 |
|
 |  |  |
Yesterday, Bruce Neill’s quest for quality over quantity was again on show yesterday with the Cressfield Stud principal buying his second seven-figure sprinting mare of the sales series at the Gold Coast. With New Zealand agent Bruce Perry bidding on Neill’s behalf from a table to the right of the auctioneers’ box, the prominent breeder went to $1 million for Gr.2-winning sprinter Quilista (Scandal Keeper) who was sold in foal to Pierata (Pierro).
Sold by Segenhoe Stud on behalf of Aquis Farm as Lot 978, Quilista was the only mare in foal to hit the seven-figure mark yesterday. She was a $950,000 purchase by Tony Fung at the 2019 National Sale and sent to I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit). That weanling, a filly, sold for $340,000 last week on the Gold Coast Neill employed the same strategy at the Inglis Chairman’s Sale where he bought dual Gr. 1-winning sprinter Pippie (Written Tycoon) for $1.8 million. Pippie will visit Exceed And Excel (Danehill) this year while Quilista is likely to be mated to Arrowfield’s champion stallion Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice).
The overall level of investment across the board at the Australian bloodstock sales so far this year has been remarkable with Victoria’s breeders coming to the fore in a market normally dominated by the big Hunter Valley players. Largely driven by the Written Tycoon Syndicate, which has bought 36 mares for $15.215 million, and the dramatic upscaling of investment by Rosemont Stud, which has spent $10.655 million, Victorian buyers have bought 136 mares sold so far, accounting for almost $45 million of the total aggregate.
This year’s spend is not a complete shock as Victorian-owned mares accounted for 23 per cent of Australia’s broodmares in 2016, 24 per cent in 2017 and 2018 and 27 per cent in the past two breeding seasons. Given Yulong’s and Rosemont Stud’s propensity to increase their numbers, along with the emergence of Leneva Park and others, that percentage could rise again in 2021 and was one of the reasons for the increased competition on the buying bench in the past few weeks. Tasmanian Neill said of the market: “There is a lot of new investment and a lot of it is coming from Victoria, which is quite amazing, but it's good to see them punching above their weight.