Three exceptional days of selling at the 2016 Inglis Easter yearling sale has concluded with 432 yearlings selling for turnover of $105 million.
The Session 1 average was down 2.4% to $284,080 while the median was unchanged at $200,000. The clearance rate was steady at 83%
A fierce duel between Guy Mulcaster and Angus Gold on Thursday saw the former secure the much-anticipated first son of Frankel to be sold in Australia, with a final bid of $1.60 million on behalf of Chris Waller.
Bred and offered by John Singleton’s Strawberry Hill Stud as Lot 423, the colt is the first foal of Group 1-placed mare More Strawberries, and is the highest priced Frankel yearling in the Southern Hemisphere.
Frankel’s three yearlings sold through the ring at Newmarket this week for an average of $986,000. “We loved the colt, he really moved well so we’re really happy we bought him. He’s the best Frankel we’ve seen,” said Mulcaster. “If he goes anywhere near as good as his dad did it will be pretty good, and his mum wasn’t too bad either.”
Angus Gold was able to strike back soon after when outbidding James Harron to purchase a son of Redoute’s Choice out of South African Champion National Colour (Lot 433) for $1.75 million on behalf of Shadwell Stud.
“We’re here to buy good colts,” said Gold. “For the past four or five years we’ve been outbid on Wandjina and I wanted to buy Deep Field. I’m desperate to get Sheikh Hamdan a colt that can make a stallion in Australia.”
Strong demand for the region’s best fillies and colts at this year’s Easter Sale led to 49 Lots realising prices of $500,000 or more. Redoute’s Choice’s Session I average of $573,250 is more than double what he achieved at any other Australian yearling sale this year, and he is one of 20 stallions to average in excess of $200,000 at Easter (two or more sold).
Arrowfield Stud, the home of Redoute’s Choice, Snitzel, Not A Single Doubt and Animal Kingdom, finished the Easter Sale as the leading vendor having sold 21 of their yearlings for $9.51 million.
Topping Session 11 was the last Street Cry colt to be offered at Easter. Willie Leung’s Magus Equine went to $300,000 for the half-brother to Group 1 WA galloper Luckygray.