Widden Stud flag-bearer Zoustar roared into action with two of the top three lots of the day—capped by a AU$2.6 million (US$1,555,723, US$1=AU$0.60) filly bought by American John Stewart—as a wildly successful, record-breaking Inglis Easter Yearling Sale concluded at Riverside April 7.
Bidding over the phone from Kentucky, Stewart of Resolute Racing beat heavyweight rival Coolmore for Monday's top yearling, and third-highest of the sale, a filly bred and sold by Zoustar's home stud Widden.
The supremely-built filly is the second foal of listed winner The Actuary, herself a half sister to star mare Zougotcha, who Widden bred and co-raced through a career yielding three group 1s. She's expected to be trained by Ciaron Maher.
"The Actuary filly has been a star from day one," Antony Thompson, owner of Widden Stud, said. "This week, she's hardly seen her box. She's had 260 parades, vets have been all over her from all parts of the world. She had that X-factor and international appeal.
"We were thrilled to see John Stewart buy her. He's been a major investor globally and for him in his model to try to pick the finest bloodstock in the world, to buy this filly off us is a real thrill and something we're really proud of."
Zoustar—who also sired three of Monday's top six yearlings—had the session's third-top seller when Little Avondale Stud's colt out of group 3 winner Belluci Babe sold for AU$1.7 million to Hong Kong trainer Douglas Whyte and owner Sam Wright.
Between them was I Am Invincible's most expensive lot at the sale, a colt out of a half sister to Winx, sold by the great mare's breeder John Camilleri through Segenhoe Stud's draft, and bought by Coolmore's Tom Magnier for AU$1.8 million. The colt will be prepared by Winx's trainer Chris Waller.
It came as Australasia's elite sale closed with a range of eye-popping numbers—including a record Easter average—emphatically defying not only fears at the start of the year of a downturn, but more recent economic tremors sparked by stock market slumps in the wake of United States President Donald Trump's new tariffs.
Soon after Monday's close of bidding, the average was AU$451,913 (US$270,404)—smashing last year's record of AU$426,447.
The gross stood at AU$150 million (US$89,753,232), only down AU$1.8 million on 2024 despite only 332 lots being sold—24 fewer than last year—and the fact last year's sale was drastically inflated by the sale of Winx's daughter for AU$10 million.
With a smaller catalog—421 compared with 500—helping drive up demand, the clearance rate was an extremely robust 86%, up from a final figure of 80% 12 months ago.
And the median of AU$360,000 (US$215,408) represented a huge increase on last year's AU$300,000.
A total of 25 million-dollar lots were sold—up from 18 last year and the third-highest in Easter history—to 17 different entities. While that fell short of the record of 28 in 2008, it was slightly higher as a percentage of lots moved—7.5 % compared to 7.4%.
Inglis bloodstock CEO Sebastian Hutch said the bumper results were due to a range of reasons, but one in particular.
"We worked bloody hard at it," he said. "It's very much a case of reward for effort on a variety of levels.
"This year in particular, we wanted to demonstrate to the market definitively that this is the best sale at which to sell quality stock, and I think we've done that emphatically."
