April Vintage, a stakes-placed broodmare pregnant to Triple Crown winner Justify on Southern Hemisphere time, led the proceedings Tuesday during the Inglis Digital USA October Sale, selling to Australia's Widden Stud for $180,000. Tuesday's online auction grossed $417,250 with an average sale price of $16,990.
Widden Stud went home with the auction's top prize, snagging April Vintage for $180,000.
The 3-year-old daughter of Vino Rosso was offered by WinStar Farm, after an on-track career that saw her win a Del Mar maiden special weight as a juvenile, then finish third in the listed Speakeasy Stakes at Santa Anita Park, both going five furlongs on the turf. She was bred to Ashford Stud's red-hot sire Justify this summer, meaning her first foal will be born on Southern Hemisphere time.
Justify was Australia's leading freshman sire of 2022/23, but he did not shuttle to the continent in 2024, meaning the potential scarcity made this pregnant mare especially appealing to operations like Widden Stud.
"She is an outcross to our traditional Australian sire lines and the fact that she showed good, natural speed as a 2-year-old was important," said Antony Thompson of Widden Stud. "Physically, she looks suitable to plenty of our own stallions, and buying through a digital platform is something we have become very comfortable with thanks to Inglis' platform in Australia. She made a bit more than we thought, but she was an appealing offering and it makes sense that there was good demand for her. We'll now be bringing down two mares in foal to Justify from America as we also bred to him."
WinStar Farm CEO Elliott Walden was also keenly aware that breeding April Vintage on Southern Hemisphere time—especially to a sire whose international profile is growing rapidly—would open her up to a broad base of buyers from around the world.
"We're excited about the result and glad she's headed to Widden," Walden said. "It makes sense that the Australians wanted her. It is great to be able to market our horses to a global audience without them leaving their office."
Tuesday's highest-selling racing-age horse was Wake Surf, a 5-year-old Classic Empire gelding who sold to G.O.A.T. Racing Stables for $55,000. He was offered by Tareq Moubarak.
