Henry Field's Extreme intention to divide and conquer the market

Cover image courtesy of Newgate Farm

Hidrix’s (Extreme Choice) victory in the G3 Canonbury Stakes on Saturday comes at the perfect time for Newgate Farm, who will offer two yearlings by the sire at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale taking place at the end of the week.

Alongside a filly offered by Kingstar Farm, the breeder and vendor of G1 Blue Diamond Stakes winner Devil Night (Extreme Choice), they are the only yearlings by the stallion in the sale - and it is the firm belief of Newgate director Henry Field that they could have sold anywhere.

But he wants to sell them at Inglis Classic. The key for Field is in disseminating Extreme Choice’s crop as far and wide as possible, and ensuring that the stallion’s shareholders - many of whom have their yearlings consigned by Newgate - receive the best results possible in the ring, and on the track.

Dividing the market

Extreme Choice’s current yearlings are the second crop born from a $275,000 (inc GST) service fee, and is one of his largest crops to date, numbering 44 foals. Scarcity in the marketplace will always be in the stallion’s favour, and separating out the ones going through the ring seeks to maximise the interest in each one.

“We have a number of Extreme Choice yearlings that we are consigning across all of the major sales for a range of people, most of whom are shareholders in the stallion,” said Field. “A lot of their mares live at Newgate as well, so their offspring are born and raised in our systems. We try to split them up into different sales so they’re not all in one marketplace.”

It makes sense to sell at a place where the demand for Extreme Choice’s progeny has reached fever pitch. He is the sire of the two highest priced lots ever sold in the Classic sale; the year after Stay Inside won the G1 Golden Slipper Stakes, the Classic buyers remained hungry for more sons and forked out $825,000 and $775,000 respectively for a pair of colts by the stallion.

The former price tag belonged to Make A Call, who was fourth in the G3 Breeders’ Plate on debut, before placing twice in stakes company in the autumn and coming within two thirds of a length of winning the G3 Baillieu Stakes.

Newgate were part of the syndicate that purchased Make A Call, and it’s far from the only success they and regular partners China Horse Club have had purchasing out of the Classic catalogue. Extreme Choice’s roster mate Cosmic Force was a Classic purchase in 2018 for Newgate and company, and last season’s $1 million Golden Gift and G3 Kindergarten Stakes winner North England (Farnan) was also bought from the sale.

Extreme Choice was in high demand at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale again this year, achieving two seven-figure lots amongst eight sold. Investors in the success of their stallion’s stock, Newgate Bloodstock signed the docket for Lot 666, a son of winning I Am Invincible mare Penang (NZ).

Any sale in the country

“The two that we selected for Classic are actually offered in conjunction with Gooree Park,” Field said. “They’re a pair of very nice chestnuts. The filly is a real star, she has been born and raised on the farm. She’s out of an Exceed And Excel mare, so she has the terrific speed influence from that line in her, and she’s a strong filly with good action and a deep girth. I'm sure she'll be a very popular filly in the sale.”

Lot 233 is out of a half-sister to Gooree Park stallion Your Song, who celebrated a fresh stakes winner in 2025 when Melody Again won the G3 Dark Jewel Classic at Scone.

“Physically, she could have made it into any sale in the country,” Field said. “We have a smaller draft for Classic, but we wanted to make sure that it was still a draft that would stand out, and she was a filly that we thought could help us achieve that.”

The same is felt by Field about Lot 621, a colt out of a full sister to Northern Meteor. Second dam Explosive (USA) (Fappiano {USA}) can also count G1 Tattersalls Tiara winner Palaisipan (So You Think {NZ}), Smart Missile, and gun 2-year-old Tornado Valley (Too Darn Hot {GB}) amongst her descendants.

“He’s a big, strong August foal,” Field said. “He actually reminds me a lot of one of our stallions, Tiger of Malay - he has plenty of length and very good action. And he has a very enticing pedigree, being by Extreme Choice out of an Encosta De Lago mare, out of a Fappiano mare. He's got incredible blood, and is a very athletic, big, strong colt to boot.”

Tiger Of Malay, whose first runners have put him on top of the first season sires’ podium for the moment, was an Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale purchase for China Horse Club and Newgate.

“If he can run up to his pedigree,” Field added, “then he could be worth an unlimited amount of money.”

