Written by Trent Masenhelder and Oz Wedmore
Cover image courtesy of Western Racepix
Bob Peters’ homebred Group 1-winning mare, Inspirational Girl (NZ) (Reliable Man {GB}), has been confirmed as a supplementary entry for next month’s Inglis Chairman’s Sale at Riverside Stables.
Now seven, Inspirational Girl bows out having won 10 of her 22 starts, with her career-best effort being her impressive victory in the 2020 G1 Railway S. at Ascot, where she bested horses such as Red Can Man (Gingerbread Man), Truly Great (Dundeel {NZ}) and Kementari (Lonhro).
Inspirational Girl also ran second in the G1 Kingston Town Classic in 2020 and triumphed in the G2 Blamey S. in 2022. The beaten brigade on that occasion included multiple Group 1 scorer Zaaki (GB) (Leroidesanimaux {Brz}), as well as the two-time Doncaster H. hero Mr Brightside (NZ) (Bullbars).
She has a Timeform rating of 115, which is the equal of fellow elite-level scorers Icebath (NZ) (Sacred Falls {NZ}), Con Te Partiro (USA) (Scat Daddy {USA}) and Nimalee (So You Think {NZ}).
In an admirable rise through the ranks, Inspirational Girl won her first two starts and six of her first seven. Adding black type to her CV at her first attempt when tackling the G3 Asian Beau S. in 2020, it was on her very next start that she gained that all-important elite-level success in the Railway.
“She was very good, as she showed the day she beat Zaaki and Mr Brightside at Flemington,’’ Peters said.
“She (Inspirational Girl) was very good, as she showed the day she beat Zaaki and Mr Brightside at Flemington.’’ - Bob Peters
“She had no luck after that and was undoubtedly a better mare than her record says.”
Another appealing pedigree for Chairman’s
Inspirational Girl is from the winless Zabeel (NZ) mare Be Inspired, making her a half-sister to the Listed victor Ruettiger (NZ) (Duporth).
Her grandam, Done That (NZ) (Centaine), produced two Group 3 winners - Rainbow Styling (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}) and Zingaling (Redoute’s Choice) - and is also the dam of Be Inspired’s sister, Midnight Special (Zabeel {NZ}), who in turn produced Group 2 scorers Demonetization (All Too Hard) and Midnight Blue (So You Think {NZ}).
“It’s a total outcross pedigree and she’s inbred to Mill Reef, which is a special thing to find in a pedigree nowadays,” Peters added.
“It’s (Inspirational Girl's) a total outcross pedigree and she’s inbred to Mill Reef, which is a special thing to find in a pedigree nowadays.” - Bob Peters
For Inglis, she is the latest in a series of high-profile additions to the Chairman’s Sale and, despite all eyes laying firmly on the imminent Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, Inglis Bloodstock CEO Sebastian Hutch was delighted to be revealing the news.
“We are extremely grateful to Bob and Sandra Peters for their ongoing support of the Chairman’s Sale,” he said. “To have the opportunity to offer this mare alongside Graceful Girl and Celebrity Miss, etc., for this year’s catalogue is a testament to the esteem in which the Chairman’s Sale is held.”
Inspirational Girl becomes the 33rd filly or mare in the catalogue that is free of Danehill (USA) blood. A mark of the sale’s quality, she is one of 73 stakes or stakes-producing horses and, aside from Graceful Girl (Nicconi) and Celebrity Miss (More Than Ready {USA}), she joins a host of Group 1 winners including Montefilia (Kermadec {NZ}), Icebath and Nimalee.
Inspirational Girl (NZ), winner of the G1 Railway S. | Image courtesy of Western Racepix
“It’s the best broodmare sale catalogue that we’ve put together, certainly in recent memory,” Hutch said. “Particularly in terms of the fillies off the track, it would be one of the strongest groups of fillies that Inglis has ever had.
“It creates a great opportunity for buyers, who want the chance to purchase the best breeding stock possible. Inspirational Girl fits that bill - she’s a Group 1 winner at a mile and she has fantastic weight-for-age form in Melbourne when she beat Zaaki and Mr Brightside.
“She’s got a completely Danehill-free pedigree featuring a series of stallions that I think people see a real opportunity in being able to breed to. I think people with exposure to all the major stallions in Australia will see a mare like her and think: ‘Why wouldn’t I want her?’”
“I think people with exposure to all the major stallions in Australia will see a mare like her (Inspirational Girl) and think: ‘Why wouldn’t I want her?’” - Sebastian Hutch
Whilst Hutch admitted that speed is ‘crucially’ important in the Australian market, he also pointed to the complementary effect offered by mares that stretch out over further when put to speedier stallions.
“I think Anamoe is a great example of that. You have a mare that is a Group 1 winner at 2000 metres bred to Street Boss who is synonymous with speed, and here you’ve produced this horse that’s capable of winning a Blue Diamond and equally as good at weight for age as a 4-year-old over a mile plus.
“They’re the kind of mares that let you do that, and Inspirational Girl is the sort of mare that gives people the opportunity to follow suit.”
