Inglis Digital keeps on: $1.2 million for Yulong-bound Another Award

Cover image courtesy of Inglis Digital

Inglis Digital has enjoyed a recent run of prolific results, which continued on Wednesday with the July (Early) Online Sale. The 5-year-old mare Another Award, a daughter of Shamus Award, sold to Yulong for $1.2 million.

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It proved the highest price for Inglis Digital this year, and the fourth-highest overall price for the platform ever. Consigned by her ownership, which includes the race caller Terry McAuliffe, Another Award headed a catalogue that included She’s All Class (I Am Invincible) selling for $620,000, and the imported mare Upside (Ire) (Muhaarar {GB}) selling for $455,000.

Another Award was offered as a racing or breeding prospect and, at $1.2 million, it was a predictable result that she would head to Yulong as a valuable new asset.

Trained by Leon Macdonald and Andrew Gluyas at Morphettville, she was second last time out in the G1 The Goodwood, running behind only Royal Merchant (Merchant Navy), and previous to that she was also second in the G1 Robert Sangster S. to Ruthless Dame (NZ) (Tavistock {NZ}).

Another Award won the Listed Matrice S. earlier this year and she has consistently knocked on the door of Group and Listed races throughout her career. In fact, she has finished in the top four in 10 races at Group 1 and stakes level.

At the point of sale on Wednesday afternoon, her record stood at seven wins for 11 placings in 33 lifetime starts.

For outgoing trainer Leon Macdonald, who will retire from the game in just a few weeks, Another Award’s sale was exactly what he was expecting. The mare races in the stable colours, albeit the co-trainer is not in the ownership.

“I wouldn’t want to brag, but I said to the owners that they’d get $1.2 million for her,” Macdonald said, chatting with TTR AusNZ from Murray Bridge races. “She’s a very smart mare. Her last preparation was her best one and it was agonising to run second in those two Group 1s with her.”

Another Award was a yearling purchase for Macdonald and Gluyas at the 2019 Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale. Consigned by Willow Grove Stud, she was a daughter of El Milagro (Encosta De Lago) and, as such, a half-sister to the stakes winners Tequila Time (Stratum) and Inner Warrior (God’s Own).

At $150,000, she wasn’t expensive, according to Macdonald.

“She was very, very fidgety as a young filly,” the trainer said. “She didn’t eat well after her races, but last preparation she came in and she really did well. She matured, and if she were a gelding you’d be loving the idea of next year.

“But seeing she’s a 5-year-old mare rising six, it really was a good time to sell her. She was a $150,000 filly for us, so it’s been a good result.”

Another Award will be a good investment for new owner Yulong. Her dam has produced three stakes winners. This is the same family as the good stakes winner Personal Ensign (Rubiton) and her dual Group-winner Fontiton (Turffontein).

At Willow Grove Stud in South Australia, studmaster Ralph Satchell watched Wednesday’s sale with keen interest. Not only did Satchell breed and sell Another Award as a yearling, but he, wife Linda and son Tim Satchell were principle owners in the mare’s syndicate.

“We were fortunate enough to keep a decent share in Another Award and we’ve enjoyed the ride,” Ralph Satchell said, speaking to TTR AusNZ. “She was good enough to be placed at Group 1 level twice over our carnival down here, and because of those great results we thought she’d probably be a seven-figure mare.

“It’s easy to say they’re worth seven figures but it’s another thing to get it. Any time you can sell a mare for $1.2 million, you’d be happy to get it and we certainly are. Yulong are a big part of buying these top-end mares and we wish them every success with Another Award.”

In 2012, Satchell paid just $5000 for El Milagro at the Inglis Great Southern Sale. It’s been a fairytale, given the mare has delivered Willow Grove such good results.

“I went to that sale because we were buying mares for our new stallion, Mint Lane, and I looked at a lot of mares,” Satchell said. “I thought El Milagro was a standout and she was the one that I really wanted to go home with.

“I figured that if I had to go to $20,000 or $25,000 I’d be bullish and lash out, just to make sure I took her home, so I nearly fainted when I got her for $5000. I was more than happy with that because she was my number-one draft pick from that Great Southern Sale.”

El Milagro has given Willow Grove a number of yearlings to the tune of $170,000, $150,000 and $120,000. She has paid herself off and then some, not to mention that Satchell has stayed in many of them, including Another Award.

El Milagro’s journey began in 2004 when she was bought as a yearling by John Foote for $80,000, and for a time she was in Western Australia, bred to God’s Own for her first three seasons at stud. Her first foal for Willow Grove was Our Gladiator (Mint Lane {USA}), who won 10 races and close to $350,000.

She also delivered them the stakes winner Tequila Time, and her last foal for the family was Spanish Miracle (Palentino) in 2018. Since then, El Milagro has been tricky to breed and she’s likely to be retired now at Willow Grove.

“She’s missed the last few years so she’ll just live her life out in our paddocks,” Satchell said. “We’ve got her daughter, Spanish Miracle, who is having her first foal this year by Wild Ruler.

“We’ve also got another branch of the family through Angel Of Hope, who we’ve had quite good success with. We race her daughter, Hope At Hand, who is Group-placed, and her sister Walk Like An Angel, who’s a city winner. So it’s a pedigree that we’ve got a bit of and it’s been very good to us.”

Satchell said the decision to sell Another Award was a timely one, aided by the versatility of the Inglis Digital platform. Initially, the mare was destined for the 2023 Inglis Chairman’s Sale, but after winning the Matrice S., the owners opted to press on with the South Australian carnival.

As such, the Magic Millions National Sale was off the cards too, but the ever-present Inglis Digital is a more-than-worthy option in the absence of a physical sale.

