Tag: Inglis Easter Sale

Debbie Kepitis Secures Winx Filly for Record-Breaking Price

by TTR Aus/NZ

Drama. Emotion. History. Arguably the most highly anticipated offering ever seen at public auction delivered all that and more as the Pierro (Aus) filly out of wondermare Winx (Aus) (Street Cry {Ire}) brought a jaw-dropping AU$10-million (US$6.6-million) in front of a packed Inglis auditorium.

There had been much speculation about how much the blue-blooded, Coolmore-consigned youngster would make, and an opening bid of $2-million duly foretold an utterly unprecedented price. The bid board struggled to keep pace with the scale and speed with which the increases came in. The bidding leapt from $3-million to $5-million in one fell swoop and continued to bound upward in seven-figure increments as an offer of $6-million was superseded by a play of $7.5-million.

As proceedings reached the business end Inglis's managing director Mark Webster, taking instructions on the phone from ebullient American owner John Stewart, signalled a bid of $9-million. However, within mere seconds that hand was gazumped when the Woppitt Bloodstock team around Debbie Kepitis, one of Winx's co-owners, delivered the $10-million knockout blow.

In the weeks leading up to the sale, Stewart had been promising on X to buy the horse. “We're 100% buying the Winx filly,” he said. After the sale, he Tweeted, “I am so happy for Debbie. Well played. Lots of respect.”

“These opportunities do not come along very often,” said auctioneer Jonathan D'Arcy as he tried to coax another increase from the assembled crowd. “Once in a lifetime.” But with no further bids forthcoming, a visibly emotional Kepitis had seized the moment.

Kepitis raced Winx in partnership with Peter and Patty Tighe's Magic Bloodstock and the late Richard Treweeke. In continuing her association with the star mare by buying out her partners in the filly, Coolmore's Tom Magnier said Kepitis had helped to write “the perfect story”. Kepitis explained that she had not set out to secure the filly when the decision was made to bring her to market, but said she had a change of heart as the date with destiny neared.

“I didn't come here to buy this horse originally,” she said. “We put her up for auction and then in the last few weeks, all of the family, we started to miss our daughter, granddaughter, so we just decided as best we could, if we could get her we would. I'm privileged to be able to secure this filly on behalf of my family to be able to see if she can get to the racetrack. If she can't get to the racetrack she'll be an amazing mum.

“She's Australian forever. She's going to be just fabulous. Hopefully she'll do a Winx, but it doesn't matter if she doesn't. Thank you to everybody around the world who has taken this on board. It's been thrilling to watch it and we're lucky enough that we came out winners.”

Kepitis confirmed that Winx's trainer Chris Waller would oversee the racing career of her daughter. She also expanded on the rationale behind bringing the filly to the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, saying: “Inglis were amazing. Along with Magic Millions, they are two amazing companies that do a fabulous job of presenting horses for sale in the Australian market. The ownership group had a big decision to decide when and where to sell her. She was always going to be a little bit of a later horse so leaving her until the April sale was really the major thing in our consideration.”

 

Winx rates as arguably the greatest racehorse to grace the Australian turf. Her completely unparalleled race record features no less than 37 victories, the last 33 of which were gained in consecutive fashion. Those successes include a world record tally of 25 Group 1s and saw her career earnings exceed AU$26-million in prize-money.

She is perhaps best remembered for being the only horse in history to win four runnings of the prestigious Cox Plate, while she also claimed the Horse of The Year title on four occasions.

Unsurprisingly the filly's price totally eclipsed the sum her celebrity dam fetched when she came under the hammer, as Winx was signed for by Guy Mulcaster at 'just' AU$230,000 at the 2013 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.

Winx has endured a challenging start to her breeding career having lost her first foal, by I Am Invincible (Aus), in October 2020. Magnier not only heaped praise on those who helped nurse Winx back to full health, but reiterated how close the story came to ending in complete tragedy.

“It's no secret that Winx lost her first foal and she nearly died,” he said. “To be fair to Paddy Sheehan (foaling manager) and all the team at Scone Equine (Hospital) they did an unbelievable job in saving the mare. To think that we have this mare today, who's had a foal, now a yearling, by Pierro, and such a good-looking filly, the behind the scenes of what we went through to get here today, it couldn't happen without the most understanding owners. They've been so patient and so understanding and the team at the farm have done an unbelievable job.”

