It’s been a spring where mares have really stood up to be counted with all three of the open $3million Group I races on Champion’s Day at Flemington won by mares.
Much is made of the worth of stallions when they do enough to warrant a stud career and while we can take a zero off the end of the worth of comparative mares, they are still very much a commodity, so who are these superstar mares that may one day light up a sale ring.
Imperatriz was a $360,000 Magic Millions purchase for David Ellis and runs for a Te Akau Syndicate that have a history for selling their star mares. They sold nine time G1 winner Avantage for $4.1million on Gavelhouse to Tom Magnier and her first foal, a filly by Wootton Bassett (GB) will be offered at Magic Millions in January.
They also sold 14 time G1 winner Melody Belle at the 2021 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale for $2.6million to Yulong, but Imperatriz may well be worth more than both of them.
Pride of Jenni was a $100,000 Inglis Classic purchase for Cape Schanck Stud’s Tony and Lynne Ottobre and scored a unique G1 double at Flemington that is going to make her super valuable if they ever decided to cash her in. From a top class New Zealand female family, she is quality all the way.
Atishu (NZ) was a $260,000 Karaka Book 1 purchase for New Zealand based syndicators Go Racing and the Champions Stakes win was her second G1 success after taking the ATC Queen of the Turf Stakes earlier this year. By champion sire Savabeel from another super successful Kiwi female family, Atishu is going to be much in demand when she comes up for sale in the future.
Fangirl is the other mare this spring that has added to her Group I haul, taking the ATC Winx Stakes and the $5million King Charles Stakes to take her earnings past the $7million mark. As a homebred for the Ingham family, Fangirl is probably unlikely to be offered for sale, but given the first foal of Winx, a filly by Pierro, has been entered for Inglis Easter anything can happen!
