Following the win of the $3,000,000 Inglis Easter Yearling sale-topper Kandinsky Abstract on May 3, it was the turn of the second most expensive lot of the sale to make a winning debut at Canterbury on Wednesday.
In a battle of the bluebloods, the $2,250,000 Snitzel colt Congregation ran down the $625,000 Lonhro colt Dumebi in the 1250m maiden.
Ridden by Kerrin McEvoy for Chris Waller, Congregation raced midfield and was among the first to come off the bit. In the style of a horse that would appreciate a stretch out in distance, Congregation gamely stuck to his guns to defeat Dumebi by a short-neck with the Epaulette debutant Mogwai the same distance back in third.
Racing in the colours of Coolmore’s Derrick Smith, Congregation is a brother to Golden Slipper heroine Estijaab.
Stable representative Charlie Duckworth said it is all upside for the expensive colt.
“He was all at sea and didn’t really know what he was being asked to do,” Charlie Duckworth said.
“He was getting a little pressure from his outside and had to knuckle down. He lengthened nicely, and it ended looking like a soft win
“He is a horse with plenty of talent and is completely untapped, so it will be exciting for everyone when he works it out.
“There is a massive amount of improvement. It’s a pleasure to have him in the stable, and hopefully, he can go on to bigger and better things. The boss has to work out where now.”
Tom Magnier signed the ticket for $2,250,000 to secure Congregation from the Arrowfield Stud draft at the 2022 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.
He is the fifth winner from six to race for the dual Group 1 winner Response. Besides Estijaab he is a brother to the stakes-placegetters Alter Call and Remarque.
Response was a $50,000 Easter yearling purchase for Barry and Midge Griffiths in 2008. In addition to the $840,000 she won on the track, the daughter of Charge Forward was an $840,000 purchase for SF Bloodstock at the 2012 Inglis Australian Easter Broodmare Sale.
Three years later, she made $1,500,000 to the bid of Katsumi Yoshida at the National Broodmare Sale.
It proved a gilt-edged investment. Her yearlings have sold for $1,050,000, $1,700,000, $350,000, $575,000, $2,250,000, and $1,400,000.
The latter was purchased by Kia Ora Stud / TFI for a sister to Estijaab and Congregation consigned by Arrowfield Stud to the 2023 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.
Response has a weanling colt by The Autumn Sun and revisited Snitzel last spring.
Congregation is the eleventh 2yo winner of the season for Snitzel, who is on an unstoppable charge to his fourth Australian 2YO Sires’ Premiership.
