Strong Inglis Easter for Fastnet Rock and Coolmore
In a market where buyers were inclined to focus on the tried and true, Champion sire Fastnet Rock proved a popular commodity at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale online.
He had 12 yearlings average $439,583 with his best results including the half-brother to Caulfield Guineas winner Mighty Boss from Bullion Mansion that made $750,000 to the bid of Mulcaster Bloodstock and a filly from Group II winner Fontein Ruby that made $700,000 when snapped up by Lindsay Park Racing / Andrew Williams Bloodstock, both yearlings sold by Coolmore.
The full sister to Group I MRC Blue Diamond winner Catchy was also among his top sellers fetching $600,000 for Coolmore when purchased by Lindsay Park Racing / Andrew Williams Bloodstock.
Fastnet Rock also made his mark on the sale as a broodmare sire through his outstanding daughter First Seal.
A Group I winner of the ATC Flight Stakes in which she defeated Winx by three lengths, First Seal produced a stunning Snitzel colt as her first foal for China Horse Club.
He was offered in the Sledmere Stud draft and purchased by Tom Magnier for $1.8 million to top this year’s sale.
Coolmore finished the sale as leading vendor by aggregate selling 22 yearlings for $7,530,000 with Tom Magnier also the leading buyer signing for eight yearlings at a total of $6,895,000.
“We’re extremely passionate, our family is passionate about Australian racing and we’ve got some wonderful people who invest with us working with the yearlings and the stallions,’’ Magnier said.
“The economy is obviously going through a tough time at the moment but if there’s a place that we believe in, it’s Australia. We think the future is in Australia and we’re delighted to be a part of it.
“There have been some wonderful horses put through the sale this week.
“It's a credit to all the farms, not just ours, that everyone stuck together. Everyone did a great job getting their horses right, everyone got behind Inglis, everyone believed in it and made it work and when you put those formulas together, you get success.
“To our staff at Coolmore, they’ve worked harder than ever, weekends, hours they’ve never worked before to help us sell these horses and we owe them an enormous amount of credit.
“Normally they get to go to the sales and lead the horses around the ring but this time they didn’t but we’re very proud of them, as all the farms would be of their staff.’’