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Global breeding powerhouse spend $5,100,000 on trio of mares at Inglis Chairman’s Sale
This coming spring Coolmore Stud will welcome exciting stallion Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj) to their Hunter Valley base and at the Inglis Chairman's Sale on Friday night the operation were stockpiling some top-class mares to support the son of Iffraaj (Zafonic) during his first season at stud in Australia.
Coolmore finished the evening as the leading buyer, purchasing three mares for an aggregate of $5,100,000 and the trio were headed by Group 1 winner Celebrity Queen (Redoute's Choice), who Tom Magnier went to $2,500,000 to secure from the Holbrook Thoroughbreds draft.
Catalogued as Lot 11, the daughter of Redoute's Choice (Danehill) added a Group 1 her record this season when she dead-headed with Portland Sky (Deep Field) in the Oakleigh Plate (Gr 1, 1100m) in February. The mare landed Colonel Reeves Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m) earlier in the season and she won seven of her 14 starts, earning $826,780 in career prize-money.
Bred and raced by Bob Peters, the mare is out of Listed winner Celebrity Miss, who is herself a daughter of dual Group 1 winner Miss Margaret (Marscay).
Miss Margaret is also the dam of Group 2 scorer Confront (Bluebird) and she also produced Best Picture (Scenic), who in turn produced Best Feature (Secret Savings) - the dam of Listed winner Stageman, who has also been placed at Group 3 level.
The mare's third dam is Listed winner Fancy Miss (Sir Tristram), who is the grandam of Group 1 winner Dreamaway (More Than Ready) and Group 3-winning duo Dances On Stars (Snitzel) and Got Unders (Southern Image).
Holbrook Thoroughbreds' Julie Harris said the price-tag the mare realised was higher than she had predicted.
"It's just amazing. She's gone higher than we expected - it is an unreal feeling," she said. "I am holding it together just about. It is a great honour to be able to do this for Bob [Peters].
"It has been about 15 years we've been looking after the mares for him. The family is an important family to us and it is a great working association. We get the horses ready for him and send them back to them and they do the racing and we look after the mares in the off season."
Bob Peters, who was unable to be at Riverside for the auction, was thrilled with the result.
"We're delighted. I thought she'd bring $2 million so it was great to get $2.5 million, it really was,'' he said.
"You could just about say that if you were writing the history of breeding in Australia, you could use her as a prime example - you look at her page and there's her sire Redoute's Choice, which also gives you Danehill, there's Sir Tristram, Marscay, More Than Ready etc, all of them champions, just as she was.
"There's a Group 1 winner on every level of the pedigree. It's just outstanding.
"This is a great result. Inglis has done a great job with the promotion of her which I'm grateful for and while I'm not at the sale, I'm aware it's a great night there tonight.''
Magnier said it is always a confidence boost when buying mares bred by Peters.
"She's a mare that doesn't need any introduction and she is an absolute queen," said Magnier. "When Bob Peters is associated with a pedigree it gives you that extra confidence. All the top people were trying to buy her, which is obviously a good sign.
"We have put a syndicate together to try and buy some mares for Wootton Bassett. We obviously supported Justify heavily last year and this year we are getting behind Wootton Bassett for his first year in the Hunter this year. Hopefully we will have a bit of luck.
"When those kinds of blue hens come into the ring, you know you're going to have to pay to get them.
"We've had the plan for a long time to acquire mares like this for our stallions, we'll keep going and support these stallions and try and get the best mares possible along the way.''
Later on in the evening Magnier etched his name on the buyers sheet once more, this time for 2018 ATC Sires' Produce Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) winner El Dorado Dreaming (Ilovethiscity), paying Torryburn Stud $1,350,000 for the five-year-old mare.
As well as winning the Sires' Produce Stakes, the mare - who was catalogued as Lot 20 - also finished second in the 2018 Champagne Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) and the 2019 edition of the Surround Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m).
El Dorado Dreaming is out of Solanas (Zabeel) and she is herself a daughter of Listed winner Pepite d'Or (Dieu d'Or) - the grandam of Group 2 scorer Sea Battle (Quest For Fame).
Further back this is also the same family as Group 1-winning pair Gold Ace (Dieu d'Or) and Final Card (Elounda Bay).
Magnier said: "She had a lot of speed and was a very good racehorse - we liked her alot. We are just trying to find those mares who will suit Wootton Bassett. He has already got a good book of mares and we just thought she was a calibre of mare that will suit the stallion. We are very happy to have got her."
Bred and raced by Yvette Pearce, the mare was born and raised at Torryburn and stud manager Melissa Copelin told Racing & Sports Bloodstock it was a 'fairytale' result for the owner.
"It was a thrill to put her through the ring," said Copelin. "The mare was born at the farm and the owner is a very good client of ours - she's a 75-year-old retired lady and so it is a fairytale result that's for sure."
Copelin admitted that while her pedigree is not the strongest, she believes her physical appearance more than makes up for it.
"Because we bred her and we have her dam at home, we were probably super critical of her and despite her being a Group 1-winning two-year-old and an outcross we know she doesn't have the perfect pedigree," said Copelin.
"But once we got here and compared her to the other mares, we thought she was comparable physically. She has perfect confirmation and a perfect temperament. The reserve we put on her was $600,000 and thought that anything over $800,000 would be a bonus, so we were delighted and exceeded all expectations."
Copelin was equally delighted to learn Coolmore's intentions to send the mare to Wootton Bassett, a stallion Torryburn intends to support with some of their own mares.
"Torryburn has got some nominations to Wootton Bassett and we have already earmarked him as a stallion to go to, so we are delighted she would visit him and I think it is a match made in heaven for sure," Copelin said.
"We actually did think about bidding on her and he would have been the stallion he would have sent her to."
Coolmore rounded off their big spending spree by purchasing multiple Group-winning mare Savanna Amour (Love Conquers All) for $1,250,000 from the draft of B2B Thoroughbreds and she was offered in foal to Coolmore's resident former champion stallion Fastnet Rock (Danehill), having produced a filly by the son of Danehill (Danzig) last spring.
Catalogued as Lot 51, the mare proved herself a top performer on the race track, winning seven of her 22 starts, headlined by five victories at stakes level, including in the Angus Armanasco Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) in 2017 and her prize-money earnings stand at $662,523.
By Love Conquers All (Mossman), the mare is out five time-winning Stravinsky (Nureyev) mare Savanna La Mar and she is herself a half-sister to Group 3 winner Voodoo Bear (Sir Tristram) and the dam of Listed scorer Good Baby (Hussonet).
Further back the mare hails from the same family as stakes winner Biscalowe (Biscay) - the dam of 1987 Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Marauding (Sir Tristram).
