Harding snaps up Frankel filly for A$525,000 in two-speed market

Anthony Mithen experienced the highs and lows of the bruising thoroughbred market on day one of the Inglis Great Southern Sale and he was not alone at Oaklands Junction on Thursday.

The Rosemont Stud principal sold the Great Southern Weanling Sale’s day one session topper, a A$525,000 (£273,000/€324,000) daughter of international champion sire Frankel, but the Victorian breeder also parted with multiple foals for a paltry A$1,500 on a day which provided another reminder about the Australian market’s unwillingness to compromise on perceived faults.

It’s been evident at the yearling sales in 2024 and it naturally transferred to the weanling market in Sydney and on the Gold Coast, and it was arguably exacerbated on day one of the Great Southern sale.

New Zealand investors underpinned the top-end of the market, with well-known Kiwi owner Gary Harding buying Rosemont’s Frankel filly for a bid over half a million dollars, while Kaha Nui Farm’s Nick and Nicky White bought two colts for A$300,000 each – a son of champion sire I Am Invincible and another by Toronado – and an $80,000 Pierata filly during the 280-lot session.

The day cleared 60 per cent, with 146 foals averaging $50,897 (up 23 per cent on the same session in 2023) at a median of $28,750, a figure which was also up from $20,000. Total turnover on day one was $74,431,000, up 28 per cent on last year.

Reflecting on Thursday’s action, and what occurred at other sales, Mithen said demand for quality stock remained extremely strong, “but if you come here and you’re a bit off or the stallion’s not quite right or the mare’s a bit exposed” the breeder will be punished.

“You’re responsible for the stock that you breed and I think the market is going to make you own that stock for longer [if you do have the less desirable horses],” Mithen told ANZ Bloodstock News. 

“That’s just the reality we live in from a financial sense. It’s expensive to keep a horse.

“Prize-money’s still strong, but people are realising that quality horses tend to get the bulk share of that prize-money, so I think everyone’s getting a bit of a reminder of that at the moment. 

“It’s probably something that we’ve always known but for a few years there you could sell middle and lower end stuff and there was still a market for it, but it’s becoming harder and harder.”

Anthony Mithen: 'For a few years you could sell middle and lower end stuff and there was still a market for it, but it’s becoming harder and harder'Credit: Rosemont Stud

The session-topping Frankel filly provided plenty of solace, however, after proving to be a good investment for Rosemont Stud almost three years ago.

The filly’s dam Abby Hatcher is a Grade 3-winning half-sister to European Listed winner Purciaretta. Abby Hatcher was a US$185,000 purchase from the 2021 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale by agent Julian Blaxland on behalf of Rosemont Stud.

Mithen, whose Rosemont Stud sold ten weanlings on day one for an aggregate of $762,000, said the filly made well above her reserve price after she attracted strong competition from the buying bench in what was a “good result” for Rosemont.

“We’ve been a strong supporter of Frankel and we felt like he was good value there for a while when you could measure him up at about $120,000 to $150,000 Aussie versus some of the stallions here standing at that price,” said Mithen. 

“He’s gone to the next stratosphere now for anyone breeding to him in the north or southern hemisphere, so the gig might be up for us, but it was nice to breed a really nice filly and get a really nice mare kicked off the right way.

“We’ve got the mare in foal to Bivouac, she’ll live at Rosemont and do a good job for us.”

Part of the Frankel filly’s appeal is her female pedigree, according to her new owner Harding. 

“It’s a very good cross, a proven cross, but unfortunately the dam sire does lead to her being a little bit plain and she is a little bit plain in the head, but that’s the dam sire I think,” said Harding. “We all know the Frankel stakes winners to runners is very high. Hopefully we’ve got one. We’re going to keep our fingers crossed.”

Abby Hatcher, pictured winning a maiden at Dundalk, is dam of the sale-topping Frankel filly Credit: Patrick McCann

Having owned horses since 1976, Harding entered the weanling market for the first time last year, paying A$280,000 for a Savabeel filly out of Tricia’o at the Inglis Australian Weanling Sale.

Harding returned to the Riverside Stables sale last month to buy the Savabeel filly’s half-sister by Street Boss for A$140,000 and a Proisir filly for A$100,000 before upping the ante at the Great Southern Sale with his high-priced daughter of Frankel.

Despite his foray into the weanling market, Harding is “sitting on the fence a little bit” about whether it’s value for an end-user.

“You can’t scope them and there’s a risk of paddock accidents and so forth, so the risk factor is quite high and, at the same time, it’s easier to pick a yearling,” said Harding.

“It’s not easy to pick any horse, but it is easier to pick a yearling. You’ve got to have a bit more imagination as to what they’ll grow into, I feel anyway.”

The Frankel filly will return to New Zealand with the weanling fillies bought out of Sydney to grow out in New Zealand and be educated with one of Harding’s trainers.

If she shows adequate racetrack ability, she’ll then be sent to Australia to be trained.

Inglis Bloodstock chief executive Sebastian Hutch said there had been some “spectacular” sales ring results for vendors on Thursday, but the gulf between the top and bottom was clear for everybody to see.

“Foreseeing it was one thing, and we’ve worked hard as best we can and inevitably the clearance rate will improve, but it’s very pronounced – maybe more than any other sale we’ve seen so far – the challenges that exist in the bottom third of the market,” said Hutch. 

“At various stages throughout the year, there’s been challenges consistently at certain parts of the market, but it’s very pronounced here and the median reflects that.

“The median for the sale last year was $16,000 and today I think it is $28,000, so that tells you that the horses that are finding it most difficult are those that landed in the zero to $20,000 bracket, which I feel under the circumstances is understandable.

“There’s demand for stock that is perceived to be of quality, and there’s also evidence of a rising tide having lifted a certain number of the foals here, but not all of them.” 

Subscribe  to make sure you never miss updates from Australia, New Zealand and beyond and to have ANZ Bloodstock delivered to your inbox every day