“It has worked out very well,” Satchell said. “Inglis’ digital platform has made it possible to sell well at any time of year, and buyers now realise that very nice horses are being traded on it. It’s not the case that it’s second-rate stock; there are nice horses on it in all categories, which is great from the seller’s point of view.”

She’s All Class just that

The July (Early) Online Sale produced a number of significant results on Wednesday, including the sale of the 4-year-old mare She’s All Class (I Am Invincible).

At $620,000, this mare went the way of Yarraman Park’s General Manager, Matt Scown, who was buying on behalf of Brae Sokolski. Sokolski was one of the syndicate members in She’s All Class and, as he is currently in Europe, Scown was bidding in his absence.

“She came to Yarraman Park to be sold on behalf of the She’s All Class syndicate, and anything that’s purchased by Brae as a yearling for his syndicate will eventually go to public auction unreserved,” Scown said. “So that was what this mare was there for, and we were surprised to be able to buy her. We had her valued at a bit higher than that.

“Brae’s got a broodmare band here at Yarraman and, with her performance on the track and her physical attributes, we were very keen to be able to secure She’s All Class. We didn’t think we were going to be able to. I feel like we’ve bought her really well.”

She’s All Class raced in Sokolski’s Yes Bloodstock colours after he paid $200,000 for her, consigned by Yarraman Park, at the 2020 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.

She went into training with Chris Waller, proving a smart 2-year-old when winning the R. Listed Magic Millions Wyong 2YO Classic and running third to Shaquero (Shalaa {Ire}) in the main event on the Gold Coast. She was then second in the G2 Sweet Embrace S. in the autumn, running into Four Moves Ahead (Snitzel).

As an older horse, She’s All Class switched to Ciaron Maher and David Eustace, for whom she was second in the G3 Cockram S. and third in the G2 Blazer S. at Flemington. She won the Listed Abell S. in March, and she was fourth in the G2 Dane Ripper S. in June.

She was last seen following home Palaisipan (So You Think {NZ}) at her last start in the G1 Tattersall’s Tiara.

“She was an elite 2-year-old and she trained on to win a stakes race this prep,” Scown said. “She won just under $600,000 on the track and was twice Group-placed. She’s got all the attributes that make these elite mares, so we’re over the moon to get her. We didn’t think we would get her so we haven’t even discussed stallions yet.”

Obviously, two of the Yarraman Park residents in I Am Invincible and Hellbent can’t be used for She’s All That, but Scown said the likes of Extreme Choice might be a good option, or Zoustar. Those conversations will be had with Sokolski in time.

“She probably won’t race on, but that’s a hard question to answer right now,” Scown said. “You can race these mares for another prep in foal, so if she went in foal nice and earlier, in theory she could have another prep with Ciaron and Dave and then retire when she needs to be retired.”

She’s All Class attracted 40 bids before reaching her $620,000 final price. Along with her sale, Yarraman spent much of Wednesday tracking the eight horses it had in the catalogue, which has become a familiar pattern for the farm with the rise and rise of Inglis Digital.

Wootton Bassett hits a record

As Another Award and She’s All Class topped the billing on Wednesday afternoon, following them through the scoreboard were the imported mare Upside, sold by Cornerstone Stud to Sean Duke for $455,000, and an unnamed Wootton Bassett (GB) weanling filly.

The latter was offered by Bhima Thoroughbreds and bought by JB Bloodstock for $265,000. It is the highest price realised for a Wootton Bassett in Australia this year, given the first of the stallion’s Australian foals only arrived on the market this year. He has had eight sell.

Up to Wednesday, the best price for a Wootton Bassett foal had been a $160,000 filly sold by Bhima at the 2023 Magic Millions National Weanling Sale. From the mare Dark Heather (Cape Blanco {Ire}), she went to Carlaw Park, and Dark Heather herself was in Wednesday’s catalogue, selling from the Bhima draft, in foal once again to Wootton Bassett, for $160,000 to Vieira Group.

The Wootton Bassett weanling, Lot 261 on Wednesday, was from the Medaglia D’Oro (USA) mare Elegant D’Oro. The second dam on this page is Elegant Fashion (Danewin), who was a six-time Group winner, a haul that included the G1 Hong Kong Derby in 2003.

This is the same family as the Group 1-winning Nimalee (So You Think {NZ}), while the first dam here is a half-sister to the Group 3 winner Star Fashion (Street Cry {Ire}), along with the stakes-placed Fashchanel (I Am Invincible) and Classy Fashion (Fusaichi Pegasus {USA}).

The wrap-up

Wednesday’s catalogue featured 433 lots across the session. Aside from these results, a total of five lots reached $200,000 plus, while 14 lots reached six figures. The sale coasted past a gross of $5 million, which is the second consecutive Inglis Digital sale to do so.

Reductions by Contract Racing/Hesket Bloodstock and Godolphin propped up proceedings, the former reaching six figures with three of its 38-strong draft. They were the $155,000 realised for the 3-year-old filly Emilia Romagna (Pierro) and the $110,000 achieved for Never Be Discreet (Exceed And Excel), both of whom were bought by Vieira Group, as was Naughty Nitemare (Into Mischief {USA}) at $100,000.

Gallery: Other notable results, images courtesy of Inglis Digital

Godolphin’s draft was headed by the sale of 3-year-old Tradition (Frankel {GB}) for $155,000, who went to Josiah Ma in Hong Kong, while the 4-year-old Character (Teofilo {Ire}) was sold for $150,000.

Yulong, who has been so prolific on this platform as a buyer, offered seven horses across the session, largely all broodmares.

The overall aggregate for the sale was $6,994,950, with an average of $23,317. The clearance rate was over 70 per cent, with the top five sellers all being fillies or mares.