Newgate’s first-season stallion’s impressive results headlined by $400,000 colt
The indomitable appetite for the progeny of Newgate Farm's first-season sire Capitalist (Written Tycoon) once again came to the fore in the sales ring on Thursday, with six weanlings by the son of Written Tycoon (Iglesia) breaking the six-figure barrier at the Inglis Australian Weanling Sale.
Capitalist finished the day as the leading sire by aggregate, selling ten youngsters for an aggregate of $1,475,000 at an average of $147,500 and they were headlined by a colt by the stallion, who was purchased by Ray and Brett Gall of Gall Bloodstock and Peter Morgan for a sale-topping $400,000.
Catalogued as Lot 137 and offered by Middlebrook Valley Lodge, the colt is out of the three time-winning Redoute's Choice (Danehill) mare Laylia, making him a half-brother to Group 3 winner Shamalia (Shamardal) and Listed scorer Emperor's Way (Roman Emperor).
Further back, this is the same family as dual Grade 1 scorer Super Quercus (Hero's Honor).
Laylia herself was purchased by David Digby's Jaquers Investments for $65,000 at the 2020 Inglis Sydney Broodmare Sale last year and she was carrying this colt in utero and he was over the moon with Thursday's result.
"$65,000 into $400,000 in a year, it's pretty good. It's not bad this breeding game!'' Digney said.
"It's such a great result. We purchased the mare online last year, sight unseen as a 17-year-old but when she arrived here to us at Lemrac Lodge, which Megan Kirsopp-Cole manages and does such a fabulous job, you'd swear the mare was ten, she was sprightly and such a beautiful type that Newgate had looked after so well.
"Will Stott [Inglis bloodstock consultant] was instrumental in the purchase, he's been guiding me so this result, it's just fantastic.
"We knew we had a good product and Capitalist is very hot at the moment, and then when we found out the horse had 23 x-ray hits, I knew plenty of people were interested in him. We put a $200,000 reserve on him because we just wanted to get him on the market and let the market sort the rest out so to get double the reserve, we were always hopeful of a result like this but until it happens, I guess you never really know.''
Middlebrook Valley Lodge enjoyed a good day in the ring, selling six weanlings for an aggregate of $533,000 and they finished the day with an average of $88,833 which saw them crowned the leading vendors by average (with three or more lots sold).
The farm's Verna Metcalfe was pleased with the result and she told Racing & Sports Bloodstock, the colt had everything buyers looked for in a top-line weanling.
"He was a cracking foal, doesn't matter what he would have been by, he was just a cracking colt - he was everything you look for in a weanling," she said. "He did an incredible amount of parades, more parades than I have ever done with a weanling and he never turned a hair. He just paraded like a little superstar. He has a beautiful stride, lovely hind-quarter and a good girth and a beautiful head on him.
"It was very strong today. I think a lot of the weanling here all the big players were on him. Our colt had 30 x-ray hits and that is a good number for a yearling sale, so in terms of weanlings that is amazing."
Metcalfe was so taken with the youngster she and a few of her clients had hoped to buy him, but the $200,000 they had in the kitty proved not enough.
"I had a group of people and we were going to buy him at $200,000 if we could and we got blown out of the water, well and truly. But it is a huge result for the farm results like this just help promote our farm," she said.
Capitalist could not have made a better start at stud, siring 12 winners - including one in New Zealand - while his first crop includes four stakes winners headed by Group 1-winning colt Captivant and he due to his fantastic season the stallion will stand the 2021 season for a fee of $99,000 (inc GST), having commanded a fee of $44,000 (inc GST) last spring.
