Written by Paul Vettise
Darby Racing’s strong association with Inglis Digital continued on Friday when two-time winner and stakes performer Celestial Falls (Hinchinbrook) was sold for $465,000 in the Spring Boutique Sale.
The Group 2-mare is a half-sister to three-time stakes winner and Group 1-placegetter Greysful Glamour (Stratum) sold to Michael Flannery’s Victorian nursery Springmount.
Celestial Falls sold by Darby Racing on Inglis Digital for $465,000
The result comes just weeks after another of Darby’s top-quality mares, Every Rose (Choisir), sold for $1.3 million in a bespoke online auction on the Inglis Digital platform.
“If you’d told me on September 1 that we would have sold two mares on Inglis Digital in the next month for almost $2 million I would have laughed, but the rise and rise of the platform just continues to make huge steps,’’ Darby Racing Director Scott Darby said.
“It’s a terrific result and a bit of a chain reaction I suppose. Every Rose went to Inglis Digital off the back of results like Funstar (who sold for $2.7 million) and then when she sold so well, it was really quite an easy decision to send Celestial Falls there as well.
“In this market you can get a little bullish, but we set the reserve at $300,000. I thought she would make between $300,000 and $400,000 and anything over $450,000 would be beyond your wildest dreams, so to get $465,000 for her is just fantastic for the owners.
“In this market you can get a little bullish, but we set the reserve at $300,000.” – Scott Darby
“It’s just such a strong market at the moment and it brings an end to an era for us with Celestial Falls and her half-sister Greysful Glamour now both sold for almost $2 million which is extraordinary.’’
Celestial Falls sold to Springmount, on behalf of a client, and is likely to visit Written Tycoon.
“She is obviously a lovely mare and they have been very hard to buy the last little while so we are very pleased to secure her for a very good client of the farm,” Flannery said. “It’s pleasing to have mares of this quality residing at Springmount.”
Celestial Falls was purchased by Springmount
Flannery said the transparent nature of the Inglis Digital platform was key to its success.
“Every piece of information you could possibly want to evaluate a mare, photos, videos, reports, etc., is there, which makes it very easy to bid with confidence.”
Inglis Digital’s Nick Melmeth was understandably delighted with the result.
“That brings to 75, the number of $100,000-plus lots for the platform so far, which is really excellent,” he said.
“We have some exciting lots to offer through October and we are really looking forward to putting more excellent catalogues together as we work with vendors and buyers to identify their optimum sale solutions.”
Entries are now open for the Inglis Digital October (Early) Online Sale, which runs from October 8-13, and closes on October 6.
