'It's like Keeneland back in the '80s' - Magnier and Stewart reflect on an Easter sale extravaganza

US bigshot investor John Stewart may have been forced to play the role of underbidder when it came to the record-breaking A$10 million Winx filly, but he certainly left a major impression on the 2024 Inglis Easter Yearling Sale.

Stewart, who has business interests in New South Wales, met with Inglis managing director Mark Webster – who did the bidding for him in the Sydney ring on Monday – in the United States last month, prior to visiting Australia around the running of the Golden Slipper as a precursor to his spending spree.

He had bought into subsequent beaten Slipper favourite Storm Boy with the Coolmore syndicate and spent time at Jerrys Plains inspecting stock, including the daughter of Winx by Coolmore sire Pierro. 

Stewart revealed publicly pre-sale his desire to buy Winx’s foal, and also disclosed Inglis had granted him A$10m in credit. 

He spent almost A$2.5m before the show-stopping filly set foot in the ring, then went to A$3m for the blueblood daughter of Yarraman Park Stud’s champion stallion I Am Invincible, which, before the Pierro filly sold, would have been enough to smash the previous A$2.6m record price for a filly in Australia.

Magnier paid $1.6 million for the filly’s mother Booker, winner of the 2019 Oakleigh Plate, at the 2020 Chairman’s Sale.

Her first foal, the once-raced Railway Man, sold for $2.5 million to Ciaron Maher at last year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast sale

Co-owned by Coolmore, Georg von Opel and Canadian travel industry entrepreneur Joe Poulin, Booker returned to I Am Invincible the following season, the result being Monday’s A$3m filly.

Magnier indicated that Chris Waller – who will receive the sale-topping Winx filly – is also likely to train the I Am Invincible filly for Resolute Racing.

Magnier said: “She's absolutely stunning and big thanks to John Stewart. He came to stay at the farm two weeks ago. He looked at the yearlings, he obviously loved the Winx filly, he loved the Booker as well, so I'm delighted for him that he got her.

“What’s gone on this week, wow, it’s full credit to Inglis. It's like Keeneland back in the '80s. To the team at the farm, they have these horses looking unbelievable.”

Stewart described the Easter sale as a “phenomenon”.

John Stewart: "It’s been a lot of fun and hopefully I’ve bought some great horses"Credit: Keeneland photo

“It’s fantastic our two continents were connected through this sale in a situation like this,’’ he said. 

“I flew out to Australia a few weeks ago to look at these horses and while I absolutely wanted to buy the Winx filly, I also absolutely wanted to buy this Booker filly; she was my other favourite filly on the farm at Coolmore when I went there, so to be able to buy her today at Inglis is fantastic.

“I’m very thankful to have met the Inglis team over the past couple of weeks. It’s been a lot of fun and hopefully I’ve bought some great horses to get our programme started in Australia.’’

Stewart had also bought three yearlings on day one under his Resolute Racing banner: an I Am Invincible filly for A$650,000, a daughter of Lope De Vega for A$425,000 and a colt by Dundeel for A$240,000. The colourful American secured a Wootton Bassett colt out of dual Group 3 winner Tulip for A$900,000 and a Street Boss filly for A$225,000 on day two.

Magnier said: “John bought a share in Storm Boy and that was his introduction to Australian racing, so we spoke on the phone and I said to him, ‘Why don’t you come down to Australia?’ And he said, ‘Okay, I’m coming’. 

"He came down to the Golden Slipper, we spent a couple of days on the farm, we went around the Harbour and he just said, ‘Wow, the buzz that’s in Australia, this is where I want to race’. 

“He said he’ll obviously race in America but I want Resolute Racing in Australia as well.”

Coolmore Australia was the leading Easter vendor by both average and aggregate, with 32 yearlings selling for A$27.615m, titles that would have been the stud’s irrespective of the A$10m contributed by the Pierro filly.

The A$10m filly aside, the strength at the top end of the market remained relatively strong, with 14 seven-figure yearlings changing hands during the eight hours of trade on Monday to take the tally to 18 for the two days. There were 26 seven-figure yearlings sold last year.

There were also 77 yearlings sold for between A$500,000 and A$1m over the two days, compared to 56 in 2023. 

The overall two-day average was A$429,786, up A$10,000 year-on-year and defying the overall market trend but pointing to demand for high-end bloodstock. The 500-lot sale recorded a new benchmark median of A$300,000, up A$20,000 on last year, while the clearance of 79 per cent was down on 2023 with two fewer horses sold this year.

The aggregate cracked A$150m for just the third time at the Easter sale. The 2022 and 2008 editions also broke the barrier.

“I'm under no illusion that there were parts of the sale that were challenging, but I'd be confident in the clearance of the sales and to get past 80 per cent in the current environment is an excellent result,” said Inglis Bloodstock's chief executive Sebastian Hutch.

“Vendors had to work hard and we worked hard to assist them as best we could. There are some nuances to meeting the market in the current environment and we're fortunate to have a group of vendors in a sale like this who are very effective at that.”

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