Brae Sokolski says Yes to an A$450,000 son of his Everest-winning colt

A closing hour spending spree at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale in the second session created headlines for a colt by Everest-winning first season sire Yes Yes Yes and delivered two big pinhook results for investors as trade remained steady on Monday.

The trio of high-priced lots - an A$450,000 (£258,000/€292,000) Yes Yes Yes colt, an A$420,000 Extreme Choice filly and an A$350,000 daughter of So You Think - all sold inside the final 40 minutes of day two at Riverside Stables.

The fervent bidding action was led by a first crop colt of top-class sprinter Yes Yes Yes, the second-last lot sold on Monday, who was bought by one of the Coolmore stallion’s part-owners in Brae Sokolski along with his racing partner Ozzie Kheir.

The Woppitt Bloodstock-bred half-brother to Blue Diamond Preview winner Limestone, was signed for by Sokolski’s bloodstock manager Matt Scown and Group 1 Bloodstock’s Mathew Becker who looks after Kheir’s thoroughbred interests.

The grey colt is the seventh foal out of five-time winner Limerock.

“Fairytales don’t happen but it’s been a bit of a fairytale to get such a lovely colt, to get him to the sale, his legs were perfect, his scope was brilliant, to have all of that fall into place and to have a farm like Coolmore look after him and get him here in the condition they did, we can’t be happier,’’ Woppitt Bloodstock’s Debbie Kepitis said.

“We had him as an A$150,000 colt and he was on the market then and we let the market decide. And look what they decided – it’s a fairytale story. He was so hard to part with but we did what we said we would do and to see our little brand on the side of him, it just feels such an achievement.’’

Sokolski on Sunday signalled his intent to support the Chris Waller-trained Yes Yes Yes in the sales ring and he lived up to the promise.

Brae Sokolski (centre) said he had an emotional attachment to his purchaseCredit: Inglis

“So, given all the synergy, there was only one trainer who could possibly be given this horse and that’s Chris [Waller],’’ Sokolski said.

“He’s just a beautiful, graceful animal. We thought he was the best colt in the sale and I make all my business and racing decisions very pragmatically but yes, of course, there’s that emotional connection to the stallion.

“Matt [Scown] loved the colt, we’ve looked at every Yes Yes Yes yearling that’s been offered this year and we thought he was a clear standout of all those we’d seen thus far.’’

Colts by Written Tycoon (A$550,000), Extreme Choice (A$480,000) and Ocean Park (A$460,000) were sold on day one.

Kennewell to train prized Extreme Choice filly

Monday’s A$420,000 Extreme Choice filly was the first big lot to liven up the auditorium when Hong Kong-based owner Bon Ho out-lasted the might of Star Thoroughbreds to buy the so-called limited edition filly who was sold through the Lime Country Thoroughbreds draft.

Matt Upton, who is Widden Victoria’s pre-training and breaking-in manager, bred the filly on an A$11,000 service fee to Extreme Choice, who is now a Newgate Farm sire revelation. 

Just weeks after the second foal of five-time winner Lady No More was born at Upton’s employer’s Romsey stud, Melbourne-based agent Suman Hedge made an offer to buy a 50 per cent share in the filly on behalf of his pinhooking syndicate Myrrh Australia.

“The guys who bred her did so off an A$10,000 service fee so this is truly amazing,’’ Lime Country’s Jo Griffin said.

“She’s such a progressive filly, I’m so happy for Mr Ho. I looked at the stats and there’s only six more Extreme Choice fillies available for the rest of the season so she’s absolutely a collectors’ item.’’

Randwick Bloodstock’s Brett Howard and Star Thoroughbreds’ Martin, who races the Chris Waller-trained Group 3 and Group 1-placed Extreme Choice filly Espiona, were under bidders.

Ho, who was bidding over the phone through Inglis’ Sebastian Hutch, said: “I love the Classic Sale because a lot of good horses come out of the sale and you don’t have to pay as big a price as you do at some of the other sales, and they win all of the big races.

“This filly came highly recommended to me by Lloyd Kennewell, which is why he will train her. I have one other Extreme Choice filly and I think she might be very good so I wanted another one and this one was perfect, she was the only Extreme Choice filly in the sale and I wanted her.’’

The filly is one of five Extreme Choice foals from a crop of 40 conceived in 2020 that Hedge sourced for the 2023 yearling sales, four of which he bought privately.

Trade progressing as expected

After two sessions, A$45,632,000 has changed hands at an average of A$107,369 and a median of A$80,000, down year-on-year, but similar and on par with the 2021 sale. The clearance rate is at 82 per cent.

Inglis Bloodstock chief executive Hutch said trade panned out about as he thought it would.

“The expectation was for much of the same as the first day and I feel like that’s how it played out. Certainly, the nice horses were well found and those who vetted well seemed to sell extraordinarily well. In the case of many of them there was good competition on the horses,” Hutch said.

“As we saw on the first day, there is a degree of selectivity to the market, which is understandable in the circumstances, as people have a fair idea about what they want and what it’s created is an opportunity for people who are shopping in the value part of the market to avail of of some value that maybe hasn’t been there for the past couple of years.”

The third and final session, which incorporates the Highway Session, starts at on Tuesday.

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