Frankel , the superstar European sire, maintained his place at the top of the 2023 weanling market when a filly by the Juddmonte stallion sold for an Inglis record AU$825,000 (US$550,426, AU$1=US$0.6671) on Day 1 of the Great Southern Sale.
The deeds of Frankel, a phenomenon in both hemispheres, are well known, and the filly's credentials were for all to see in the lead-up to the June 8 Oaklands Junction auction, but the identity of the new owner of the record-setting filly was less familiar.
Yulong's Zhang Yuesheng was a probable candidate to buy the filly, given he had bought expensive colts by Frankel already this year, but he didn't appear to make a play for her.
While there were other prominent industry figures bidding on the weanling above AU$500,000, it was Mitchell Bloodstock's James Mitchell, on behalf of Victorian owner Stephen Spiteri, who won out.
A Melbourne-based property developer, Spiteri races horses with group 1-winning trainers Mike Moroney and Phillip Stokes as well as the Wangaratta-based Andrew Dale.
The Burnewang North-consigned session-topping filly (Lot 64) is the first foal out of the unraced Vedema, whose pedigree features European stakes winners Vedouma, Vadamar, The Pentagon, and last season's star French Derby (G1) winner, Vadeni.
She will be retained to race by Spiteri, who will send her to Flemington-based Moroney to train.
"She's an outstanding filly by arguably one of the best stallions in the world. He's done the job in the Northern Hemisphere and he's also done it down here with Hungry Heart and Miss Fabulass," Mitchell said.
"She's got huge residual value, she's got her whole racing career ahead of her and, if she's true to type, she should be a pretty handy racehorse.
"She's out of an Invincible Spiritmare from a big European family, so the residual value was there from the minute she was born and hopefully she can add to it on the racetrack.
"She'd be a great addition to any broodmare band."
Frankel has now been responsible for the three highest-priced weanlings sold in Australia this year, with two colts selling for AU$925,000 and AU$725,000, respectively, at the recent Magic Millions Sale, while the result is a high for a Great Southern Sale, surpassing the AU$360,000 paid for a Zoustar colt two years ago. It also trumps the AU$625,000 paid for a Capitalist colt at this year's Inglis Australian Weanling Sale.
The record-breaking filly's dam was sourced privately by agents Paul Moroney and Catheryne Bruggeman on behalf of Burnewang North's owner Cathy Hains, who then sent her to Frankel to be covered to Southern Hemisphere time.
"Myself and the team are absolutely delighted. She was a really gorgeous filly and we got a great result. It was really something special,'' Hains said.
"It's old-fashioned to say that the proof of the pudding is always in the pudding, so we kept our expectations under control, and certainly what happened in the ring today exceeded our expectations.
"We had what we believed was a realistic reserve set well below what she achieved. There were certainly a lot of nerves, as well as enthusiasm and excitement when she got through the ring."
Mitchell believes the high-priced filly stacks up well against the Frankel colts sold at the Magic Millions Sale last month.
"Physically, I thought she was better. Being a filly, she wasn't going to make as much as the colts did," Mitchell said.
"As the auctioneer Jonathan D'Arcy mentioned, it stacks up pretty comparably."
As for the filly's price, which was pushed higher by at least three parties, Mitchell didn't think she would make as much as she did, predicting she'd go for between AU$500,000 to AU$600,000, but he was prepared to keep bidding under instruction from Spiteri.
"I thought we were out two or three times, but he stuck to his guns and had that one last bid, which I didn't think we were having, but anyway, it's a great thrill for Stephen," he said.
"I'm sure he'll have a lot of fun with the filly."
Earlier, Burnewang North sold a colt by fellow Juddmonte sire Kingman for AU$240,000 to Hong Kong's Victor Lee, while Hains' Day 1 draft averaged AU$260,000 from six lots sold.
In a two-speed market, in which 11 six-figure lots were sold on Day 1, the clearance rate remained problematic for vendors who were either forced to retain their foals or often cop a loss in selling them.
The clearance rate increased to 66% June 8, while the average was AU$41,436 ($27,645), the median was AU$20,000 ($13,343), while turnover was AU$5.801 million ($3,870,329) after 140 weanlings changed hands, leading to metrics being down year-on-year across the board.
Inglis' Victorian bloodstock manager, James Price, said the selectiveness of the buying bench, which was evident at the Inglis Australian Weanling Sale and the Magic Millions Gold Coast National Weanling Sale, continued Thursday.
"It's a very selective market and a number of buyers are here to pinhook into the yearling market in 2024, so I would daresay vetting and X-rays have been crucial at this sale and horses that don't check out have been left behind, so to speak," Price said.
"There's no doubt we'd like the bottom end of the market to be stronger than it is, but we will do our best to try and get some of those horses sold.
"I think today's market again highlighted that the buying bench wants a particular product and they're willing to pay top dollar for that product."
The milestone Frankel filly sold Thursday also eclipsed the Great Southern Sale mark held by the now-champion stallion Written Tycoon, who sold for AU$625,000 in 2009 to dissolve a partnership dispute.
"She's the most expensive weanling Inglis has ever sold and the highest-priced weanling filly sold in 2023," Price said. "To achieve that for Burnewang North, Cathy Hains, and the whole team, I'm just over the moon for the farm and over the moon for the sale."
The Great Southern Sale will continue Friday with the second weanling session and a catalog of 47 mares to go under the hammer.
The session starts at 10 a.m. local time.
