He’s called Bull Market and he’s aptly named.
He is a pin-hooking success story for Scone’s Sledmere Stud team Catriona and Royston Murphy and now he runs for the ubiquitous China Horse Club in Saturday’s $250,000 Inglis Classic at Randwick.
If only they were all like this! Catriona found the son of Written Tycoon at the Inglis Great Southern Weanling Sale and paid just $34,000 for him.
Just 12 months later and the sire then proving a hot sensation with his racetrack progeny, they sold him at the Classic sale for $305,000.
“You don’t always get it right, it’s a pretty rare story, but a good one,” Catriona told G1x.
Rare indeed – when the reserve was just $80,000.
“He walked in the ring and looked like a panther. It was pretty exciting, almost hard to take when it got to $150,000, but when two people get excited about a horse you just never know,” she said.
That trade winner China Horse Club wanted him so dearly (in all senses of the word) and gave him a name to match completed the sweet deal for the Sledmere team.
“I think it helped that Written Tycoon I think had two winners on that day but this bloke looked as though could have put a saddle on him there and then and run him in a race.”
The younger version of what would become Bull Market and the amazing mark-up value started at Inglis’ Oaklands Junction yards as lot 194 walked into the ring, to much admiration.
“We were on a mission in Melbourne. I left my husband (Royston) at home to run the farm so I was under more pressure to find the right horse. He was a lovely athletic mover and Written Tycoon wasn’t really on at that stage. He just had presence about him
“Plenty of people liked him and the under-bidder came up to wish us luck. I was racing to get back on a plane and thought had I paid too much?” Murphy said.
Sledmere is a family run stud in the hands of the Murphy’s, Catriona niece of Ann Raymond, whose father Guy co-founded the stud before the first world war. Sledmere’s most recent Group 1 graduate was Phil Sly’s Myer Classic winner Politeness.
While they breed about 25 horses a year from their own mares, the Sledmere team bolster their offerings through pin hooking.
“We have been pin hooking for many years. It is a key part of our business. And we target the Classic sale, especially with the colts. This is what we call a trade sale and it keeps growing.
Sledmere have 21 to sell at Classic including some pin-hooks hoping to emulate the Bull Market result.
Most admired has been lot 199, a Bel Esprit colt, purchased as a Melbourne weanling for $55,000 and an Al Maher colt (lot 45) bought at Magic Millions for $38,000.
“There is a great buzz around the sales, we had 68 full parades yesterday, so that’s 21 horses out 68 times, so there is plenty of interest, it’s a strong market,” Murphy said.
Sledmere have started the 2017 sales season in good form with their Hinchinbrook colt pin-hooked for $125,000 last year making $200,000 at Magic Millions, going to Sheik Hamdan’s Shadwell Stud.
Bull Market is one of two runners in China Horse Club colours in the Inglis Classic and is quoted a $26 chance with CrownBet.
News from G1X Racing.