic success stories to emerge from these sales.''
