Day 2 sale toppers: Yes Yes Yes colt shines on second day at Classic

Cover image courtesy of Inglis

At the end of Day 2, the sale average sits at $107,369 with a clearance rate of 82 per cent and gross of $45,632,000 and Inglis Bloodstock CEO Sebastian Hutch was delighted to see so many strong results on Monday.

“The expectation was for much of the same as the first day and I feel like that’s how it played out. Certainly, the nice horses were well found and who vetted well seemed to sell extraordinarily well in the case of many of them there was good competition on the horses.” said Hutch.

“As we saw on the first day, there is a degree of selectivity to the market, which is understandable in the circumstances, people have a fair idea about what they want and what it’s created is an opportunity for people who are shopping in the value part of the market to avail of some value that maybe hasn’t been there for the past couple of years, certainly for the to same degree.

“The clearance rate for the first day is up over 85 per cent, clearance rate for today will continue to improve (into today) and at this stage I am delighted with the way the figures read.”

Lot 559 - Yes Yes Yes x Limerock, colt - $450,000

A colt by Yes Yes Yes turned plenty of heads when he entered the ring and Brae Sokolski, who raced the colt’s The Everest-winning sire, eventually beat off some stiff competition going to $450,000 in partnership with Group 1 Bloodstock (FBAA) to secure the Coolmore Stud-consigned yearling.

Bred by the Kepitis Family’s Woppitt Bloodstock, the colt, who is now the most expensive Yes Yes Yes ever sold, is out of the winning Charge Forward mare Limerock, making him a half-brother to the Group 3 victor Limestone (Helmet) and Sandown winner Limeshow (Al Maher).

The colt’s grandam, Only Vanda (USA) (Linamix {Fr}), won three races in the US and is a half-sister to the stakes winner The Key Rainbow (Ire) (Rainbow Quest {USA}), the stakes performer Tedarshana (GB) (Darshaan {GB}).

An emotional Debbie Kepitis said they had envisioned the colt making in the region of $150,000 and could not believe the final figure.

“Fairytales don’t happen but it’s been a bit of a fairytale to get such a lovely colt, to get him to the sale, his legs were perfect, his scope was brilliant, to have all of that fall into place and to have a farm like Coolmore look after him and get him here in the condition they did, we couldn’t be happier,’’ Kepitis said.

“We had him as a $150,000 colt and he was on the market then and we let the market decide. And look what they decided – it’s a fairytale story.

“He was so hard to part with but we did what we said we would do and to see our little brand on the side of him, it just feels such an achievement.’’

Meanwhile, Sokolski had said on Sunday how much he liked the progeny of Yes Yes Yes and, like his now Coolmore Stud-based sire, the colt would head into training with Chris Waller.

Sokolski revealed he was underbidder on the dam, when Woppitt Bloodstock secured her for $160,000 at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale in 2020. He too was trying to purchase her to send to Yes Yes Yes.

“So given all the synergy, there was only one trainer who could possibly be given this horse and that’s Chris (Waller),’’ Sokolski confirmed.

“He’s just a beautiful, graceful animal. We thought he was the best colt in the sale and obviously I make all my business and racing decisions very pragmatically but yes, of course, there’s that emotional connection to the stallion.

“Matt (Scown, Sokolski’s bloodstock manager) loved the colt. We’ve looked at every Yes Yes Yes yearling that’s been offered this year and we thought he was a clear standout of all those we’d seen thus far.’’

Lot 541 - Extreme Choice x Lady No More, filly - $420,000

The progeny of Extreme Choice continue to prove extremely popular on Day 2 and Legend Racing’s Bon Ho paid $420,000 for a filly by the Newgate Stud.

The filly, who will be trained by Lloyd Kennewell, was offered by Greg and Jo Griffin’s Lime Country, on behalf of Myrrh Australia and Matty Upton.

“I love the Classic Sale because a lot of good horses come out of the sale and you don’t have to pay as big a price as you do at some of the other sales, and they win all of the big races,’’ Mr Ho said.

“This filly came highly recommended to me by Lloyd Kennewell, which is why he will train her. I have one other Extreme Choice filly and I think she might be very good so I wanted another one and this one was perfect, she was the only Extreme Choice filly in the sale and I wanted her.’’

Lime Country’s Jo Griffin was blown away by the result.

“The guys who bred her did so off a $10,000 service fee so this is truly amazing,’’ Griffin said. “She’s such a progressive filly, I’m so happy for Mr Ho. I looked at the stats and there’s only six more Extreme Choice fillies available for the rest of the season so she’s absolutely a collectors’ item.’’

Lot 411 - Written Tycoon x Fascination Street (NZ), filly - $340,000

Darren Smith, who was acting on behalf of prominent owner-breeder Bruce MacKenzie, came to this year’s Inglis Classic Yearling Sale on the hunt for filly’s and he ended up leaving the complex with two, one by Written Tycoon and another Toronado (Ire).

On his mission to find appropriate fillies for MacKenzie, Smith earmarked the daughter of Written Tycoon, as one of the best fillies in the catalogue so he was naturally delighted when the gavel fell in his favour, eventually securing her for $340,000.

Bred and consigned by Milburn Creek, the filly is the fourth foal out of New Zealand Listed winner Fascination Street (NZ) (Elusive City {USA}), whose progeny is headed by Listed-placed Not A Single Doubt gelding Maotai.

Smith said the fact the filly was a half-sister to the superfast gelding Maotai was a massive attraction and revealed he had to dig slightly deeper than he expected to snare her.

