Rivellino races home in The Inglis Millennium | Tails
Rivellino justified his short price at second favouritism when convincingly taking the $2 million Inglis Millennium for juveniles at Randwick last Saturday.
The Inglis Millennium is the forerunner to its annual and renowned Classic Yearling Sale which concluded on Tuesday.
Now unbeaten in two starts, Rivellino is trained by Kris Lees and was knocked down to the Newcastle conditioner for $180,000, along with another enthusiast Justin Bahen.
Restricted to Inglis sale graduates only, the rich event was a Classic Yearling Sale trifecta, Rivellino defeating Within In Law - a $30,000 seller by Lucky Vega and trained by Bjorn Baker, while Trapeze Artist filly Artistic Venture (which cost $50,000) was third.
Queensland bred and trained, Grafterburners - a first crop colt by Star Witness stallion Graff, finished fourth.
The winner, Rivellino - a colt by Godolphin shuttler Too Darn Hot, is now on route for a start in the STC Golden Slipper Stakes-G1 at Rosehill next month.
Though finishing second last in the field of 16, the Anthony and Sam Freedman trained All Too Hard filly Bubion picked up a massive $400,000 to win the Inglis Pink Bonus, being the first eligible horse home in the feature event with at least 75 per cent of female ownership.
Bellazaine won the other two-year-old event the $200,000 Darley Lonhro Plate-LR.
Interestingly, the following day during the early session of the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale at Warwick Farm, Widden Stud sold a half-sister to Bellazaine - by the property's home-based proven speed sire Supido, for $55,000.
A first crop daughter of Zousain (a young Zoustar sire which stands at Widden Stud, Widden Valley), Bellazaine cost her owners $160,000 at last year's Inglis Classic Yearling Sale.
Earlier on the program, Lisztomania returned to the winner's list after two years taking the country trainer's only race TAB Highway Handicap. Trained by Todd Payne at Inverell, Lisztomania - bred and raced by Mark Taylor of Walcha, is by long-ago Emirates Park US bred shuttler Dream Ahead.
Big city racing features at Randwick also included several "Group 1" horses having exhibition gallopers in-between races.
These included the Chris Waller trained Irish bred Fastnet Rock mare Via Sistina (winner of 10 from 20 starts and $8.5 million in prizemoney), six-year-old Sebring mare Fangirl (nine wins and $8.7 million), and New Zealand bred Savabeel mare Atishu (11 wins and $5.6 million).
Classic day
A Wootton Bassett colt fetched top at $400,000 on the first of the three-day live auction at Riverside Stables, Warwick Farm last Sunday.
Sold via Glenn Burrows' Willow Park, Scone, the colt - a half-brother to triple Sydney winner Cadetship, was produced from the So You Think mare Elegant Air.
Yarraman Park secured the first day's second top at $360,000 for the I Am Invincible filly from Smooth, with both top lots selling to McEvoy/Mitchell Racing, and Damon Gabbedy.
Buyers spent $17.69m on day one of the sale, while a total of 78 horses of the 177 sold fetched $100,000 or more, for an average $99,950, which compared favourably to the $94,930 average on day one at last year's sale.
New Zealand record
NEW Zealand's heralded Karaka Yearling Sale created headlines late last month, when its New Zealand Bloodstock conducted live-auction recorded a new record price for a filly of $NZ2.4 million at the Auckland district selling complex.
Bettering the $NZ1.6 million sister to Prowess at last year's sale, the record-breaking filly is a sister to Kiwi star Orchestral, a Savabeel mare which won the New Zealand Derby-G1, then the Vinery Stud Stakes-G1 at Caulfield, as well as three other New Zealand stakes.
New Zealand's yearling record top remains with Don Eduardo, the 2002 Australian Derby-G1 winner which fetched $NZ3.6 million when sold at its national sale in 2000.
Drury has returned
WHILE she may not have taken first place, it was great to see revitalized hoop, Jessica Drury partner Call Me Mighty into second place at Bathurst, the jockey's first ride in her comeback to the racing saddle recently.
The 35-year-old Drury said that she wants to see how far she can go with her race-riding.
