Top Chairman's Lots Bound For Hong Kong

Sydney, AUSTRALIA–The top two lots of Inglis's inaugural Chairman's Sale – Elite Racing Prospects session are bound for Hong Kong, with Rob McAnulty signing for the sale-topping Gunnison (Aus) (Not A Single Doubt {Aus}) (lot 10), the session's top offering, at A$1.4-million in Sydney on Thursday evening.

The Chairman's sale saw nine offerings–shares in or entire offerings of accomplished runners–auctioned at Newmarket, all in absentia. All four that were offered in entirety were sold, and five offerings in all were sold for A$2,747,000, at an average of A$549,400 and a median of A$260,000.

Inglis's National Bloodstock Director Jonathan D'Arcy said post-sale, “For a first go we're very happy with it. The quality of the horses was very good.”

The Chairman's Sale was not spared from the unrelenting rain pelting Sydney in recent weeks, and D'Arcy added, “The weather has been very inclement today and I'm sure we would have gotten more people here if it was a nicer evening, but we really just wanted to showcase what the sale was about and I'm sure people will take that away and next time we'll get even more interest in the sale. What's important is that for people who want to get involved in racing, we have to give them different avenues in, and one of the reasons we put the sale on was to make it easier for owners to be able to have a runner within a week or two, and some cases in a couple days. I think that's what really excited a lot of the people here tonight.”

Gunnison was first offered by Inglis a year ago nearly to the day, when he fetched A$850,000 from agent James Harron at the Easter yearling sale. Subsequently gelded, Gunnison has justified that price tag with two wins from two starts for trainers Peter and Paul Snowden, including the G2 Todman S. last out. Harron noted pre-sale that Gunnison was being offered simply because he didn't fit in with the ownership group's colts program. He was sold with an entry in Saturday's G1 Sires' Produce S. at Randwick, but McAnulty, who was acting on behalf of his son Chris McAnulty, said Gunnison would be scratched.

Chris McAnulty commented by phone, “We targeted this horse for a specific reason and that is that sprinting events in Hong Kong at the moment are very open with not huge fields, so we see this as a great opportunity to get a high-quality sprinter from Australia over there. Gunnison is a lovely gelding, he's proved in his short career already that he is loaded with ability and we're looking forward to getting our hands on him and seeing what he can do in Hong Kong.''

Gunnison is out of the Group 2 winner Colorado Claire (Aus) (Hussonet), whose Snitzel filly will be offered by Arrowfield next week at Easter as lot 84.

Also bound for Hong Kong is 2-year-old colt Eden Roc (Aus) (Star Witness {Aus}) (lot 7), who was picked up by agent George Moore for A$900,000, with Sheikh Fahad the underbidder. The stakes-placed Eden Roc has been twice placed from four starts for Team Hawkes and was a last-out fourth in the G2 Skyline S. at Randwick on Feb. 25. His dam is a half-sister to this season's dual group-winning 3-year-old sprinter Star Turn (Aus) (Star Witness {Aus}) and Straight Gold (Aus) (Stratum {Aus}), who was trained by Moore's father John Moore to a handful of stakes placings in Hong Kong.

“We were underbidder [on Eden Roc] for A$700,000 as a yearling at the Magic Millions sales so we knew what type of horse we were going to get,” George Moore explained. “He's going to come in at a 74 rating so he's got a lot of upside in our opinion. What we're going to do is probably send him to the farm and geld him. Hopefully it'll improve him a couple lengths. He's got a very clean bill of health and we've bought out of the family before with Straight Gold, who did really well in Hong Kong, so we're hoping the family will do well for us.”

D'Arcy added, “The two 2-year-olds were the star attractions. Eden Roc is a horse we felt was suited to stay here as a stallion prospect or go to Hong Kong. He's off to Hong Kong and once again we were quite pleased with the competition on him, and I know the vendor was delighted with the price he achieved.”

“Gunnison, I think it's very rare for a horse like that ever to be offered at a sale like this,” D'Arcy continued. “He's at the peak of his powers, undefeated, he isn't going to run in the Sires' given the owner is based in Hong Kong and wants to take him up there, but we'll follow his progress with great interest and I'm sure he's going to be a great advertisement for this type of sale in the future.”

The new owners of Chance To Dance (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) (lot 2) could get a chance to recoup their investment as early as next Saturday when the 6-year-old gelding lines up for the A$2-million G1 Sydney Cup. Jamie Richards, who trains Saturday's G1 Australian Derby favourite Gingernuts (NZ) (Iffraaj {GB}) in partnership with Stephen Autridge, signed for Chance To Dance at A$260,000 on behalf of David Ellis of Te Akau Racing.

“David bought him for a very good client of ours, John Galvin of Fortuna Syndications,” Richards explained. “He's going to be syndicated in New Zealand and at this stage our plan is to run him in the Sydney Cup, we just need to work through the particulars but at this stage he'll be trained in the Sydney Cup by Stephen Autridge and myself. We'll work out the jockeys and everything like that the next couple days.”

Previously trained by Robert Hickmott for Lloyd and Nick Williams, Chance To Dance won a 2400 metre handicap at Caulfield on Feb. 4 before finishing second in Moonee Valley's Listed Torney Cup. He was fourth in Morphettville's G2 Adelaide Cup on Mar. 13.

There was action on fillies at Newmarket on Thursday evening as well, with Yu Long Investments going to A$155,000 for the 3-year-old filly Fallacy (Aus) (Commands {Aus}) (lot 3). Fallacy has been upwardly mobile for trainer Toby Edmonds this season, placing twice at Eagle Farm before breaking her maiden a week ago at Doomben. She holds an entry for Saturday's G3 Adrian Knox S.

D'Arcy noted, “A number of horses have gone to the paddocks because of the wet tracks and that probably took away from their appeal to a certain extent. But a filly like Fallacy, who two weeks ago was running around Brisbane, wins a maiden then carries an entry to the G3 Adrian Knox on Saturday, given the wet track she's going to be running a very good race I'd suggest, and we'd love to see her be very competitive on Saturday. It was a nice pedigree anyway and if she can pick up some black-type, that's what the owners are looking for.”

Fallacy is a half-sister to the stakes-winning Premardal (Aus) (Shamardal), and they are out of a half-sister to champions Arazi (Blushing Groom) and Noverre (Rahy).

Among the passed-in offerings was a 50% share in G3 Doncaster Prelude second No Doubt (Aus) (Not A Single Doubt {Aus}) (lot 5) at A$200,000; a 28.75% share in stakes-winning 3-year-old filly Moqueen (Aus) (Uncle Mo) (lot 6) at A$125,000; and a 10% share in dual group-winning 3-year-old Man From Uncle (Aus) (Uncle Mo) (lot 8) at A$70,000.

Inglis Managing Director Mark Webster said upon conclusion of the sale, “We wanted to present a concept to the market where they could be involved in purchasing elite-level racehorses, and I think tonight proved there is definitely a market for it here in Australia. We've also showed there's a very transparent way to sell geldings into Asia–A$1.4 million is an Australasian record for a gelding at auction. It's clear buyers are more confident buying 100% of a horse rather than a smaller share, but that's something I'm sure will shift over time. I would like to thank Racing NSW and the Australian Turf Club for their support of the sale and wish them the best of luck with The Championships over the coming days.”