Reflecting on the pressure of selling such a high-profile yearling, a relieved-looking Magnier said: “I think I have a little bit of an idea about the pressure Chris might've felt in some of those races!”

He continued: “The Kepitis family grew up beside us because our farms are next to each other in the Hunter Valley so I've known Debbie since I was young. They've been so good to us and they keep their horses at Coolmore. They won the Derby last week and I thought 'God, how do we beat that?!' and then we've come here today and done this. It's really fitting that this filly is going to the Kepitis family and it's just the perfect story. That was the most important result for me today so I'm just thrilled. I just want to say thanks to Paddy Sheehan and all the staff at Coolmore. To save the mare and get the foal, it's just a dream story.”

Coolmore Australia's Tom Magnier | Coolmore Australia

When asked whether the record-breaking price matched his expectations, Magnier said: “John Stewart was in Australia a couple of weeks ago and he was very confident of getting the filly, but when you come up against Debbie you want to have will and determination! I knew she was going to make a very high figure because someone is buying history. This is like a classic and a collector's item.”

“There's only one person who deserved today and that was Debbie and Paul and the whole family. I don't think you can put a value on a filly like that, especially to someone like Debbie who really wanted this filly. We've been through so much on this journey to get here today. It's just incredible.”

The filly's price was exactly double the previous record for an Australian yearling, with BC3 Thoroughbreds giving AU$5-million for the ill-fated Redoute's Choice (Aus) half-brother to Black Caviar (Aus) (Bel Esprit {Aus}) at the 2013 Easter Sale.

Among those on hand to witness the record-breaking transaction was another of Winx's co-owners, Peter Tighe.

“It was pretty exciting for everybody, not just me!” he said. “It's good for racing, good for breeding, there's no losers here. It's something you couldn't imagine. People want something and they're prepared to pay for it. If they can afford it, then good luck to them. It's great for Debbie Kepitis and great for the ownership group who'll benefit from the sale, we're really happy.”

He continued: “Winx is pregnant again so we're keen to get a nice healthy foal at the end of the year and see where that takes us. There's no guarantees that we'll sell or keep (that foal), we'll just take it as it comes. We do it because we love the sport and we love our horses. It's a funny thing to say but we didn't come here today for the money, we came here for a purpose and I think we've achieved that with getting the horse out into the breeding world. I'm looking forward to many more years of great stories that all stem from Winx.”

Inglis's CEO Sebastian Hutch also shared the sales company's view on proceedings, saying: “It's fantastic and a real privilege for our company to have the opportunity to offer a horse of this magnitude. Obviously Winx is an iconic figure in Australian sport, not just in racing. To have had the opportunity to bring her daughter to market was fantastic. For it to play out the way it has, and to facilitate the scale of interest we've had, has been incredible.”

Winx was bred by John Camilleri under the banner of Fairway Thoroughbreds from the Listed-winning Al Akbar mare Vegas Showgirl. This makes the mighty mare a half-sister to El Divino (Aus) (Snitzel {Aus}), who did his bit to uphold family honour by dead-heating with Astern (Aus) in the Group 3 Kindergarten S.

The presence of Winx's daughter wasn't Camilleri's only involvement in the Easter Sale as he was the client behind James Harron when the agent secured day one's top lot, the Zoustar (Aus) filly out of Prompt Response (Aus), at AU$2.2-million. Sunday's session-topper held the record of most expensive yearling filly sold at Inglis for less than 24 hours.

The Winx filly becomes Pierro's most expensive yearling to date by some margin. The stallion's previous best came at last year's Easter Sale when Mick Wallace and Gandharvi signed at AU$1.75-million for the half-sister to Learning To Fly (Aus) (Justify {USA}).

Pierro, who was crowned leading first- and second-season sire during the 2016-17 and 2017-18 campaigns, stood the most recent breeding season at a fee of $82,500 (inc GST). The son of Lonhro (Aus) is the sire of six Group 1 winners.

The post Debbie Kepitis Secures Winx Filly for Record-Breaking Price appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Australian Way of Life For Hutch

In 2008, Sebastian Hutch was presented with an opportunity to spend three months in Australia working at Coolmore's Southern Hemisphere base. The Irish native, who hails from Co. Cork, admits that Australia was not high on his list of must visit destinations, but some 13 years later Hutch has become ingrained into the fabric of the Australian industry and now holds the position of General Manager in Bloodstock Sales & Marketing at Inglis, whose forthcoming Easter Yearling Sale is a highlight on the bloodstock calendar.

