John Stewart's Resolute Racing silks were carried to victory for the first time in Australia when expensive filly Ernaux produced a commanding display to break through Nov. 14 at Canterbury Racecourse.
Trained by Chris Waller, the daughter of I Am Invincible was fourth and second at her most recent starts at Newcastle and she came out on top of the blanket finish on Friday, beating Pyrolysis by a nose.
Ernaux is out of Oakleigh Plate (G1) winner Booker, a daughter of Written Tycoon who was bought by Coolmore's Tom Magnier for $1.6 million at the Inglis Chairman's Sale in 2020.
Stewart emerged on to the Australian buying scene in 2024 and Ernaux was among his first group of purchases. She fetched an eye-watering AU$3 million (approx. US$1.97 million) from the Coolmore Stud draft at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale and runs in Resolute's colors for a partnership which includes Coolmore and its partners.
Ernaux was the headline act of six purchases for Stewart who splashed AU$5,440,000 at the Sydney Sale that year. The price tag also makes Ernaux the most expensive yearling ever sold by Yarraman Park's marquee stallion I Am Invincible.
This year, Resolute signed for 13 yearlings at Magic Millions and the operation's spend was headlined by a filly out of the brilliant group 2-winning mare Away Game, teaming up with trainer Ciaron Maher to buy the youngster for AU$1.8 million.
Stewart's other big ticket purchases included an I Am Invincible filly out of multiple group 1 winner Avantage for AU$1.6 million, while he paid the same for a daughter of Snitzel. The latter was bought in conjunction with Gai Waterhouse, Adrian Bott Racing, and Kestrel Thoroughbreds.
Resolute were also active at that year's Inglis Premier Sale, parting with AU$1 million for a Rosemont Stud-consigned Frankel colt out of American grade 3 winner Heavenly Curlin.
