Rushton Park’s David Johnson his literally never seen it busier.
The experienced horseman admitted he’d “never done so many cards at any sale, anywhere, ever’’ than this week’s Great Southern Weanling Sale inspections so it came as little surprise when the Rushton Park-offered I Am Invincible x Private Dancer filly topped the Day 1 action at Oaklands when selling for $280,000.
Offered on behalf of Yarraman Park and partners, the filly (lot 19) sold to Trilogy Racing and was one of seven lots to realise $200,000 or more on a day when all key financial indicators were up on last year.
“Their thoughts were that with the weanling market being so strong that they’d try and get a result now and they absolutely did that,’’ a delighted Johnson said.
“The reserve was well under the final price and we’re so very, very pleased to get $280,000 for her.
“She’s a lovely filly and you put an I Am Invincible into this sort of sale to make them really stand out and she certainly stood out.
“She’s had her legs walked off all week and even I could identify at least four bidders on her toward the end from where I was watching in the vendor box.
“I did the most cards I’ve ever done at a sale, ever, anywhere, be it the Premier Yearling Sale, the Gold Coast, any weanling sale, anything, it was chaos. It’s been extraordinary and it’s great to see that now transfer into great results in the ring for us so far.’’
It topped off a huge opening day for Rushton Park, who was vendor of three of the top five lots and ended Day 1 as clear leading vendor with an aggregate of $1,188,500 from 16 weanlings sold.
“It’s a brilliant start, the foot traffic is turning into results in the ring and that’s what you want to see,’’ Johnson continued.
“We’ve got some nice ones still to sell but it’s certainly been as good a start as you could hope for.’’
For Trilogy Racing, the decision to go hard on the I Am Invincible filly (pictured) came largely off advice from Ampulla Lodge’s Steve Jostlear, who has been assisting Trilogy’s Sean Dingwall during inspections this week.
“Steve was a big fan of [G1 winner] I Am A Star as a weanling and felt this filly was a dead ringer for her. That helped me make my mind up that she would be the one we attacked,’’ Dingwall said.
“We’ve tried to buy an I Am Invincible all year and they’ve been very hard to get but we liked this filly so we pushed on.
“This sale is as strong as any of the other sales for the quality animals. The horses that are the nice horses are making great, great money. We’ve managed to buy four but obviously we’ve been underbidder on quite a few too.’’
The second-top lot on Day 1 was a Toronado x Spectrolite colt of Shadowbrook Bloodstock’s which Justin Bahen purchased for a client for $240,000.
Shadowbrook’s Carol Hassell was ecstatic with the result, backing up Johnson’s comments about how busy the Oaklands complex has been all week.
“He’s a lovely horse, he’d been very popular here all week, had lots of X-Ray hits and then lots of action in the ring. He’s been out of his box basically all week, all in all we’ve done at least 450 individual parades from our eight horses, it’s been fabulous,’’ Hassell said.
“It’s been a fabulous week, there’s been people everywhere, so many people here on the grounds, Inglis has done a wonderful job. The Great Southern Sale is getting stronger and stronger and the future looks bright.’’
The colt was one of six purchases for Bahen, who ended the day leading buyer by both aggregate ($1,120,000) and number of lots bought with six.
“My client wanted to make a bee-line for the weanling market on the belief the yearling market will continue to be strong next year and he and I are both rapt with the quality of both colts and fillies we’ve been able to buy today,’’ Bahen said.
“He’s trying to buy the best horses at the sale and was certainly very active because he liked what he saw there in the catalogue.
“We’re very happy with the results from today, he’s got a nice spread of horses.’’
Bahen also purchased the third-top lot – a Toronado x Artielicious filly of Gippsland Bloodstock – for $230,000.
Gippsland’s Phoebe Grass purchased the dam Artielicious in foal carrying the filly for $40,000 at last year’s Inglis Digital February Online Sale.
At the conclusion of Day 1, the average sat at $47,561 and median at $25,000, both significant increases on the equivalent figures at this stage of the sale in 2021.
Seven lots have sold for $200,000 or more – the same amount for the entire 2021 sale – while 27 lots have realised $100,000 or more.
To view our Facebook Live Day 1 review show, CLICK HERE.
“It’s been a strong start to the weanling sale, as we’d predicted pre-sale the demand for the top lots especially was going to be extremely high and that’s how it played out throughout the day, those vendors who had well conformed weanlings by commercial stallions that vetted well were extremely well rewarded,’’ Inglis’ Victorian Bloodstock Manager James Price said.
“Demand absolutely outstripped supply at the top end and as a result, there are still a lot of people who haven’t been able to fill their orders.
“There are 142 weanlings catalogued for tomorrow, with some of the best prospects in the sale amongst them so we’re looking forward to a very positive day tomorrow.
“While demand at the top end of the market has been very strong, there remains plenty of value to be found and I would encourage anyone who is in the market for a weanling to consider the sale tomorrow, or the passed in lots from today’s sale.’’
To make an offer on a passed in lot from today’s auction, please contact Inglis’ Will Stott on 0408 126 952 or CLICK HERE.
The second and final day of the Great Southern Sale will commence at Oaklands at 10am tomorrow, Friday June 10, with 142 remaining weanlings catalogued before the 79 catalogued broodmares take centre stage.
Among the broodmare catalogue are mares in foal to the likes of Kingman, Toronado and So You Think as well as G1 winner Velocitea offered in foal to Harry Angel, Stakes placed mare Namimo, The Stylist – a half sister to three Stakes horses – and Alotapride, a half sister to G2 winner Overpass.
If you are unable to attend Oaklands but wish to participate in the sale, Inglis’ online bidding platform will again be available, or you can contact a member of the Inglis bloodstock team.
To view the catalogue, CLICK HERE.
