A family-run breeding operation with sentiment as a key motivator has upstaged thoroughbred giants Yulong and Coolmore to land a record-breaking Inglis Chairman’s Sale bid and secure retired sprinting star Bella Nipotina for $4.2 million.
Michael Christian says he “did what we needed to do” as Bella Nipotina completed a full-circle journey for the relieved owner on a spectacular night of selling at Inglis’ Riverside complex.
Bella Nipotina’s price easily surpassed the $3.4 million paid for VRC Oaks winner She’s Extreme during the 2024 Chairman’s Sale.
She sits second behind the $5 million mare Milanova as the most expensive breeding prospect publicly sold by Inglis and equal third overall, with Imperatiz having sold for $6.6 million through Magic Millions last year.
Christian, who bred Bella Nipotina and raced her in various partnerships, was determined not to be outbid in his mission to buy last year’s Everest winner.
A daughter of Pride Of Dubai, Bella Nipotina won almost $22.8 million and retired this season as the second highest-stakes earner in Australian racing behind Winx.
She compiled four Group 1 wins in the latter stages of a decorated career that delivered 11 overall victories across 57 starts.
It was an emotional winning bid for Christian, the former who runs the Victorian farm with his wife Siobhan, when it was confirmed he was the successful buyer under his Longwood Thoroughbred Farm banner.
“To be able to bring her back home is fantastic,” he said.
‘It feels like a bit of a full stop in a way because her racing is finished but it’s a whole new chapter now.
“She's just been such a big part of our life over the last five years, and to be able to not get her and see her go somewhere else just would have been heartbreaking.
“So we did what we needed to do.”
“She's just been such a big part of our life over the last five years, and to be able to not get her and see her go somewhere else just would have been heartbreaking."
- Michael Christian
Christian said he was in no rush to find a potential stallion for Bella Nipotina and her sire suitability had no influence on his bidding that set a Chairman’s Sale record.
“There'll be the obvious (sires) - I Am Invincible, Too Darn Hot’s coming back - there'll be four or five, to be honest.
“But I didn't get the cart before the horse in terms of doing any pedigree analysis and the like, so we'll just sort of see how things settle and we'll make that decision.
“At the end of the day it's a lot of money, but we owned half of her - now we own 100 per cent.
“It’s a big commitment, but hopefully over the next 10 or 12 years we'll be repaid financially and also with the joy that we're going to get from watching her progeny run.”
Maher described Bella Nipotina’s sale as a deserving way to bow out from the public arena as one of Australia’s highest-profile thoroughbreds.
“It's such a fitting end to her career with all the glitz and glamour and all the rest of it that goes with the Chairman's Sale,” the trainer said.
And in an appropriate end to the session, another Group 1-winning mare set the ring alight when Amelia’s Jewel sold for $3.8 million to Coolmore’ Tom Magnier.
Consigned by Segenhoe Stud on behalf of owner Peter Walsh who was watching on from China, Amelia’s Jewel will be retired from racing and is likely to be sent to America to Coolmore flagbearer Justify.
Coolmore had earlier shown its hand when it secured the Group 2 winner Tiz Invincible for $2.8 million.
The I Am Invincible mare, also trained throughout her career by Maher, has a spring appointment with Wootton Bassett.
Magnier revealed Wootton Bassett would stand for $350,000 this year and he was delighted that Tiz Invincible would be joining the Coolmore broodmare band.
“Having a stallion like that gives you the confidence to go out with our partners and try and find the best mares for him now," Magnier said.
“He's standing at $350,000 this year, and we're hoping now to send our best mares to him.”
Magnier later signed for another well-performed I Am Invincible mare trained and offered by Maher, paying $2.8 million for Group 2 Caulfield Sprint winner Estriella.
Other prominent Lots included Group 2-winning three-year-old Too Darn Lizzie who is heading to the Maher stable after selling for $2.4 million.
Too Darn Lizzie’s dam, the Magnus mare Enbihaar, sold in foal to Widden Stud’s outstanding sire Zoustar, fetching $1.6 million to the bid of Zhao Zhijun, from the Yulong table.
Arrowfield Stud secured the well-credentialled I Am Invincible sprinter I Am Me for $2 million.
It took less than 30 minutes into the session for the hammer to fall on the first seven-figure result and it was no surprise that Yulong set the pace with Semana, a stakes-winning mare, selling for $1.55 million to Walnut Farm.
Thanks to Yulong and its associates as well as Coolmore’s insatiable appetite for cornering the market in elite bloodstock, the sale grossed $54.1 million - a 56.3 per cent increase on last year’s $34.7 million and a record for Chairman’s.
The average was $711,579, up from $598,898, while the median was the same as last year at $400,000.
A total of 14 seven-figure mares and fillies changed hands with Magnier spending $9.4 million and Yulong associate Zhao $4.4 million across four mares. The Growing Empire syndicate spent $2.675 million, while Walnut Farm spent $1.55 million.
"It was a pretty extraordinary sale. Extraordinary. We've broken every record," Inglis Bloodstock CEO Sebastian Hutch said.
"The format works. We want the night to be a celebration of these fantastic racemares or broodmares."
"You can create a sense of theatre, a sense of occasion that people will never forget."
