Racing
Waller Nudged into Zoustar filly
A filly by Zoustar from Nudge has topped Day 1 at Inglis Premier
Chris Waller enjoyed good success with Nudge on the racetrack and the champion trainer is now hoping to do likewise with one of her daughters.
Waller and his bloodstock manager Guy Mulcaster, in partnership with Ozzie Kheir and Mat Becker's Group One Bloodstock, went to $850,000 for a Zoustar filly out of the daughter of Fastnet Rock on Day 1 of the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale at Oaklands Junction.
It was the highest price paid for any of the 290 lots catalogued in the opening session of Victoria's major yearling sale of the year and was the best-ever sale ring result for Two Bays Farm.
"We saw her very early on in the week and went back and saw her every day and she's not turned a hair, she's done a lot of parades and been a very busy filly and in our eyes, the filly of the sale. We're thrilled to be able to bring her home,'' Becker said.
"We identified her and thought 'there's no better judge of a Zoustar filly than Guy and Chris' so we reached out to them to see if they wanted to do something and they loved her as much as we did.
"Chris also trained the mother so they know the family. It's a great cross, Zoustar over Fastnet Rock mares, it's the right mix and she was just a beautiful physical, big, strong and had really great movement.
"She wouldn't have been out of place at Easter with the best fillies.''
Waller prepared Nudge to win four races, including the Group 3 Pam O'Neill Stakes (1600m), while she was also runner-up to Tofane in the Group 1 Tattersall's Tiara over 1400m, having earlier finished third in the 2000m Vinery Stud Stakes at the highest level.
The $850,000 filly is her second foal, a sister to the filly now known as Wink Wink who sold to Grahame Begg and Rohan Hughes for $300,000 at last year's Premier Sale.
Waller's big buy, who was offered as Lot 238, inherited the mantle as the day's top lot from the brother to Victoria Derby winner Extra Brut who sold for $520,000 as Lot 19.
The colt, by last year's Victoria Derby-winning sire Ghaiyyath out of Dom Perion, was knocked down to Lindsay Park Racing and Dean Hawthorne.
The other lot to sell for more than $400,000 was a colt by Toronado who sold to X Bloodstock for $410,000, while 10 others sold for between $350,000 and $380,000.
Day 1 grossed a tick over $30 million, up more than $2.3m on the same stage last year, while the average was $158,601 with a $130,000 median.
After last year's first day the average was $139,256, which was more than $4000 more than the Book 1 average, with a $100,000 median.
"That was the best renewal yet of 'Sunday Funday' at Oaklands," Inglis Bloodstock chief executive Sebastian Hutch said.
"It was extraordinarily busy here. There were cars as far as the eye could see in the carpark, the auditorium was packed, the lawns outside were filled with families and kids and the atmosphere was fantastic.
"It is one of the most enjoyable sale days of the year and the results are very positive.
"We felt that the success of the sale last year gave us good momentum in consolidating this catalogue through the spring and the feedback from buyers in the lead-up was very encouraging in terms of their perception of the horses here.
"The market is not easy and the margin for error for vendors and breeders is small, but the appetite for nice horses that vetted well felt particularly strong today and it's always the sign of a good sale when buyers are going home frustrated at not having bought what they wanted, which seems to be the case for many today."
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