Montefilia Latest Star Added to Inglis Chairman Sale

Group 1 multiple winner Montefilia– one of the finest mares of her generation – has been cataloged as the latest star attraction for the Inglis Chairman’s Sale.

Inglis presented the four-time Group 1 winning daughter of on March 2nd Kermadec would join the other Group 1 winners Nimalee And ice bath at the auction taking place at Riverside Stables on May 4th.

The Winterbottom Stakes (G1) winner of leading Perth owner and breeder Bob Peters Graceful girlhis Group 1 mare celebrity missand the three-time Group 1-placed mare beat that will also go under the hammer on the evening of action.

Coached by David Payne, Montefilia has won six of their 24 career appearances. Her record is led by her four elite-level triumphs, the first of which came in 2020 in the Flight Stakes (G1), a win that followed her seven days of beating the men in the Spring Champion Stakes (G1) followed later.

Her third triumph in Group 1 came in October 2021 when she secured victory in a Metropolitan (G1) competitive race. With last year’s edition of the Ranvet Stakes (G1) she increased her yield again. These exploits on the racetrack earned her Top 115 international rating and ranked her in the top 30 mares and mares in the world on turf in 2022.

The 5-year-old mare recently showed talent in fifth place, a little more than two lengths behind the winner anamoein the Chipping Norton Stakes (G1) on February 25, signaling that she could be set for another big fall.

Adding to the mare’s allure is that she is being offered as a race and breeding candidate at the Chairman’s Sale, giving people the opportunity to acquire a live contender for some of next spring’s top races including the Melbourne Cup (G1) and the Caulfield Cup (G1), a race in which she finished fourth in the last two renewals.

With four Group 1 mares already under her belt, Inglis CEO Sebastian Hutch told ANZ Bloodstock News that Montefilia is a mare with a lot of potential.

“She is a fantastic mare and is the most successful foal of her year in terms of Group 1 wins at this point,” said Hutch. “She has won four Group 1s, more than any other Australian bred horse this year, which is quite a feather in any horse’s cap. She’s got through the fall and seems to be in as good shape as ever.

“She appears poised to make her presence felt in weight-for-age races in the fall before embarking on another spring campaign, which is an exciting prospect for anyone interested in acquiring her.”

Bred by G. Russell, Montefilia was purchased by Baystone Farm for AU$62,000 at the Inglis Great Southern Weanling and Bloodstock Sale 2018 before being purchased by her trainer for AU$130,000 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale the following year.

The mare comes from the listed mare Bana Wu making her a half-sister to Ottawa Stakes runners-up (G3). Nice for whatpurchased by Dermot Farrington at the 2022 edition of the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale for AU$500,000.

Meanwhile her other winning half-sister, Wu Darlwas bought by Rathmore Bloodstock and Avesta Bloodstock for AU$220,000 at last year’s Chairman’s auction while another of her award winning sisters, Chaparral Bellemade AU$150,000 when sold in 2021.

Hutch believes her pedigree coupled with her race track record makes her a genuinely attractive and rare prospect to offer at public auction.

“What I like about her family tree, and what people like about her family tree in general, is that she brings together some really influential fatherlines in the world: Galileo, Sunday Silence, Monsoon, Last Tycoon, through the second generation of her family tree. I find that exciting and shows that there is real quality in her pedigree – I can’t think of many people who wouldn’t be thrilled to buy a mare like her,” he said.

“She first won as a 2-year-old and won the Flight Stakes as a 3-year-old that spring, beating a fantastic filly at Hungry Heart and winning a Spring Champion Stakes a week later.

“She’s really fantastic and mares like that don’t come along very often. I think the fact that she was precocious and able to combine that with stamina gives her the credentials to complement many of the stallions in this part of the world. The term ‘world class’ is one we rarely use but I think Montefilia deserves to be ranked as a world-class racehorse and world-class breeder.”