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Kaha Nui Farm strikes at the top on record opening day of Australian Weanling Sale

6th May 2024

An I Am Invincible filly for the Alma Vale/Kitchwin Hills partnership which realised $575,000 capped off a record opening day of the Australian Weanling Sale at Riverside.

Lot 195 (I Am Invincible x Shoko) – offered on behalf of Ridgmont Farm and described by Alma Vale/Kitchwin’s Verna Metcalfe as “a queen’’ – sold to Nick and Nicky White’s Kaha Nui Farm for the day-high figure.

She was one of 35 lots to sell for $100,000 or more today, compared with 24 for the same day 12 months ago.

The filly also played a role in today’s opening day aggregate of $11,112,500 being the highest single grossing day in the sale’s history as the first weanling sale of the Southern Hemisphere season started with gusto.

Metcalfe wasn’t surprised to see her filly sell so strongly today, given how strong the market was.

“I started off thinking we could get $200,000 for her but then I had a couple of people come up to me today and I thought then that we could get $300,000 or $400,000 for her,’’ Metcalfe reflected post-sale.

“Was I surprised to see her get $575,000? No, because she’s a Vinnie filly and a really quality filly at that.

“She was our top lot as far as inspections went, she was never in the box. It’s brilliant.’’

It was an equally outstanding result for Andrew Dunemann, who bought the mare Shoko – in foal to Home Affairs - for $245,000 on Inglis Digital just last month.

For buyer Nicky White, any decision on whether the filly (pictured) is retained to raced or sold at a yearling sale in 2025 won’t be made in the immediate future.

“The [I Am Invincible] fillies are doing well and at the end of the day if I want to keep her and race her, I’ve got a filly to race. I loved her,’’ White said.

“We ended up keeping a filly last year so we’ll get her home and just see how she goes, take a breath and calm the nerves and get on with it.

“You’ve always got residual value with a filly like her, which I really like…and I love developing young athletes myself.’’

White described today’s market as “very strong’’ and when asked how far she blew the budget by to secure the I Am Invincible filly, replied: “Just as well my husband’s not here!’’

Today’s second-top lot was a Capitalist x Knit ‘n’ Purl colt of Macquarie Stud which sold for $370,000, also to Kaha Nui Farm.

Macquarie’s David Baxter has been selling with Inglis for 53 years and said to achieve a result like this “at the end of my career, I suppose you could say it’s a pleasure’’.

“We bred every horse on the page, the mother, the grandmother and the great grandmother and kept quite a few females from it, it’s been a good solid family but we haven’t sold many horses like that,’’ Baxter said.

“He was a wonderful foal from the day he was born and some good judges came through home looking at the horses and one said to me, ‘you know, you should offer this horse as a weanling’, which I normally wouldn’t do because over the years we’ve taken them through to the yearling stage but I took his advice and I am glad I did.

“We thought if he brought $200,000, that was about his mark and we thought he could come home if he didn’t bring $200,000 and he brought $370,000, so I am a bad judge.’’

White is anything but a bad judge and conceded she was again running out of bids before finally winning the battle.

“For me, he was the colt of the sale to be honest, he had plenty of length about him, I think he’s got a lot of growing to do without getting too big and he’s definitely one I wanted to take home, but they were pushing me along a bit,’’ White said.

“I was getting to a point where perhaps I should sit on my hands but I’m glad I got him. We’ll get him back to the farm in the Waikato and see what we can turn him into.’’

At the conclusion of Day 1 trade today the gross sits at $11,112,500 (up 40% year-on-year), average at $63,500 (up 25%) and median at $36,000 (up 20% YOY).

Inglis Bloodstock CEO Sebastian Hutch was delighted with how Day 1 played out.

“We were always confident that we had plenty of nice horses in the catalogue and we were really happy with the volume of buyers that were engaged in the sale, so when you have those two elements where you want them, it is a promising sign for any sale,’’ Hutch said.

“The market was extremely strong for foals that met the criteria of buyers and there were some outstanding outcomes as a result.

“We are incredibly grateful to our vendors who have supported our sale with a group of foals that the buying bench has found really appealing.

“We had foals by 24 different stallions make $100,000 or more today which to me is a good indicator of a healthy market.

“I expect buyers will be looking forward to tomorrow, with plenty of nice foals to go through again and opportunities for value likely to be aplenty.”

To enquire about a passed in lot from today’s action contact Ziva Mullins on 0435 743 222.

The second and final day of the Australian Weanling Sale will begin at 10am tomorrow at Riverside, where 176 weanlings have been catalogued.

To view the catalogue CLICK HERE.

Following the conclusion of the Australian Weanling Sale the Inglis Breeding Stock Sales Series continues on Thursday evening with The Chairman’s Sale from 5pm, where 88 lots are catalogued in what is one of the nights of the year at Riverside.

The action then concludes on Friday with the Australian Broodmare Sale, where a further 219 broodmares are catalogued.

To view The Chairman’s Sale or Australian Broodmare Sale catalogues, CLICK HERE.

Action then heads to Melbourne for the Great Southern Sale, which will be held at Oaklands on June 13 and 14.

Entries for the sale must close at 10am Wednesday.

To enter CLICK HERE.

2024 AUSTRALIAN WEANLING SALE DAY 1 STATISTICS (2023 in brackets)

Sold: 175 (156)

Clearance: 75% (71%)

Average: $63,500 ($50,827)

Median: $36,000 ($30,000)

Gross: $11,112,500 ($7,929,000)