With a vintage crop of yearlings and traffic up markedly on last year, Segenhoe Stud is preparing for what it hopes could be its strongest Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale yet.
Inglis has cataloged 421 yearlings for the auction that runs April 6-7. Segenhoe will offer 10 colts and five fillies at Riverside Stables, in what general manager Peter O'Brien said is perhaps the finest draft Segenhoe has assembled for a sale.
O'Brien said that was a reflection not only of the pedigrees of the 15 yearlings presented, but also the climatic conditions after they were born, something he believes helped make this year's wider Hunter Valley crop one of the strongest the veteran breeder has seen.
"Winemakers talk about years that produce a very good vintage, and I think it's the same for horses. I think the yearlings this year are a particularly good crop," O'Brien told ANZ Bloodstock News. "I've been around to a lot of the farms in the Hunter, and a lot of the horses match their page this year.
"Climate has a lot to do with it. We had good rain in the spring when this crop was born, and that gives foals a far better start off in life. Plus all breeders learn every year how to do things better. Our group of yearlings are definitely the best group overall, for all sales, that we've ever had. And for this sale, it's the most even bunch of horses we've brought to an Easter sale ...
"This could easily be the biggest Easter we've ever had."
With traffic at Riverside busy this week, O'Brien said all vendors had high hopes for a particularly robust sale.
"On Wednesday, we had the busiest day we've ever had at an Easter sale. Our footfall was up 15% on the same day last year," he said. "Everybody's hopeful it'll be a strong sale. The catalog is sensational when you go through it. Definitely all the right people are here, the quality of horse is here, and there's no reason why it can't be a great sale."
Segenhoe has a proud history at Easter and its graduates include group 1 winners Joliestar, Merchant Navy, and Eagle Way.
O'Brien said this fits with the stud's standing as "the number one farm in Australia for producing stakes performers by percentage," with one in six of its yearling sale products earning black type.
Two horses off the farm will race in the April 5 Sires' Produce Stakes (G1), in listed stakes winner Rivellino and favorite Wodeton—a AU$1.6 million Wootton Bassett colt purchased by Tom Magnier from Segenhoe's Magic Millions Gold Coast draft last year.
O'Brien hopes that race can prove a fitting springboard into a huge two days for Segenhoe when the Easter sale begins Sunday.
One of the most keenly anticipated offerings in Segenhoe's draft is Lot 16, a colt by Snitzel out of La Mexicana, a winner of six races up to 1,200 meters including a Melbourne group 3.
"This colt is just an Adonis," O'Brien said. "He's just got a beautiful physique. He's a sharp, mature, great-moving, precocious-looking horse.
"Snitzels can sometimes be a bit coarse, but this colt has got beautiful quality. His forte would be his action—he's very light on his feet—and he's got a great mind. Nothing bothers him."
Segenhoe's Lot 333, a colt by I Am Invincible is also sure to command attention. A year on from the dizzying AU$10 million Easter sale when the first live foal of Winx sold, this colt is the first foal out of a half sister to the great mare in Covent Garden, who was a winner over 1,400 meters.
Lot 333, like Winx and Covent Garden, was bred by longtime Segenhoe associate John Camilleri's Fairway Thoroughbreds. He's also had a timely page update, with 3-year-old half brother Enriched winning last month's listed Fireball Stakes at Randwick.
"He's a beautifully conformed horse, a stunning individual," O'Brien said. "He's got that quality through Exceed And Excel, a beautiful head, and the biggest nostril I've ever seen.
"Most I Am Invincibles aren't great, loose movers, but this guy is. He's got a big hindquarter, beautiful balance, and a quality action. He's very correct and with a great mind; he's very willing."
Segenhoe also offers a filly and a colt by the great Frankel , with Lot 243, an international blue blood filly bred by Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al Maktoum.
Born in Britain July 31 and brought to Australia three months ago, the filly is the third foal of the outstanding South American mare Vale Dori. That mare won a 1,500-meter grade 1 in Argentina before running second in Dubai's 2016 UAE Oaks (G3). Taken to the United States, she won six straight in 2016-17, topped by the 2017 Santa Margarita Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita Park. She later added the 2018 Zenyatta Stakes (G1).
Vale Dori already has thrown the Justify filly Mizzyaan, who emulated her dam by running second in the 2024 UAE Oaks and is now in training in the States.
"She was really an outstanding mare, Vale Dori," O'Brien said, "and this filly has great quality about her.
"Frankels can be hard to assess. He's a champion stallion, but they do come in all shapes and sizes. She's a lovely, scopey filly with a beautiful action. She's probably more of a 3-year-old type than a 2-year-old type, but she's been very popular this week."
