The G1 Queensland Oaks victor Winning Ways has tonight become the third-most expensive horse to sell online in Australia this year after realising $700,000 in the Inglis Digital August (Late) Sale.
Offered by Ridgmont Farm, the 7YO mare is headed to Victoria after being purchased by the Lucky Vega Syndicate, where she will “most likely’’ visit Yulong stallion Tagaloa this season.
Only Sierra Sue ($1.55m) and Wandabaa ($800,000) have sold for more than Winning Ways’ $700,000 price tag at a digital sale this year – all three have sold through the market-leading Inglis Digital platform.
Such was the competition at the top level today, there were four individual bidders at $600,000 or above on Winning Ways.
Today’s sale took to 36 the number of fillies or mares to have sold for $200,000 or more through Inglis Digital this year. They have been purchased by 27 different buyers.
Yulong’s Sam Fairgray believes Winning Ways will be “an ideal match’’ for Tagaloa.
“She’s a really nice mare for him, his pedigree and her pedigree will work well together,’’ Fairgray said.
“She was a high-class race mare and was just another mare [Yulong owner] Mr Zhang wanted to get to support Tagaloa so he’s very happy.
“When he sees mares he thinks are worthwhile for him and the broodmare band, we’ll keep trying to buy them, we’ll keep looking at what becomes available and this time of year you also get some nice fillies off the track going to these sales so we’ll keep an eye on those as well.
“We had to stretch a little to get to the $700,000. It was around the price I thought we’d need to get to, probably a touch more than we thought though.’’
Winning Ways was one of many outstanding results in the August (Late) Sale, which grossed $4,765,000, making it the sixth consecutive regular Inglis online auction to gross $4m or more, and eighth of the past nine to do so.
The second-top lot of today’s sale was Incredulous Dream.
Offered by Ciaron Maher Racing, the mare was purchased by James Bester for $465,000.
“When I knew the horse was going to be offered for sale I put together a group of friends and partners and when it came to the bidding, we’d basically reached our limit of what we could pay for her, she certainly stretched the budget,’’ Bester said.
“The plan now is to put her in foal and then depending what date she goes in foal, that could leave us the option of racing her for another 90 days and giving her a Queensland campaign over summer to see if we can enjoy some racetrack success with her before we get to meet what will no doubt be her gorgeous foals.
“She’s suitable for such a wide range of stallions, it would really depend on what my partners in her want to do with the budget. I mean she could go from a Home Affairs at $100,000 service fee to a Farnan at a $50,000 service fee or to a horse like Wild Ruler with a $35,000 service fee.’’
Maher was delighted with the result.
“She’s been a quality mare for the stable who’s been great to train and won over $250,000 in earnings and I’m sure she’ll make a great broodmare for James and her new connections,’’ the trainer said.
“She’s a beautiful type so I’m sure she’ll prove to be a successful broodmare as well.
“Inglis Digital is great to use and this is just another example of the big results you can get.’’
The third-top lot was the Swettenham Stud-offered Quintello, which sold to John Wheeler for $295,000.
Wheeler has been actively purchasing mares at recent Inglis Digital sales to send to exciting young Widden-based stallion Russian Camelot, of which Wheeler is the largest shareholder, and that’s where Quintello will likely eventually end up.
“But she might race on yet, probably will actually, I’ll give her a spell now and see if she wants to race again likely in the new year and then maybe go to stud next year,’’ Wheeler said.
“On paper she is a perfect match for Russian Camelot so that’s the plan at this stage but I’m in no rush with her.
“I obviously paid for too much for her, compared to what I expected I would have to but again, with these good mares you just have to go the extra mile or three to get them.’’
A delighted Sam Matthews of Swettenham added: “Exceptional. What a result! She’s a nice mare and will continue to make a nice racing prospect or develop into a beautiful broodmare, whatever John decides to do with her, but that result was well beyond expectations.’’
Today’s August (Late) auction will provide buyers with countless opportunities to enjoy racetrack success with their new stars, like many other owners continue to do so.
It has been a stunning start to the 2022/23 Australian racing season for Inglis Digital graduates.
In the first 23 days of the new season, graduates off the platform have won 238 Australian races for $3,350,163 in prizemoney.
There have been winners in every Australian State and Territory, at distances ranging from 800m-3800m, both on the flat and over the hurdles.
On Saturday alone Inglis Digital graduates won 40 of the 150 races contested in Australia – or one in four - including four of the nine races contested at Doomben, as well as five on the Cairns program.
The next opportunity for buyers and sellers to utilise Inglis Digital is the September (Early) Sale, which runs from September 9-14.
Entries are now open and will remain so until midnight on Wednesday September 7.
To enter, CLICK HERE.