“She was one of the standout fillies of the sale and I told Bruce that she was a lovely filly and he was keen to go ahead and buy her,” said Smith. “He does love it (racing) and he tends to give them a lot of time and doesn’t really race a 2-year-old, so that’s why it’s a long process.

“Being a half-sister to Maotai, who is very fast, was a big pushing point and lets hope the half-sister is faster. I was getting nervous because that was our top end, with Bruce it’s, “Whatever you think Darren,” and I do try and put a price on it, but I did go over it a little bit.

Milburn Creek’s John Muir said the filly could have been offered at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, but was confident she would be a standout at the Classic sale this week and that foresight was well-rewarded on Monday.

“She is a nice filly. I could have brought her to Easter but I thought she’d be more of a standout here because the Easter catalogue is mouth-watering when you read it. I believe she would have sold well at Easter but she was placed in the right sale to achieve a good result.

Of the market, Muir said, “It is very selective. If you’ve got the right horse and the right conformation, they sell well but if you’re a bit off the pace, you pay the price.”

Lot 499 - Toronado (Ire) x Isle Of Capri, filly - $320,000

Swettenham Stud’s Toronado has been enjoying a wonderful week at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale and he was handed another good result on Monday when Darren Smith, again acting on behalf of prominent owner / breeder Bruce MacKenzie, secured a filly by the son of High Chaparral (Ire) for $320,000 from the draft of Tyreel Stud.

Offered as Lot 499, the filly is out of the winning Street Cry (Ire) mare Isle Of Capri, who is a daughter of Group 2 winner Kosi Bay (NZ) (Spinning World {USA}).

The filly derives from the same extended family as Group 1 winner Calveen (NZ) (Canny Lad) as well as G3 Widden S. winner Fireworks (Snitzel), the dam of Listed-winning 2-year-old Millane (Zoustar).

Smith said it was the first horse he had purchased by Toronado and like the Written Tycoon, he had to stretch the budget to secure her.

“She was a nice filly, who is probably not going to be an up and running 2-year-old. But we are happy to purchase her and again, she was the top end of our dollar.

“Targeting fillies was the plan and we had three fillies targeted and we’ve come home with two of them. That was my last bid and I squeezed a bit more out of it.”

At the close of Day 2, 10 yearlings by Toronado had sold for an aggregate of $2,110,000, while he average (with three or more sold) closed at $211,000, a figure that was only bettered by Extreme Choice.

Lot 388 - Microphone x El Estoora (NZ), filly - $300,000

The first crop of Darley’s Microphone have proved popular this sales season and on Monday the stallion was handed another memorable result when Brett Howard of Randwick Bloodstock (FBAA) secured a filly by the son of Exceed And Excel for $300,000.

Bred by Sheikh Khalifa, the filly was offered as part of the Lime Country Thoroughbreds draft and she is out of placed mare El Estoora (NZ) (High Chaparral {Ire}), who is herself a daughter of Diamond Like (Danehill {USA}).

Diamond Like produced six winners and they include Group 2 winner Forever Loved (NZ) (High Chaparral {Ire}) and Group 3 scorer Zephyron (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}).

Lime Country were handed a brilliant result on the opening day of the sale when they sold a son of Ocean Park (NZ) for $460,000 and Jo Griffin said the daughter of Microphone was the most inspected horse in their draft.

“It’s very exciting. So far, she’s been our most inspected horse of the sale, even more than the Ocean Park yesterday (Sunday),” said Griffin.

Sheikh Khalifa keeps his bloodstock interests at Segenhoe and Griffin said the farm’s general manager, Peter O’Brien let her choose from four yearlings to offer at this sale on their behalf.

“Peter (O’Brien) had I think 13 horses for this sale and he let me go and pick four for our draft and she was one of those I picked out,” she said.

“I thought she’d make at least $200,000 and I was hoping for $300,000 but you never want to hope too much. I think everybody is happy – Brett (Howard) is super happy to get such a nice filly for his client, the owners are happy, I’m happy, it’s a good story all round.”

Microphone enjoyed a strong Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale when 13 of his yearlings sold for an aggregate of $3.03 million, selling for an average of $233,077 and they included a colt who sold to China Horse Club, Newgate, Go Bloodstock and Trilogy for $750,000.

Howard was signing the docket on behalf of trainer Todd Howlett and owner Sean Dyson and the filly joins the Exceedance filly he purchased for them at Book 2 of the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale for $250,000.

“I like the Microphones,” said Howard. “He is a well-credentialled stallion prospect. When I go to the sales I try to keep an open mind on what might be good and what might be bad stallion-wise.

“I have come across quite a few Microphones that I like and this filly was actually supposed to be in the Gold Coast sales. She got accepted into the Magic Millions and then she hurt herself and couldn’t go, so they put her into this sale instead.

“Obviously, her price reflects that she was one of the better fillies in the sale and from the best female line in Australasia, the Eight Carat line. Hopefully she’s a good filly and she’s worth a lot of money for the new owner.”

On the market, Howard said, “I have been beaten on more horses than I have bought, so it is a good solid market. She was on the market for well below the $300,000 and the vendors happy.

“There are probably more happy vendors here than unhappy vendors. Obviously, if you brought something that’s got x-ray issues or scope issues or things like that, they’re a lot harder to sell.

“The clearance rate still looks quite healthy and as of (Sunday night) the average was only down $5000 or $6000, so with the rising interest rates and all the negative press about the economy going around at the moment, to be only down two or three per cent is still a pretty healthy market.”

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