Hutch's experience prior to his trip down under involved stints with John Oxx and Neil Drysdale before spending a summer under the tutelage of Richard Henry which ultimately forged the way for Hutch becoming an integral member of the Coolmore Australia team.

“It was a fantastic place to work,” said Hutch upon reflection of his 10 years spent with the operation. “I was there at a time when Encosta De Lago (Aus) was champion stallion and I was able to be part of Fastnet Rock (Aus) becoming a champion stallion too. There were a lot of good horses bred on the farm at that time as well. The likes of Winx (Aus), and Vancouver (Aus) are two good examples. It's hard not to learn in that kind of environment.”

In 2018, Hutch's time working for the company came to an end as he left to take up his current role with the powerhouse sales company Inglis.

“There was an opportunity to come to Inglis in a bloodstock orientated role,” said Hutch. “I hadn't really given any consideration to it in a proactive sense but when the opportunity arose, it seems to me I would have been very naive not to consider it.”

On the appeal of working for Inglis Hutch said, “It's a company with tremendous history, a fantastic reputation, not just domestically but internationally. A lot of what I discussed with people prior to coming to Inglis, in terms of any particular role, was very stimulating. I was going to be joining a team that was very knowledgeable, very competent and effectively they were more people that I could learn from. Also, there was going to be the opportunity for me to contribute in a constructive manner as well.”

Although it cannot have been an easy decision to leave Coolmore, Hutch has not looked back citing, “I was at a stage in my career where there was an opportunity for me to make a change and I haven't regretted it. I'm really enjoying my time here.”

Of course Hutch is not the first to leave the Emerald Isle for a 'short stint' in another country and then extend their trip to the point of never leaving.

When asked why Australia proves to be such a popular country for expatriates Hutch said, “I think there are probably a lot of factors involved in that. I think a massive thing is that the racing spectacle is year round here. If you're passionate about racing there's not really a month of the year where the racing isn't engaging. The participants in the sport are really, really accessible in this part of the world too. Whether it's the top trainers, the jockeys, owners, breeders, for a young person looking to immerse themselves in the industry, it would seem to be a really easy thing to do as those kind of people are really forthcoming with their time.”

Aside from those influences the Australian industry appears to go from strength to strength and in the 13 years that Hutch has been there he credits the “narrative of racing” and the increase in prizemoney each year as the driving forces to the successful model in place.

Of course with the increase in prize money and race initiatives such as The Everest combined with the successful ownership model of syndication the bloodstock industry continues to thrive. The forthcoming renewal of the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale boosts some 42 siblings to Group 1 winners and has progeny by prominent stallions from both hemispheres represented, including the last crop by the deceased Japanese stalwart Deep Impact (Jpn). Aside from that, the sale also offers yearlings that were bred by the late Sheikh Hamdan's Shadwell Stud who announced in February that they were disbanding their operation in that part of the world. Those yearlings will be offered by Yarraman Park Stud.

“It's just a fact traditionally that each and every year the best yearlings Australian breeders have to offer end up at Easter, certainly a greater percentage of them anyway,” said Hutch. “The catalogue looks really strong this year. I've been up and down to various farms over the last few weeks just trying to check in with certain drafts and the standard would appear to be tremendously high.

“Certainly the feedback from buyers who have been doing farm inspections in advance of the sale has been hugely positive. It's hard not to be excited about the sale. Obviously it comes with huge responsibility when you're selling people's best yearlings but it's very exciting and we're very much on track for a good sale.”

Although Australia has been hit with catastrophic weather in the last two weeks, leading to the postponement of the Golden Slipper, pre-sale inspections have continued to take place. Over the years those yearlings who have lit up the Inglis bid board have gone on to dominant at the top level on the racecourse with graduates including multiple Group 1 winners The Autumn Sun (Aus), Loving Gaby (Aus), Merchant Navy (Aus) and Russian Revolution (Aus) to name a few. For any bloodstock enthusiast, Inglis Easter provides a stimulating exhibition and Hutch has every reason to be looking forward to this year's sale.

The post Australian Way of Life For Hutch appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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