Three Millionaires Head Chairman's Sale

Sydney, AUSTRALIA–The inaugural Chairman's Sale – Elite Breeding Prospects session carried on the buoyant market seen throughout the week at Newmarket in Sydney at the Easter yearling sale. The select catalogue of 85 returned a clearance rate of 86%, a gross of A$23,085,000, an average of A$329,786 and a median of A$265,000. Three lots sold for seven figures, with a high price of A$1.2-million for the Group 1-winning mare Provocative (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}), and 11 more sold for A$500,000-plus.

“You can't progress without innovation and it's been proven with both the Elite Racing Prospects last week and now tonight's Elite Breeding Prospects session that this type of sale absolutely belongs in the Australian market,” said Inglis Managing Director Mark Webster. “It's impossible to do new things well without the support of the core players, so a big thank you to all the vendors who supported this concept with us and I'm thrilled the results have been there for them with this new initiative.”

Listons Bridge The Gap…

The Liston family's Victoria-based Three Bridges Thoroughbreds sold the evening's first seven-figure lot in the form of the A$1.1-million Don't Doubt Mamma (Aus) (Not A Single Doubt {Aus}), and the operation was in the buyers seat a short time later when going to a sale-topping A$1.2-million for Group 1 winner Provocative (lot 74).

The first mare committed to this inaugural sale by Newgate Farm, the 4-year-old winner of the G1 Queensland Oaks is offered carrying her first foal, by exciting young New Zealand sire Tavistock (NZ). Three Bridges' Peter Liston said the dark bay had been bought for a partnership after being selected and signed for by Paul Willetts.

“We've got two other clients in it,” Liston noted. “Paul Willetts identified the mare and we really loved her. It's where we want to go in the business; we want to have top-quality mares and good clients. We thought she was the mare of the sale so we're very pleased to get her.”

Listed added, “Everything matched: the pedigree, the type–you can't buy a young Zabeel mare who is a Group 1 winner anymore. Once we identified this mare we weren't going to leave without her, so we're really happy.”

A Mamma For Maurice…

Arrowfield Stud has backed its belief in Japanese bloodlines, with plans to shuttle a trio of Shadai sires to Australia later this year. Among those is Japanese Horse of the Year and champion sprinter-miler Maurice (Jpn) (Screen Hero {Jpn}), and he had another quality mare added to his book on Friday night when Arrowfield's Jon Freyer went to A$1.1-million for triple group winner Don't Doubt Mamma on behalf of Northern Farm's Katsumi Yoshida.

Consigned by Three Bridges Thoroughbreds as lot 49, Don't Doubt Mamma is a full-sister to the stakes-winning Risen From Doubt (Aus). Her third dam is the G1 Queensland Oaks winner Joie Denise (Aus) (Danehill), whose dynasty includes Group 1 winners Tuesday Joy (Aus) (Carnegie {Ire}), Sunday Joy (Aus) (Sunday Silence), More Joyous (NZ) (More Than Ready) and Fenway (Aus) (High Chaparral {Ire}). Trained by Tony McEvoy for a partnership, Don't Doubt Mamma won last spring's G2 Let's Elope S. and G2 Stocks S. before finishing 12th in the G1 Myer Classic, and she heads straight to the Arrowfield paddocks.

“It's a family we love and she's by Not A Single Doubt, who has started out great as a broodmare sire,” Freyer said. “It's a tremendous family that's so hard to buy fillies from, let alone group winners. We thought she was an outstanding physical and she was a filly that was unlucky in a few of the bigger races. We think she's probably even slightly better than her race record reflects.”

Freyer noted Yoshida already has a “substantial number of broodmares” at Arrowfield. Horses bred by Arrowfield in partnership with Yoshida include Horse of the Year Weekend Hussler (Aus) (Hussonet).

Liston added, “It's a great result for our clients. They've been great clients of ours for many years and we're very grateful that they've entrusted us with the mare and we're over the moon to give them a good result.”

“The longer we've been here the more confident we've become that she might make the million dollars, so to make over it is fantastic,” he added. “All the best to the Arrowfield joint venture with Mr. Yoshida. We went to Japan last year and saw the fantastic setup, and the attention to detail is fascinating. I would encourage everyone to go to Japan and see what they're up to over there.”

