Battle between prized mares set to illuminate Inglis Chairman’s Sale

Having met just once during their decorated careers, Bella Nipotina and Amelia’s Jewel will do battle for a second time on Thursday but on this occasion it will be in the ring rather than on the racetrack, with one of the pair almost certain to emerge with top billing from the Inglis Chairman’s Sale.

The prized mares, who between them amassed 21 victories and almost A$27 million in prize-money, will headline the action at Inglis’ Riverside Stables complex in Warwick Farm, where just shy of 90 fillies and mares are set to go under the hammer – including 70 stakes performers or producers. 

When they faced off in last year’s A$5 million Quokka, Amelia’s Jewel (second) beat home Bella Nipotina (fourth) although the latter can claim overall bragging rights given a more complete body of work, highlighted by her four Group 1 wins. 

Given the depth of her pedigree page and her aesthetic appeal, Segenhoe Stud’s Peter O’Brien – the man tasked with selling fellow Group 1 scorer Amelia’s Jewel on behalf of her sole owner, Peter Walsh – is confident the ten-time stakes winner will emerge victorious in the race to be crowned the sale-topper. 

Segenhoe Stud will also present Queen Starlight, whose dam Fiera Vista was a stakes winner, and proven producer Fireworks to the buying bench. While both mares boast impeccable pedigrees and, in the case of the latter, a record of producing some seriously fast horses including stakes winner Millane, it is undoubtedly Amelia’s Jewel who will command the most attention when she takes to the stage at approximately 8pm.   

“She was born at the farm, so we’ve known her since day dot and she is as good-looking a mare as you will ever see,” O’Brien told ANZ Bloodstock News. 

“Her racetrack performances were phenomenal, she won Group races in three different states and she finished first or second in 17 of her 24 starts. Her mother [Bumbasina] is already well on the way to becoming a blue hen, having produced a Group 1 winner and a stakes winner from her first two foals. But the key to Amelia’s Jewel is her looks, because she’s just absolutely beautiful.

“In a way it’s sad for Peter Walsh, because he probably didn’t want to sell her. But he has the weanling full-sister at home and at his age, he figured that he might not get the chance to race too many of Amelia’s Jewel’s foals himself. So it will definitely be a bittersweet moment for him, but I understand his rationale. 

“The mare came to us from Annabel [Archibald] with her coat gleaming, and she looks unbelievably well so she’s still a racing proposition for anyone keen to buy her. She’s also got a lovely temperament, so I’m sure she’s going to make a fabulous broodmare. 

“She’s got an international pedigree so as well as the local buyers I’m sure there will be plenty of interest in her from overseas, including potentially Northern Farm. I wouldn’t want to speculate how much she will make, but suffice to say it will be a lot of money. She will be worth every cent and I do think she’ll top the sale.”        

Perhaps ironically, Bella Nipotina’s breeder Michael Christian – who mixes his duties as the proprietor of Longwood Thoroughbred Farm with his role as the AFL’s Match Review Officer – might secretly be hoping that O’Brien is on the money.

That is because Christian, who owns 50 per cent of the majestic mare in partnership with his wife Siobhan and brother Brad, revealed he is more than likely to put his hand up at some stage during what promises to be a fiercely contested bidding war when the belle of the ball enters the sales ring just before 6pm. 

Christian remains hopeful, if not confident, of completing the circle and taking her back to where it all began, in the northern Victorian town of Longwood. However, with the likes of Yulong and Coolmore – not to mention a plethora of potential purchasers from overseas – likely to be digging into their deep reserves to secure such a valuable breeding proposition, it is a battle he is almost resigned to losing. 

“Bella took us on an unbelievable journey, so when she goes through the ring we’ll be experiencing a whole range of emotions – from sadness, to nervousness, to excitement and everything in between,” Christian told ANZ Bloodstock News. 

“We’ll be looking to put in a bid here and there if the opportunity arises, and we feel the price is right. Realistically, it might be unlikely that we’ll have enough money to secure her, but we’ll just see how we go and I’m sure it will be an emotional time whatever happens.”

