Snitzel filly tops record Inglis Premier Sale
Australia’s 2015 yearling sales season continues to provide excellent returns for many vendors as buyers compete for horses at every level of the marketplace.
The first session of the Inglis Melbourne Premier Sale concluded on Tuesday with a record average price of $95,886, up 15% on 2014, and a healthy clearance rate of 84%.
Snitzel generated strong profits for vendors, averaging $132,619 off the $30,000 fee he commanded in 2012. South African buyer Brett Crawford paid Snitzel’s, and the Sale’s top price of $560,000 for Yalambee Stud’s filly from Belle of the City. That’s the highest price paid for a filly at the Inglis Premier Sale since 2006.
The top-priced Snitzel colt, from Orbiting Belle, was offered by Three Bridges Thoroughbreds and was knocked down to the China Horse Club for $300,000. In all, 14 of Snitzel’s 21 lots sold made six figures.
Not A Single Doubt, who stood at a $22,500 fee in 2012, averaged $98,500 for 10 lots. Bell River Thoroughbreds sold both of his top-priced colts, from Arthur’s Lass for $260,000 and Indexed, for $185,000.
Malaysian businessmen Vincent & Robin Tan were the successful bidders at $130,000 for Manhattan Rain’s top-priced lot, the colt from Class Apart offered by New Zealand vendors Ascot Farm.
All American’s top lot, the filly from Flying Single, sold for $100,000 from the Edinburgh Park draft to South Australian trainers Gary & Lloyd Kennewell.
Arrowfield’s first crop sire Smart Missile once again gave vendors plenty to smile about, averaging $118,370 for 23 lots and achieving a top price of $260,000 for the Maghreb colt. His most expensive filly, from Spirit of Grace, was bought for $240,000 by Aquanita Racing from Blue Gum Farm. Eleven other yearlings by Smart Missile made more than five times his $20,000 fee.
Arrowfield sold all but two of the 22 yearlings in its draft, achieving an average of $119,250 and a median of $87,500.
The sale’s top price for a Redoute’s Choice yearling was $310,000 paid by South Africa’s Form Bloodstock for Arrowfield’s colt from the Rory’s Jester mare Possessed, whose Group 1-winning sister Episode is the dam of Flight S. G1 winner First Seal.
Form Bloodstock has enjoyed recent success with previous Arrowfield Melbourne purchases Honorine, a Group 2 winner, Group 3-placed winner Nisa’s Machine and Alice Springs, winner of two of her 4 starts this season.
Three other Arrowfield colts were sold for more than $200,000: the Starcraft-Salutations colt ($300,000, George Moore Bloodstock, Hong Kong); the Smart Missile-Maghreb colt ($260,000, Frank Fiore, WA) & the Smart Missile-Miss Bellezza colt ($210,000, Ricky Yiu, Hong Kong).
Top-priced fillies sold by Arrowfield were the Redoute’s Choice-Alternative Edge filly ($150,000, Inglis NSW as agent) and the Smart Missile-Bianca filly ($150,000, Todd Balfour Racing, Victoria).
The origin of the draft’s buyers reflected the strong interstate and international interest the Inglis Premier Sale now attracts: Victoria (6), NSW (5), Hong Kong (3), Western Australia (2), South Africa (2), Queensland (1) & New Zealand (1).