New Partnership To Support Newgate Sires…

Newgate Farm's Henry Field was busy buying up quality mares throughout the evening, and he signed them to Newstar Partnership, which comprises Newgate Farm, Matthew Sandblom's Kingstar Farm and WinStar Farm. The mares, of which there were eight bought, are intended to support Newgate's four new stallions for 2017: G1 Golden Slipper winner Capitalist (Aus), group-winning sprinter Winning Rupert (Aus), G1 Blue Diamond S. winner Extreme Choice (Aus) and G1 Coolmore Stud S. winner Flying Artie (Aus). Newstar's buying list included the A$1-million Flame Of Sydney (Aus) (Encosta de Lago {Aus}) (lot 51), the dam of last weekend's G1 Sires' Produce S. winner Invader (Aus) (Snitzel {Aus}) in foal to Medaglia d'Oro; Harlem River (Aus) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) (lot 53), a stakes-winning mare in foal to Vancouver (Aus) for A$550,000; and Members Joy (Aus) (Hussonet) (lot 65), a stakes-winning mare in foal to Toronado (Ire) for A$500,000.

“I feel we bought eight absolute jewel mares today,” said Field. “They'll go to some of the most commercial stallions in Australia, which are the new horses we're retiring this year.”

“We're delighted to be growing our relationship between Newgate and WinStar,” he added. “WinStar have made a strong commitment to Australia. Matthew Sandblom, myself and Gavin Murphy of SF Bloodstock have been working hard over the last five years, and these will join the beautiful mares we bought at Keeneland November last year to give us an absolute warchest of mares to create and mold some of our young stallions. We feel we have an extraordinary group of stallions and they're going to cover some extraordinary mares.”

Also among the mares purchased by the Newstar Partnership was Lady Sniper (Aus) (Snippetson {Aus}) (lot 61), who provided an excellent return for her owners. Initally a A$1,500 weanling, Lady Sniper was picked up by Boomer Bloodstock's Craig Rounsefell on spec for A$20,000 at the Inglis Classic sale at this venue in 2014, and was picked up by Newstar for A$350,000 on Friday.

“At the time I was still building my business, I didn't have a lot of clients,” Rounsefell explained. “I bought her on spec and couldn't sell her. So my wife and my parents got involved. We also got some first-time owners; we had a baker in Brisbane who is from Vietnam, a builder, we had very good people; all these first-time owners, and we got them together and bought the filly for 20,000 in the end.”

Starting out in Brisbane, Lady Sniper broke her maiden at third asking and was subsequently sent to trainer Bjorn Baker in Sydney. She won or hit the board in her first four outings in Sydney before winning the Inglis Sprint. She recorded a black-type win in the Listed Gosford Guineas last March and was last seen finishing third in the G3 Carr S. last April. She earned A$323,275.

“She's been special to us; she showed a huge amount of ability and then tonight, selling for A$350,000 after winning A$320,000 out on the track; these first time owners are all ready to go again,” Rounsefell said. “They've since invested in more horses and got their friends involved too. As a yearling I purchased her off Widden and we decided to give her back to them for this sale and they did a great job with her. It was great to see [wife] McCall get emotional when she went through the ring. And it was great to see a good farm like Newgate buy her as well.”

Rounsefell was also active as a buyer on Friday night, purchasing the young stakes-placed mare Calming Influence (Aus) (Commands {Aus}) (lot 45) for Yarraman Park Stud for A$570,000. Calming Influence is in foal to Sebring (Aus) and will be covered this year by Yarraman's flagship sire I Am Invincible (Aus).

The session also saw strong trade for some well-credentialed foals, with Newgate's first-year foal sires making a strong impression. Topping the table was a colt by G1 Australian Guineas winner Wandjina (Aus) (lot 11), who was bought by China Horse Club for A$335,000. Newgate's group-winning sprinter Deep Field (Aus) had a pair of good results, with colts fetching A$250,000 and A$180,000, while the farm's former Horse of the Year Dissident (Aus) also had one sell for A$180,000. A son of Medaglia d'Oro made A$240,000, while Fastnet Rock had a pair sell for A$200,000.

Shares in four stallions were also auctioned, with a pair of shares in I Am Invincible (Aus) bringing A$465,000 and A$450,000. Two shares in Sebring (Aus) were the next dearest offerings of that section at A$330,000 and A$310,000 apiece.