Victorian farm sets new record on Day 1 at Australian Weanling Sale.
Noorilim Park is celebrating another Inglis benchmark after the Victorian farm's filly by Stay Inside starred on Day 1 of the Australian Weanling Sale.
The youngster out of Group 1 Oakleigh Plate winner Sheidel got to $650,000 before being knocked down to Damon Gabbedy's Belmont Bloodstock, who was bidding on behalf of the filly's breeder Robert Crabtree.
The sale came just over two years after Noorilim Park set a fillies record when its daughter of I Am Invincible and Special Lover sold for $1.1 million and Noorilim owner Peter Carrick was happy to keep racking up records.
"I love holding a couple of records because I've got the fillies' record in the Melbourne Premier sale with 1.1 (million dollars)," he said.
"I'm happy to break those records."
The filly is a member of the second crop of the 2021 Golden Slipper winner and the second live foal from Holy Roman Emperor mare Sheidel.
Her first foal, a colt by Blue Point, is now a two-year-old and was retained to race by Crabtree who has the colt with Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr.
"Noorilim and us are dispersing all of our stock as weanlings because I sold the farm but then you have to stand back and say to yourself 'OK, independently as a buyer, do I want her?'," Crabtree said of the buy-back.
"And it's not that I only wanted her, I couldn't let go of her.
"As a purchaser, I simply could not go past this filly. I would have been much happier a couple of hundred thousand less as the buyer but still, when you think you've got a horse that is priceless, you've got to back your judgment.
"I think Stay Inside is potentially one of the best stallions we've seen. I think he could be anything.''
The $650,000 filly was the clear standout on Day 1 of a sale that was dominated by fillies.
Five of the top six lots were fillies, including the two others who sold for $250,000 or more.
A filly by The Autumn Sun sold for $280,000, while Trilogy Racing and Suman Hedge teamed up to pay $250,000 for a filly by Too Darn Hot.
At the halfway point of the sale the gross was $9,367,750 with yearlings selling at an average of $53,838 and a median of $30,000.
"Demand for stock that hits the bullseye for buyers seems particularly strong,'' Inglis Bloodstock chief executive Sebastian Hutch said.
"We had 28 weanlings sell for $100,000 or more, which is tracking well ahead of last year, and of the top 20 highest-priced foals, they were bought by 17 different buyers.
"Buyers have been very selective, which is in keeping with our expectations in advance of the sale, but the metrics for the sale are in line with the final result for the sale 12 months ago, which is encouraging.
"Outside of the very best weanlings, it has been a buyer's market and the expectation is that there will continue to be fantastic opportunities for buyers through the day tomorrow, when we have another nice group of weanlings to offer."
