Extreme Choice Colt Becomes New Inglis Sales Topper

At an auction nothing is fait accompli, but for at least a week it appeared almost certain that a colt by Extreme Choice would top the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale. It was just a matter of which one would have the honor of setting the record.

And so it proved on day two of the Riverside Stables sale when the Newgate Farm, China Horse Club, and Trilogy Racing colts partnership went to AUS$825,000 ($583,530) Feb. 7 for a Mane Lodge-bred son of the champion first season sire, a producer of six stakes winners from just 33 runners and last year's Longines Golden Slipper (G1) winner Stay Inside.

The result eclipsed the price paid for Sunday's opening day pacesetter, a pinhooked Extreme Choice colt sold by Bell River Thoroughbreds for AU$775,000 ($548,164), a figure that smashed the previous record of AU$625,000 ($442,068), only for it to be surpassed by Neil and Denise Osborne's yearling less than 24 hours later.

Field was underbidder on Sunday's session-topping colt, losing out to agent James Harron, but yesterday's purchase added to the partnership's growing collection of Extreme Choice's sons, having paid AU$650,000 ($459,751) for a weanling by him at last year's Magic Millions National Sale. Both will form part of the group's division of 2-year-olds next season.

"They are two outstanding colts by Extreme Choice. So, those horses were always going to break the record from the day they walked onto the sales complex a week ago," the Newgate Farm principal said yesterday.

Field suggested that the AU$825,000 ($583,530) colt and the recently retired Stay Inside, a first-crop colt by Extreme Choice who will stand his maiden season at Newgate Farm in 2022, shared many similar traits beyond just their shared paternal genetics.

"We have obviously got his sire Extreme Choice on the farm and we've got his best son in Golden Slipper winner Stay Inside back at the farm now, too, and I have been looking at father and son a lot," Field said yesterday.

Osborne's confidence in his Extreme Choice colt only grew as inspection numbers ramped up throughout the week at Riverside Stables.

"Henry had six or seven looks and I honestly thought he was equal to the colt (sold on Sunday), so his price didn't really surprise me," Neil Osborne said.

In the late 1970s and early '80s, Osborne and his wife Denise thought they were "going pretty well" selling horses for a couple of grand. Four decades later, and a mainstay of the Inglis sales scene and the industry in general, the couple's Mane Lodge at Sutton, near Canberra, now lays claim to having bred and sold the highest-priced horse ever presented at a Classic sale.

"It's just sensational and it's great to be here at Inglis with the new record as he is a lovely colt," said Osborne, soon after being embraced by a throng of Canberra trainers such as Barbara Joseph, Nick Olive, and Luke Pepper.

"I think '79 was my first sale, the old Christmas sale, and I have a lot of friends here, there's a lot of good people around in the industry, so it's great to be able to enjoy it with friends."

Bred by the Osbornes in conjunction with friend Dean Crowe, the Lot 313-cataloged colt is the fifth foal out of To Dubawi Go, who Neil trained to win six races and AU$120,000 ($116,974) in prize money from 2010 to 2015.

"Neil Osborne is a top bloke, a good breeder and horseman and he has a very good family (behind him). I have been to their farm and they raise them well, so I had great confidence in buying from them," Field said.

"I looked at this horse and I thought, 'well, he's by the best stallion statistically in the southern hemisphere in Extreme Choice, out of a mare by the best stallion in the northern hemisphere, being Dubawi '. Those two mixed together in a horse who is outstanding ... (made him) the one that we wanted.

While many breeders may have to chosen to avoid the added risk of sending a mare to a then unproven sire and sub-fertile stallion in Extreme Choice in 2019, Osborne took the punt with his well-performed mare To Dubawi Go, a half sister to the stakes-placed Nisos.

"I loved his sire, Not A Single Doubt , who I actually bid on at the Magic Millions (in 2003) when he was passed in as a yearling and it is just a family I've always loved," Osborne revealed.

"I loved Extreme Choice when he went to stud as well. I have tried to get a few more foals by him, and I haven't got a lot of them, but I do have another filly for next year's sales (out of Green Mirage)."

