$1.75 Million Pierro Filly Tops Inglis Easter Day 1

Golden Slipper winning Group I sire Pierro set a new sale ring benchmark for himself when the half-sister to this year’s brilliant two year-old filly Learning to Fly sold for $1.75million at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale on Monday.

Bred and consigned by Coolmore, this lovely filly is the third foal of Fastnet Rock’s brilliant Group III winner Ennis Hill, whose second foal Learning to Fly, won her first three starts – Group III ATC Widden Stakes, then the $2million Inglis Millennium and Group II ATC Reisling Stakes before losing her rider in the Golden Slipper.

Ennis Hill is a sister to Group I placed stakes-winner Lake Geneva and exciting young stakes-winning sire Acrobat, who covered 188 mares at Coolmore last spring in his first season.

The glamour filly sparked a tense bidding duel before being knocked down to bloodstock agent Michael Wallace for Kuldeep Singh Rajput of Gandharvi Racing.

“Kuldeep Singh is a new entrant into the business really and is looking at building a quality racing and long-term breeding prospects business and with her credentials, this filly fits that mould,’’ Wallace said.

“The plan is to race high quality fillies here in Australia, as we’ve done around the world already, and take some equity in some colts when we can.

“This family is probably deemed the most dominant family in Australia currently and it’s only going to continue to thrive.’’

The filly will be trained by Annabel Neasham.

“Annabel saw us looking at the filly a couple of days ago and tapped us on the shoulder and you’d only be too happy to give her to her, given Learning To Fly’s success,’’ Wallace said.

Coolmore’s Tom Magnier was delighted with the outcome.

“She’s a special filly and all the top judges were on her. The sales complex was packed when she went through the ring so you kind of knew she was going to make a top price,’’ Magnier said.

“She’s a lovely filly and with a bit of luck, she’s the next Learning To Fly.

“It’s a lot of money and when your filly goes through the ring and has the top price of the day, you have to be happy.”