Winx's Snitzel son to headline the 2026 Inglis Easter Yearling Sale

Cover image supplied

It was announced on Sunday evening that champion racehorse Winx’s (Street Cry {Ire}) colt by four-time Champion Sire Snitzel will be offered as part of Coolmore Stud’s draft at the 2026 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.

The second foal of 25-time Group 1 winner Winx, the colt will walk through the same ring as his older sister Quinceañera (Pierro), who made $10 million when selling at last year’s Easter sale to part-owner Debbie Kepitis.

“He’s a very handsome boy,” Kepitis said. “Just wait until you see him, he’s got everything going for him. From the day he was born, he’s been a very charismatic horse. He has been bred to win a Cox Plate and anyone who looks at him tells me that he has all the right physical characteristics to be an elite racehorse.’’

Four-time Horse Of The Year Winx’s 33-straight winning streak that included four G1 Cox Plates and three G1 George Ryder Stakes saw her be inducted into the Australian Racing Hall Of Fame in 2017, with the rare achievement of being active at the time of induction.

It was announced earlier this month that she would be promoted to Legend status at this year’s ceremony, alongside 15-time Group 1 winner Black Caviar (Bel Esprit); an honour bestowed upon only three other horses to date in Makybe Diva (GB) (Desert King {Ire}), Phar Lap (NZ) (Night Raid {GB}), and Carbine (NZ) (Musket {GB}).

Gallery: Sebastian Hutch with the Winx x Snitzel colt, images supplied

Speaking after the record-breaking sale of her first yearling in 2024, Inglis Bloodstock CEO Sebastian Hutch told media outlets, “horses like Winx operate on a different planet to the rest of them.”

The recently deceased Snitzel needs little introduction as a sire; the third generation of the influential Danehill (USA) dynasty to stand at Arrowfield Stud, he has produced 160 stakes winners and over 1200 winners to date, and has averaged a stakes winner every 19 days since 2010. In the 2024/25 racing season, he collected his third G1 Golden Slipper Stakes winner with the filly Marhoona and was the only stallion to sire more than one juvenile Group 1 winner.

“Snitzel is one of the best stallions Australia has seen this century,” Coolmore’s Tom Magnier said earlier this year. On his passing, Arrowfield Stud’s John Messara described him as “the perfect stallion”.

With the enduring ability to produce winners over all distances at all ages, Snitzel’s finest male offspring include the stallions G1 Cox Plate-winning Shamus Award, Trapeze Artist, Switzerland, Shinzo, In The Congo, Wild Ruler, Sword Of State, Russian Revolution, Invader, and Wandjina, as well as dual $20 million Everest champion Redzel and this season’s unbeaten Group 1-winning juvenile Return To Conquer.

“The thrill the sale of the Pierro filly last year gave the ownership group was indescribable, it absolutely blew our minds,” said Peter Tighe, who co-owns the colt with wife Patty Tighe, Kepitis’ Woppitt Bloodstock, and Elizabeth and Rick Treweeke. “The team at Inglis did an incredible job, and we think the Snitzel colt will get the attention of investors from right around the world in 2026.

“The journey Winx, and then her Pierro daughter, has taken us on has been incredible, and now somebody else gets the rare opportunity to buy a son of arguably the greatest race mare we have ever seen, certainly in our eyes at least.’’

“To have the first male offspring of the mighty Winx coming to the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale is an absolute thrill and something we’re hugely grateful to the ownership group for,’’ Hutch said. “I have been lucky enough to see this colt a number of times through his development. He has always looked like a good horse and I think he is going to present as a very good yearling at the sale.

“First and foremost, the objective of the ownership group has been to try and breed the best racehorse possible out of the mare, and I think this colt gives them genuine cause to be very excited. He is a handsome colt with great movement and an unflappable temperament. He’s a special sort of horse.”

Daughters of Street Cry have been responsible for 177 stakes winners, 30 at Group 1 level, and over $387 million in progeny earnings to date; their offspring include hot first season sire Farnan, Cylinder, Broadsiding, Daumier, Vino Rosso (USA), and high class racehorses Romantic Warrior (Ire) (The Ferryman {Ire}), Rebel’s Romance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), Cascadian (GB) (New Approach {Ire}), and Treasurethe Moment (Alabama Express).

The cross of Snitzel over Street Cry (Ire) has produced a 25 per cent stakes winners to runners rate, topped by $1 million Silver Eagle winner Vienna Princess.

“His presence at next year’s Inglis Easter Yearling Sale is going to make for a captivating spectacle,” Hutch continued. “The sale typically engages an incredibly broad group of bloodstock investors and enthusiasts from around the world anyway, but having this colt as the focal point of the sale is only going to enhance that further.

“The sale of his sister was compelling viewing and I don’t think anyone is going to want to miss out on seeing this colt go through the ring.”

There were unforgettable scenes at Inglis’ Riverside Stables complex in Sydney last April when the bidding surged into double figures for Quinceañera, with Resolute Racing’s John Stewart amongst the underbidders on the filly, setting a new Southern Hemisphere record for a yearling sold at public auction. Quinceañera has been placed in the capable hands of her dam’s trainer Chris Waller. No doubt there will be incredible interest again in this special offering at next year’s sale, and bidders should be braced for another exciting two minutes of selling.

Winx was not covered in 2024, and her connections have confirmed she will visit Champion First Season Sire and Champion Second Season Sire-elect Too Darn Hot (GB) in the 2025 breeding season.

The 2026 Inglis Australian Yearling Sale will take place on March 29 and 30 next year.