Rushton Park are no stranger to success at Inglis Premier having topped the sale in 2018 with a Fastnet Rock filly that sold for $500,000 and they are presenting another quality draft this year with highlights aplenty.
The draft is a diverse one featuring 21 yearlings by a wide range of sires, so it’s hard to narrow down although Rushton Park’s Kayley Johnson offers her thoughts on some key horses.
Kayley said a Star Turn filly (Lot 183) that she bred with her husband, David, and a client is probably her favourite in their draft, she said the Star Turn filly, out of Garden of Eden, is “just a machine.”
Lot 183
“It is a lovely family and Garden of Eden still has Akkadian (Nicconi) racing and he is going quite well, which is handy for our filly,” she said.
The Matthew Cumani trained Akkadian is a four-year-old that has 24 starts for four wins, four seconds and four thirds for $204,925 in prizemoney.
Lot 518 is a standout filly by Hinchinbrook being a sibling to three stakes-winners.
Lot 518
“We have a glorious Hinchinbrook filly. She is beautifully related and on pedigree we would expect her to sell well and I would imagine her to be in the top end of our draft,” Kayley said.
“She is a full to Aliferous and a half to two other stakes winners, it’s very much a solid female pedigree so she should suit our upper end buyers who are looking for a lovely filly to race. You can’t get Hinchinbrook’s anymore and he was a great stallion who has a couple of good fillies running around at the moment, including Grahame Begg’s Mildred.”
Super Seth’s sire Dundeel is the sire of Lot 65.
Lot 65
“We have got a really beautiful Dundeel (NZ) filly and she is exactly what you would expect from Dundeel,” Kayley said.
“She is athletic and has got a very good attitude.”
Kayley said a good half to three quarters of their draft were VOBIS qualified which was an important aspect for owners and trainers.
“We have got a lovely Sooboog filly (Lot 675) in the second session, she is a half to Maserartie Bay and he goes pretty well for Ciaron Maher at the moment,” Kayley said.
Lot 675
“She has got that added bonus that she has got VOBIS as well which should be a good selling point.”
While the fillies on offer at Rushton Park present something for every buyer, the colts are just as appetizing and include two by Coolmore’s exciting young sires Vancouver and Pride of Dubai.
“We’ve got some ripping colts. We have a lovely Vancouver (Kanyini) and Pride of Dubai (Ice Creme) colt.
A Flying Artie/Canary colt (Lot 76) consigned by Rushton Park is also extremely well bred. Canary is a half- sister to Group I winner Yell and to the dams of Group I winners Holler and Micrphone.
Lot 76
“Canary is a half-sister to the dam of Microphone and he has had a really nice pedigree update recently winning the Group II Autumn Stakes,” Kayley added
When asked how Kayley thinks her draft will go at the 2020 sale after the success she has had so far. Kayley is modest but proud of the farms achievements thus far and of the draft that she has presented at the Melbourne Premier sale.
“I think that it’s important that trainers want to get out of bed and feed them every morning, so type plays an important part of producing nice horses and it’s certainly something we have worked toward when we are selecting our mares and placing our horses into sales,” she concluded.
“We have horses that suit every aspect of the buying bench. Overall, I think it’s a nice solid draft and I hope that we can continue to improve our quality of horse year after year.”
See the draft at Barn H Stables 77- 83, 91 – 101, 121- 124
