The only living foal of record-setting champion mare Winx has sold for a record $10 million in Sydney.
The filly, by Pierro out of Winx, went under the hammer at the Easter Yearling Sale at Warwick Farm on Monday.
Dubbed “Lot 391”, she was the most anticipated auction item in Australian horse racing history, and was snapped up by one of Winx’s part owners, Debbie Kepitis, whose family owns and runs the Woppitt Bloodstock operation.
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“I didn’t come here to buy this horse originally,” Kepitis said after the hammer dropped.
“We put her up for auction and in the last few weeks, all of the family, we started to miss our daughter and granddaughter. We decided, as best we could, if we could get her we would.
“I’m privileged to have been able to secure this filly on behalf of my family. To hopefully see if she can get to the racetrack, and if she can’t, she will be an amazing mum. She’s Australian forever, and she’s going to be just fabulous.”
The record breaking horse’s mother famously won 33 consecutive races to finish her career on the turf, including 25 Group 1 wins.
Winx is the only horse to have won the famed Cox Plate at Mooney Valley four times, achieving it between 2015 and 2018.
Her first foal died during birth, but Winx is now pregnant again to champion sire Snitzel and is due to give birth next year.
The most expensive yearling sale in Australia prior to Monday was a half brother to legendary sprint queen Black Caviar, which sold for $5 million but was put down in 2013 due to illness following a suspected spider bite.
That horse never made it to the racetrack and, bizarrely, its ownership was retained by the auction house because the buyer allegedly never paid for it after auction.
The previous record sale price for a yearling filly in Australia was $2.6 million, which was the price fetched for Black Caviar’s half sister.
That filly – later named Belle Coutre – raced four times but won only once before being retired to stud.