A solid opening day of trade at the Inglis Classic Sale was highlighted by a Wootton Bassett colt selling for $400,000, while a colt by Star Turn and a filly by I Am Invincible reached $360,000 and $350,000 respectively.
Burrows' belief in Wootton Bassett pays off
New South Wales breeder John Hawkins linked with Scone’s Glenn Burrows more than two years ago, with the Willow Park Stud principal making mating recommendations as well caring for his stock in the Hunter Valley.
Fast forward, and that partnership has led to Southern Highlands breeder Hawkins achieving his biggest sales ring result with a Wootton Bassett colt fetching $400,000 at Inglis Classic on Sunday.
He was bought by Victorian trainers Tony and Calvin McEvoy who have made an impact on the opening day of selling at Riverside, with three six-figure purchases.
“This is the first lot of matings that I've done for John and to get this kind of result, $400,000, which is I think the highest he's ever sold a yearling for, is fantastic,” Burrows said.
“Full credit to (Inglis’) Sebastian Hutch. He saw the horse a long time ago and said instead of going to Easter, let's be a standout here at Classic.
“I tended to agree with him at the time so to get $400,000 banked away now, I think that's a huge result.”
Representatives of the Rising Sun Syndicate were one of the underbidders for the colt, who is from the family of prolific breeder Harry Perks’ stakes winners Go Indy Go, Air Assault and Essay Raider.
As for Wootton Bassett, whose second southern hemisphere-bred crop is averaging $376,214 on the back of two-year-olds Wodeton, stakes-placed filly Wiltshire Square and Gallo Nero’s emergence, Burrows is an unabashed fan.
“He's a horse that as soon as he came out, I said to Colm Santry (at Coolmore) that I wanted to send mares to that horse and we sent eight or 10 in his first season. In fact, one of the ones we bred, I bred with a good mate of mine, was Wiltshire Square and we sold the mare Sausedge carrying her. She ran a terrific race yesterday, three deep no cover (in the Blue Diamond Prelude),” he said.
“I was really proud of her and Wootton Bassett, he's just gone to another level now. Unfortunately, $175,000 makes it a bit hard for a little Aussie battler like me, but he's a great stallion and welcome in our ranks here in Australia.”
Earlier, the McEvoys paid $360,000 for the I Am Invincible sister to New Zealand Group-placed filly I Choose You and $260,000 for a daughter of The Autumn Sun.
Sold by Yarraman Park, the I Am Invincible filly is the fifth foal out of the stakes-placed mare Choose.
“The I Am Invincible fillies are so good and she looked to us like she was a chance of getting back to the race (Inglis Millennium next year). There's plenty of black type in the family,” Calvin McEvoy said of Lot 114.
Team Private Harry go large on colt by Portland Sky
Armed with the Group 1 ammunition of unbeaten colt Private Harry, Kurrinda Bloodstock and trainer Nathan Doyle upped the ante on day one of Inglis Classic by paying $320,000 for a son of first season sire Portland Sky.
With Private Harry on a path towards the Group 1 The Galaxy in March, having won the $3 million Sunlight in January, Newcastle-based Doyle and Kurrinda’s Sean Driver still stuck to their yearling selection principles that had served them well in the past.
Sold by Widden Stud, which stands the Oakleigh Plate-winning stallion Portland Sky, the colt is out of juvenile-winning Smart Missile mare Cailini.
He came in for strong competition from four and five parties, which saw his price skyrocket as the bids from Doyle and Driver, situated to the back of Riverside near the back parade ring, were taken by Sydney Swans AFL player Chad Warner, who is bid-spotting for Inglis this week.
"I have just found that they (the Portland Skys) are really nice, balanced horses," Driver says. "That's what I look for. I probably don't have that budget to buy on the pedigree as such, so we buy on type."
The colt will be broken in and educated at Tamworth by Luke Morgan.
Yiu betcha - top Hong Kong trainer chasing next Voyage Bubble
Champion Hong Kong horseman Ricky Yiu, optimistic of gaining at least a two-year extension to continue his career training at Sha Tin, boosted the depth of his stable with the addition of a colt by Star Turn for $350,000 on Sunday.
Yiu, who works closely with Dean Hawkes to acquire horses for his Hong Kong clients, believes Vinery’s Star Turn is on his way to making a significant impact on the sires’ table, particularly in the Asian jurisdiction.
“I believe Star Turn is an up-and-coming sire, especially for Hong Kong. And he's out of Exceed And Excel mare, so I believe he's a runner. He's a real athletic type,” says Yiu, who bought three-time Group 1 winner and Hong Kong Derby victor Voyage Bubble at the 2020 Classic sale.
Impressive colt! Lot 122 Star Turn x CocoExcel by @VineryStud stable sells for $350k to R Yui!! How exciting! Congratulations #InglisClassic pic.twitter.com/3qkKHvmsPd
— Inglis (@inglis_sales) February 9, 2025
Backing up Yiu’s confidence in the powerfully built colt is the fact that the cross is already proven, with the horse’s high-priced colt’s brother Beauty Destiny winning four races so far for Hong Kong trainer Frankie Lor.
Aged 67, Yiu is fifth on this season’s trainers’ premiership with 26 winners, just three behind leader Danny Shum, and he is hopeful of earning an extension by the Hong Kong Jockey Club, which this week announced South African Brett Crawford would be joining its training ranks later this year.
Solid and functional market
Inglis Bloodstock CEO Sebastian Hutch said the opening session had "functioned really well".
"However, the clearance rate has been short of where we would like it to be ideally, but by the same token solid in the current climate. The demand for quality horses felt really strong. The breadth of participation was very encouraging," Hutch said.
"We knew that we were going to have good representation of overseas buyers. James Price and Nicky Wong have done a lot of traveling the last number of months and I think that's reflected in the nature of the participation today from buyers in Hong Kong and Malaysia, in particular.
"And that's really pleasing. It's reward for effort, so to speak."
Day two starts at 10am on Monday.
Sale statistics - day one
Catalogued 270 (270)
Offered 243 (238)
Sold 176 (197)
Clearance 72% (83%)
Aggregate $17,646,500 ($18,707,000)
Average $100,264 ($94,929)
Median $80,000 ($80,000)
Top Lot $400,000 ($375,000)
*2024 in brackets
Staff Writer
