Winx's foal smashes Australian records in $10 million sale

There are few horses of the calibre of Winx: the retired Australian thoroughbred champion won 37 of 43 career starts and made more than $26.4 million in prize money for her owners, the Tighe, Kepitis and Treweeke families.

Her filly’s birth was arguably one of the toughest endurance tests for the champion mare, who became extremely ill due to complications following the stillbirth of her first foal, sired by I Am Invincible.

Bidding at the annual Inglis Easter Yearling Sale in Sydney began at $2 million, but quickly escalated because of the local and international interest.

The sale set a southern hemisphere record for a thoroughbred yearling, double the $5 million paid for Black Caviar’s half-brother and smashing the previous Australian filly yearling record of $2.6 million.

It is the most expensive filly to be sold; the previous record was for Al Naamah, sold in 2013 for 5 million guineas ($8.9 million using the exchange rate of that day).

Ms Kepitis said the filly, nicknamed Winny, would be prepared by Winx’s trainer Chris Waller if she raced. The sale meant Ms Kepitis bought out the co-owners of the filly, who also own Winx.

“It’s exhilarating,” Winx part-owner Peter Tighe said. “I never thought [the price] would go that high.

“It’s probably Debbie’s dream and I’m glad she bought it. It’s brought back a lot of memories, and what the horse means to us. We just loved being part of it all.”

Winx’s part-owner Debbie Kepitis and her family celebrate after buying the first foal out of the champion mare for a record $10 million. Getty

The underbidder for Winx’s filly, Mr Stewart, bought a filly sired by I am Invincible for $3 million later in the day. It was also born at Coolmore Stud – an operation that has bred 68 group 1 winners locally since 1996.

Ms Kepitis said the interest from the US was a sign of the local breeding industry’s strength. “We have amazing racing stock here in Australia and to have them desperate to have our stock ... that’s great for the industry,” she said.

Tom Magnier, principal at Coolmore Australia where both Winx and her filly were born, said it was the perfect story.

“I knew [Debbie] was going to make a very high figure because somebody’s buying history,” he said. “It’s a classic ... a collector’s item. There’s only one person who deserved today and that was Debbie, Paul and the whole family.”

He also confirmed the champion mare was in foal again by Snitzel.

Inglis has already made more than last year’s sale, which grossed $139.3 million. As of 5:30pm on Monday, the auction house had made $144.5 million and still had horses for auction.

The average price was $437,758 and the median horse price was $300,000, with 77 per cent of all horses on offer sold.

One of the most noticeable differences at this year’s sale was the absence of bids from Yulong Investments, owned by Chinese mining billionaire Yuesheng Zhang. Mr Zhang spent $11.9 million at the 2023 auction but did not buy a horse at this year’s sale.

Mr Hutch said he was pleased with the results, despite the clearance rate (the number of horses sold) being lower than expected. “People have been more discerning in their approach to buying and sales … but we’re coming off the two most lucrative years in the history of Australian bloodstock,” he said.

“I’m satisfied. We’ve had lots of buyers here, but the reality is a situation where a lot of money will go home … because the horses they wanted to buy, they got outbid and they are not prepared to compromise by buying a different horse.”