Vinery Stud sire Star Turn had a highly-rated colt finish Top 5 on the leaderboard at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale on Sunday just hours before his Singapore star Golden Monkey won the Fortune Bowl (LR, 1400m) at Kranji.
The Day 1 colt from Stakes-producing Fastnet Rock mare Crystal Rock (Lot 193) was sold by Lustre Lodge (as agent) for $240,000 to Melbourne agent Leonard Russo who was acting on behalf of Dream Thoroughbreds manager Dave Azzopardi.
“I rated him the best of the 500 Classic Sale yearlings I inspected,” Russo said on Sunday evening. “He’s a lovely-looking, athletic type and a real good mover so we were very keen to secure him. Star Turn is doing a great job here as well as Singapore and Hong Kong. We had budgeted about that amount but I was hoping to pay a bit less.”
Bred by Lustre Lodge part-owner Glen Spratt and Greenhaven Park, the chestnut colt is a half-brother to Big Parade (Deep Field) who won the ATC Sydney Stakes (Gr.3, 1200m) for trainer Mark Newnham in 2021. “His dam Crystal Rock also foaled a brilliant Duporth filly named Dunamite,” Russo recalled. “Ciaron (Maher) was spruiking her ability after winning a Cranbourne trial but she died after just the one start at Moonee Valley.”
Fellow Melbourne agents Paul Moroney and Catheryne Bruggeman also paid $240,000 for a Vinery-consigned colt by Alabama Express (Lot 81) that made Top 5 at Riverside Stables. “He’s a cracking colt,” Moroney said. “We bought Alabama Express as a yearling and he’s currently the hottest sire of first-season juveniles in Australasia.”
Offered by Vinery (as agent) for breeder Rupert Legh, he’s from British-bred mare Anyana (Nathaniel) and will be raced by a Ballymore Stables syndicate with Moroney’s brother Mike. The dam had thrown two winners by Reliable Man (GB) in Europe before she was purchased for 11,000 guineas (AUD 20,350) at the 2017 Tattersalls December Sale.
“We saw a mix of the exciting young sire and the deep stamina family of his imported dam in this colt,” Moroney added. “We expect him to develop into an excellent classic prospect at three. He’s definitely a lovely Derby type of horse and later he could be a Cups horse.”
The Inglis Classic Sale continues on Monday at Riverside Stables and Vinery commences its Day 2 draft with an All Too Hard – Florida Girl colt (Lot 280). All Too Hard’s top-priced yearling on Sunday was the filly out of Dream Genie (NZ) that made $200,000 to the bid of Mitch Freedman.
