'She'd be a great addition to any broodmare band' - Frankel filly smashes record price

Frankel maintained his place at the top of the 2023 weanling market when a filly by the Juddmonte stallion sold for an Inglis record A$825,000 (£441,000/€514,000) on day one of the Great Southern Sale.

The deeds of Frankel, a phenomenon in both hemispheres, is well-known and the filly’s credentials were for all to see in the lead-up to Thursday’s Oaklands Junction auction, but the identity of the new owner of the record-setting filly was less familiar.

Yulong’s Yuesheng Zhang 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 A$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 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 winner Vadeni. 

She will be retained to race by Spiteri, who will send her to Flemington-based Moroney to train.

Mitchell said: “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.

"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 Spirit mare 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 so far this year, with colts selling for A$925,000 and A$725,000 at the recent Magic Millions sale, while the result is a new high for a Great Southern Sale, surpassing the A$360,000 paid for a Zoustar colt two years ago, while it also trumps the A$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.

Hains said: “Myself and the team are absolutely delighted. She was a really gorgeous filly and we got a great result. It was really something special.

“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.”

Frankel: responsible for three highest-priced weanlings sold in Australia in 2023Credit: Edward Whitaker

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," he said. "Being a filly, she wasn’t going to make as much as the colts did. 

“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 A$500,000 to A$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 A$240,000 to Hong Kong’s Victor Lee, while Hains’s day-one draft averaged A$260,000 from six lots sold.

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