Regardless of the result, Christian will always remember the good times he had with his “horse of a lifetime”, whose crowning glory came last year when she became the first mare to win the world’s richest race on turf. 

Bella Nipotina: a brilliant performer on the trackCredit: Martin King

Victory in The Everest secured her fourth and final win at racing’s highest level, but more than anything it was the courageous manner of the performance that will live long in the memories of her connections, and indeed anyone who was fortunate enough to witness it at Royal Randwick that day.

“There were so many career highlights, but The Everest was probably right at the top because it was an extraordinary win,” recalled Christian. 

“To have a horse good enough to get a slot in that race is hard enough, so when she drew 12 of 12 at the barrier draw on the Tuesday, it was heart-wrenching. But we took confidence from the fact that she had won Group 1s from wide draws before, so Ciaron [Maher] and Craig [Williams] hatched a plan to be positive on her. 

“Unfortunately, the worst possible scenario eventuated when she was caught three-wide without cover in the run, and at the 700-metre mark I thought she had no chance of winning. So for her to keep grinding away and fighting right to the finish, it encapsulated everything about her. 

“She was incredibly tough and incredibly brave, which is what endeared her to so many people. She didn’t win every race by any stretch, but if you backed her you knew she would give absolutely everything, which is the hallmark of great racehorses.”

That toughness might have been derived from a traumatic experience early on in her life, when she suffered significant abrasions after flipping over during a float journey on the way to Rosemont Stud ahead of the 2019 Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale.

Bella Nipotina still carries the scars of that incident to this very day but, thanks to some box rest and the tender loving care shown by the staff at Rosemont, the injuries had sufficiently healed for her to make it in one piece to the Oaklands Junction complex, where she was acquired for $80,000 by David Hayes.

Christian made the shrewd decision to retain a share in the filly, who showed enough early promise for Hayes to throw her in at the deep end at the start of her career - with her first five starts all coming at stakes level.

“She was a strongly built, powerful individual from the very start, and of course when they’re young you always hope they will go on to become good racehorses – although you could never imagine that she would become that good,” said Christian.  

“But David had a high opinion of her from the start, her first starts were all in stakes races and even though she ran really well in most of them, she didn’t break her maiden until the Quezette Stakes in the spring of 2020. Funnily enough, the stable had planned to start her in a Geelong maiden on the Friday before the Quezette, but they received so many debut entries that she didn’t get a run and so she went to Caulfield the next instead, which obviously proved to be a blessing in disguise. 

“She probably became more adaptable when she changed stables, until then we had maybe pegged her as a little one-dimensional because we thought she had to be on-pace but Ciaron decided to change tactics with her in the Healy Stakes, which was Craig’s first ride on her. Away Game won the race but Bella flew home from near last, and from that moment on we knew she had more than one string to her bow so it gave us more options with her racing pattern.”

That versatility and durability would eventually see Bella Nipotina sign off her career with winnings of A$22,757,624, putting her second behind only Winx in the list of Australian racing’s leading prize-money earners. 

She almost went out at the very top of her game at her 57th and final start, only to fall agonisingly short in the Champions Sprint at Flemington, with a third behind Sunshine In Paris taking her tally of minor placings to 26.   

That astonishing consistency, and the potential to pass on her most valuable traits to her offspring, will now make Bella a highly sought-after broodmare commodity – the only question is quite how valuable.    

“It’s hard to know what she will make at the sale,” said Christian, who is hopeful his yearling filly by Trapeze Artist – the final foal produced by Bella Orfana before her untimely death from a rare form of cancer last year – might one day emulate the feats of her famous half-sister. 

“She’s the only mare to have won an Everest and is second behind Winx in terms of prize-money earned, so they are two incredible feats. But she’s a seven-year-old mare who’s had 57 starts, so I don’t know whether that might put some people off. It’s difficult to assess mares of her quality because if some of the bigger players really like her, then she could make anything.”

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