RANDWICK hosted the inaugural running of the A$2 million The Invitation for fillies and mares on Saturday. The 1,400 metres event, comprising 12 starters invited by a panel convened by Racing New South Wales was won by the Sacred Falls mare Icebath.

Trained by Brad Widdup the five-year-old had not won for 12 months but had been a runner-up in A$7.5m Golden Eagle and Group 1 Doncaster Mile in that time.

“It’s fantastic,” said Widdup. “It’s great for the team and she’s been great for us. This race came from nowhere, big money, and it’s fantastic. I’m over the moon for the owners and our staff. Twelve months is a long wait but I’ll take it every day of the week.”

WHILE Flemington plays host to the prestige of Victoria Derby Day’s nine group races, four of which are at the top tier, the race with the greatest monetary reward held today will be at Rosehill, the A$7.5 million Golden Eagle.

The 1,500 metres race, open only to four-year-olds and first run in 2019 also donates 10% of prize money to charity, with each horse’s owners nominating their charity of choice.

This year the Golden Eagle has an international flavour with three northern hemisphere-bred four-years-olds in the field.

The British-bred Maximal (by Galileo) in the care of John O’Shea, and the Irish-bred pair trained now by Annabel Neasham, Laws Of Indices (by Power), and Reve De Vol (by Siyouni).

DUE to the ongoing pandemic restrictions and closed borders New Zealand Bloodstock’s Ready-to-Run sale will be a virtual affair for all those other than domestic New Zealanders.

“It’s going to be vital that purchasers do their homework thoroughly prior to auction day,” said NZB’s Andrew Seabrook.

“Getting a horse inspected or vetted on the days of selling won’t be possible due to the horses being spread out across the country.”

The 274 juveniles on offer galloped at Te Rapa earlier in October with the sale set to commence back at Te Rapa racecourse on November 17/18th. Videos are online at nzb.co.nz.

Inglis Ready2Race Sale returns

AT the Inglis Warwick Farm complex on Tuesday 82% of the 126 juveniles offered for the Inglis Ready2Race were sold at an average of A$113,947.

With the median reaching $80,000, the top of the market was a Super One (by I Am Invincible) colt sold to Hong Kong interests for $400,000.

“We had buyers from Hong Kong, Macau, Philippines, Singapore, Queensland, Northern Territory, Victoria etc, mainly from people bidding online or over the phone with an agent or a member of our bloodstock team and that has really helped the sale overall,” said Inglis’ Mark Webster.

Two graduates from last year’s sale include Forgot You and Gunstock who share favouritism for today’s Group 1 Victoria Derby.