Mane Lodge sold To Dubawi Go's fourth foal, a colt by Smart Missile , to trainer Greg Hickman at last year's Classic sale for AU$90,000 ($69,025). Named Smartawi, he made his debut at Newcastle in November.

Valiant's The Autumn Sun Gamble Not in Vain After Sizeable Payday 

In a sale of milestones, the 2022 Classic also provided an important stepping stone for Irishman Fergal Connolly's investment in his Hunter Valley farm Valiant Stud.

In 2019, Connolly stumped up the not insignificant sum of AU$77,000 ($54,462) to send Talimena, the three-quarter sister to group 1 winner Denman , and the half sister to Golden Slipper winner Kiamichi, to Arrowfield's prized first-season sire The Autumn Sun.

The resulting foal, a striking August-born filly, sold for AU$550,000 ($389,020) Feb. 7 to Willow Park Stud's Glenn Burrows who identified the yearling on behalf of his long-time New Zealand client Gary Harding, known for having raced group 1 winners Bounding  and Bonham, among others.

She is the highest-priced horse Valiant Stud has sold, surpassing a Savabeel  filly Connolly sold for AU$525,000 ($371,337) last year.

"We were delighted to offer a Savabeel filly at the Magic Millions last year, but to sell The Autumn Sun filly today at the Inglis Classic sale and realize such a great price (is fantastic)," Connolly said.

"After putting our necks on the line and breeding to an expensive stallion, I am delighted with the outcome and I couldn't be happier with how the filly coped with the sale all week.

"She has been in and out of the box non-stop and she's dealt with it all so well and the staff have looked after her brilliantly."

Burrows, signing under his bloodstock banner after holding off the challenge from Astute Bloodstock's Louis Le Metayer who was under bidder, declared the filly to be a standout daughter of five-time group 1 winner The Autumn Sun.  

"To my eye, she was the filly of the sale. She's been bought for a very good client in New Zealand,'' Burrows said.

"She'll go to New Zealand and prove herself over there hopefully at two, and then she'll come across to Australia to a very good trainer here and hopefully further her career as a 3-year-old in Australia.

"I'm a big fan of The Autumn Sun, I think he's a great chance. It's a lovely old Woodlands family, being out of a Lonhro mare, with Bounding being by Lonhro, that ticked the box for Gary, but above everything else, regardless of pedigree, she's just one of the fillies of the sale.''

Burrows and Harding, who presently has Meg, by Sebring  in training with Matt Dale at Canberra, bought a Zoustar filly for AU$280,000 ($198,046) from Milburn Creek at last month's Magic Millions sale.

"He only buys particular sorts, so we were particularly careful as to what we suggested for him and hopefully he'll be happy with her when she gets to New Zealand," said Burrows.

Market Maintains Momentum 

Monday's trade maintained its record pace with the second session market hitting another new high for a single-day aggregate, bringing receipts of AU$28,388,000 ($20,079,100), taking the two-day total to AU$55,509,000 ($39,262,000).

The average was last night at AU$126,444 ($89,435) and the median at AU$100,000 ($70,730) while the clearance rate was 89%.

"We've had another fantastic day. We were pretty confident that it was a nice spread of horses through the catalog so there was going to be no obvious bias across the three days," Inglis Bloodstock chief executive Sebastian Hutch said.

"Obviously there were a number of people who got disappointed trying to buy horses (on Sunday) that appear to have got involved in them going into today and there are a number of people who weren't on the sheet yesterday who are on the sheet today.

"It's been a very positive day for a lot of people and there's no reason to think tomorrow won't be an equally positive day."

Newgate Farm's Field, whose draft had realized AU$4,895,000 ($3,462,280) from 40 lots sold so far at an average of AU$122,375 ($86,556), said: "What I like about the market, from the top to bottom, is it has been terrific. We've sold horses in our draft for AU$20,000 and up to AU$550,000 ... and the buying bench Inglis has put together has really ensured there's been great depth."   

The final session, which encompasses Lots 541-660 in Book 1 and the Highway catalog, starts at 10 a.m.