Shinzo filly tops Inglis weanling sale at AU$600,000

Shinzo’s first-crop buzz translated into a six-figure statement at Riverside Stables, where a Noorilim Park filly by the 2023 Golden Slipper winner sold for AU$600,000 to Stefan Pardi’s SP Bloodstock and topped the opening day of the Inglis Australian Weanling Sale.

The Lot 43 filly had already attracted heavy attention before bidding began, and vendor Peter Carrick said she had been widely inspected, x-rayed and vetted. The market rewarded that confidence. Pardi, who also bought the auction’s previous sale-topper as a yearling buyer and pinhooker, went to AU$600,000 for the filly and established the high-water mark for the session.

That result did more than crown one weanling. It gave Shinzo an early commercial win at a time when first-crop sires are under the market’s microscope. Retired to Coolmore in 2024 after winning the 2023 Golden Slipper, Shinzo had his first weanlings showcased in this sale, and the filly’s price suggested buyers were willing to pay for a colt-and-filly pipeline that still carries racetrack cachet into the foal ring. The pedigree helped, too, with the filly coming from the family of Special Lover, a mare from the Eight Carat branch that has already produced useful runners.

Day 1 figures backed up the strong-top-end tone. Inglis reported gross sales of AU$10,661,500, an average of AU$73,024, a median of AU$50,000 and a 72% clearance rate. That compared with a 70% clearance rate and AU$9,200,000 gross on the equivalent day last year, even though the number of sold lots fell to 146 from 173 in 2025. In other words, fewer horses changed hands, but the market spent more where it mattered most.

Pardi’s appetite was not limited to the topper. He also bought an Anamoe colt for AU$260,000 and a Frankel colt for AU$400,000, reinforcing the demand for proven bloodlines across the sale. Inglis also highlighted a Harry Angel half-brother to Hayasugi and a Home Affairs colt among the stronger offerings, underscoring the depth of interest behind the headline price.

For Pardi, the move fit a familiar pattern. Last year he paid AU$775,000 for the sale-topping Too Darn Hot x Enbihaar colt, then flipped him for AU$2.2 million at the Easter Yearling Sale in the Widden Stud draft. That kind of track record gives extra weight to his willingness to chase the best foals early, and Shinzo’s first crop now has a price tag that will linger as the Inglis breeding-stock series continues through the Chairman’s Sale on May 7.