News

Record results sees Chairman's Sale crowned the best ever

4th May 2023

A Chairman’s Sale described as “staggering’’, “incredible’’ and “the crème de la crème’’ tonight concluded with superstar mares Nimalee and Montefilia both selling for north of $3m.

Amid dramatic theatre in the Riverside auditorium, Coolmore and Colm Santry Bloodstock won a memorable bidding duel to buy the Glenesk Thoroughbreds-offered Nimalee for a sale-high $3.6m while Yulong secured Montefilia – offered by Newgate Consignment – for $3.4m.

Both mares set new individual sale price records, eclipsing last year’s sale topper Shout The Bar who realised $2.7m.

On a spectacular evening at Riverside:

*The sale averaged a Southern Hemisphere mares sale record $567,267 while the gross of $42,545,000 is also a Chairman’s record

*Yulong continued their stunning broodmare spending spree, also purchasing G1 star Icebath for $2.3m, Berimbau – the dam of Imperatriz, in foal to I Am Invincible - for $1.8m and Inspirational Girl for $1.1m among their 8 purchases to end the night as leading buyer with an overall spend of $11,290,000

*A total of eight lots sold for $1m or more, eclipsing the previous sale record of seven

*The highest-priced pregnant mare sold was Berimbau – in foal to I Am Invincible – who realised $1.8m.

Nimalee’s $3.6m price tag was the sale topper and an incredibly emotional result for Glenesk’s Brett Howard, who purchased the mare as a yearling filly through his Randwick Bloodstock company from the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale.

“It’s a staggering result. I’m doing a Chris Waller now,’’ an emotional Howard said as he couldn’t hold back tears following the sale.

“Inglis has really lifted their game the past few years, you look around this room tonight, they’ve created a great atmosphere, they’ve been able to get these elite mares and when you get the elite mares, they get the elite buyers as well.

“I said to [major owner] Lester [Durney] that I think this [Chairman’s Sale] is the right sale for her and that’s proved to be the case. It’s just phenomenal’’.

Nimalee’s owners were joined by her trainer Matthew Smith and friends in a gallery suite at Riverside for the sale and couldn’t believe the result.

“It’s incredible, above expectations, for sure. It is a trainer’s dream to have a horse like her and then to see her make that sort of money, it’s outstanding,’’ Smith said.

“It is a surprise the price went so high. She was right up there in the top three mares in the sale, but to make that sort of money, it’s beyond our expectations. It’s unbelievable.

“Lester and Margaret [Durney] and Brett Howard were keen to bring her to this sale, they bought her through Inglis’s and they thought it was the right sale for her and they were 100 per cent right.’’

Santry, who was joined by MV Magnier among others in a gallery suite of their own when they purchased Nimalee (pictured), was equally as stunned by the outcome.

“It’s been very tense! We probably didn’t think we’d have to dig as deep for her as we did, but the really good ones like her you have to stump up for,’’ Santry said.

“The Magniers like to buy the best mares, we valued her and we thought she was the best physical in the sale.

“We can breed her to a lot of stallions on our doorstep, we’ve got Wootton Bassett, Justify and what a fabulous mating she’ll make for Shinzo in time.

“We can really utilise her and what we’re really hoping for is to breed a stallion out of her and she was probably the best mare in the sale to possibly achieve that.’’

The second-top lot Montefilia – who realised an at-the-time individual Chairman’s Sale record price of $3.4m – and third-top lot Icebath ($2.3m) were both offered by Newgate Consignment and were both purchased by Yulong.

Offered as a racing and breeding prospect, Montefilia will continue her racing career in the spring and beyond before eventually retiring to Yulong’s Victorian base.

“Mr Zhang wants to build a broodmare band with these elite mares and she’s an elite racehorse who will eventually join the broodmare band, so it’s fantastic for the farm and our stallions,’’ Yulong’s Sam Fairgray said.

“When you’re trying to get mares like her you have to front up and pay, and I think Northern Farm were underbidders. When you see what they’ve done with their elite broodmare band in Japan, they improved the gene pool greatly by going around the world and pulling mares out of Australia, America and Europe.”

It was this internationalisation theme that had Newgate’s Henry Field amazed by the outcome of the top-end mares tonight.

“We had some outstanding mares and we feel honoured and privileged at having been entrusted with them and what I found so interesting was the international participation and interest on those two mares (Montefilia and Icebath). We had bidders on both of them from Europe, Japan… obviously they were bought by Yulong from China but a big Australian operation,’’ Field said.

“That’s amazing international interest, these are elite mares here and what a result for Mr Zhang to have bought mares of that quality. He is stockpiling pretty much every jewel that’s coming to market.’’

On the Chairman’s Sale as a spectacle, Field added: “The Chairman’s Sale is amazing. Tonight the vibe has been electric, the quality of mares has been high class, the international appeal of this sale is something else and it shows the respect and strength the international market gives the Chairman’s Sale.’’

Fairgray said it was Icebath’s pedigree combined with her physical that attracted Mr Zhang to her so much.

“She’s got some really nice blood in her family going back to Savabeel and Centaine, good broodmare sires so we’re really delighted to get her,’’ Fairgray said.

“It’s great here again tonight, a good atmosphere here and obviously the quality of bloodstock here is the crème de la crème.’’

Inglis Bloodstock CEO Sebastian Hutch was delighted with tonight’s Chairman’s Sale, both as a sale and as a spectacle.

“The Chairman’s Sale has really quickly developed into one of the nights of the year on the global sales calendar and I think tonight was the perfect demonstration of that,’’ Hutch said.

“You don’t get anything like this anywhere in the world – it’s an elite bloodstock sale, cocktail party and dinner party all rolled into one and it’s just great fun.

“Everyone on our team is invested in making each and every sale the very best it can be, but to look at where this sale was even three or four years ago to where it was tonight, it really is quite humbling and it comes from a lot of hard work from everyone at Inglis. That hard work, combined with incredible support from owners, trainers, breeders, vendors and buyers has elevated the concept to where it is now.

“To the Nimalee, Montefilia and Icebath connections, to Bob and Sandra Peters, to the owners of all the other top-level entries into sale, I say ‘thank you’ because you have played a huge role in seeing the Chairman’s Sale become what it has become and we already can’t wait to see what we can do next year.’’

To enquire about a passed in lot from tonight’s sale, contact Harry Bailey on 0420 997 417.

The Inglis Breeding Stock Sales Series continues tomorrow at Riverside with the Australian Broodmare Sale from midday, for which 170 mares have been catalogued including a Peters Investments Unreserved Broodmare Reduction Sale comprising of 12 lots.

To view the Australia Broodmare Sale catalogue, CLICK HERE.