It isn’t like the Inglis Classic sale hasn’t turned out stallions before; dual Group 1 winner Celestial Legend was one of five Group 1 winners sold through the 2022 edition of the sale, alongside valuable entire Libertad (Russian Revolution), who has won a Group race in all four seasons he has been racing.

The year before produced Sejardan, whose first yearlings are being offered on the sales circuit this year, and previous graduates include Castelvecchio, Hellbent, Brazen Beau, Profiteer, Lightsaber, Spill The Beans, and Santos - as well as Extreme Choice himself.

Newgate’s colt syndicate didn’t purchase Extreme Choice as a yearling, but instead incrementally bought into the colt as he began his career, taking a majority interest in the horse after his Blue Diamond win. In the same way, they identified the talent in horses like Artorius and Stay Inside, and sought to acquire shares in horses they could see with a future at stud. They have already acquired part of Hidrix in the hopes he continues his ascent.

In addition to their two Extreme Choice yearlings, Newgate have supplemented Lot 799, a colt by Artorius - into the sale, whom Field believes is also a high quality offering.

“He’s a cracking horse,” he said. “He was meant to go to the Magic Millions, but he had a few setbacks, so we have brought him to Classic instead. He will be another standout in the draft.”

A responsibility to maintain quality

Placing horses deemed Inglis Easter or Magic Millions Gold Coast quality in the Classic sale is a deliberate decision to elevate the whole draft, and Field is clear that he isn’t bringing an inferior product to the market.

“The key to it is that these two horses are very physically attractive individuals,” he said. “They aren’t the runts of the litter, they aren’t any lesser quality than those yearlings going to Easter or Magic Millions. They truly could have gone to any sale. We have a lot of faith in Inglis to have a competitive buying bench that appreciates these horses for the level of quality that they are, and Inglis is confident that will be the case.

“We have a terrific draft this year - we have a Wootton Bassett and a Too Darn Hot for Ridgmont, and our Extreme Choices. We have good representatives for our young stallions as well. It’s a quality draft.”

Since the announcement of Ridgmont’s sale in October, the vast majority of the Cunningham family’s stock and that of their clients has been moved to Newgate, who will consign all of their yearlings in 2026. Field called it a great responsibility to have.

“We have some beautiful mares on our property for Ridgmont,” he said. “You could see in the way their stock looked when they arrived at Newgate last year, just how well they had been raised and cared for, and the quality of the farm they had come from. It’s a privilege to be able to offer their yearlings in the marketplace.”

It has also been a thrill for Newgate to offer the first yearlings by resident stallions Artorius and In The Congo, as well as shuttle stallion State Of Rest (Ire). In The Congo proved one of the most popular first season sires at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale last month with a top price of $625,000.

“I felt that all three stallions were very well received on the Gold Coast,” Field reflected. “There was a lot of positive feedback about their first crops of yearlings. Any time you have a Golden Rose winner, a Cox Plate winner, and a Blue Diamond winner in the same crop of stallions, you get to feel very confident that you will have some very high class racehorses emerge who can produce the right results in the long term.”

Bring it and they shall come

Something that Field has recognised at every sale, but is particularly pertinent to the area of the market occupied by the Classic sale, is that the surrounding horses benefit from being associated with a higher quality horse. The evidence of this could be seen at the most recent Magic Millions Yearling Sale and New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale, both of which concluded with higher averages and clearance rates than the previous year, with no abatement of the strong competition at the top.

“To be honest, I think that good horses are found whatever sale they're in,” Field said. “If you have the right individual, then the market will find them. I would say that it is the lesser horses in the sale that benefit from the stronger market that develops because of the better horses.

“The same great judges go to all of the sales and they don’t miss much in the way of good horses, but when a sale can entice in more buyers, it can help to find homes for the horses of less quality.”

The Newgate-consigned Wootton Bassett (GB) filly is one of only two in the catalogue, and their Too Darn Hot (GB) colt is one of 11 by the sire.

“These are horses that we are very proud to bring to market and I think they will be well found at the Classic sale,” said Field. “They are horses with plenty of upside and could have gone to any sale, but it is a matter of how good it has been to sell at Classic over the years. History shows that if you bring the right horse, you can be rewarded.”