After being born and raised at Coolmore Stud in the Upper Hunter Valley, the first live foal born to former mighty Australian racemare Winx graced the auction ring at the prestigious time-honoured Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale and fetched an eye-boggling $10 million this afternoon.
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While industry participants and visitors crammed into the packed Warwick Farm auditorium, there was a hush as the brown filly, by Coolmore Stud's champion sire Pierro, entered the ring.
Gasps could be heard throughout the auction as the millions kept ticking up up to create a history-making record for a Thoroughbred yearling sold in the southern hemisphere.
It was fitting the filly was led into the ring by Paddy Sheehan, the man who played "mid-wife" to Winx when she foaled at Coolmore, the Jerrys Plains district property being the filly's sale consigners.
While the filly drew world-wide interest and bidding, she was knocked down to Woppitt Bloodstock, the bloodstock name used by well-known Sydney enthusiast and horse lover Debbie Kepitis who also was a part-owner in Winx and her foal.
The filly made her presence felt as she walked around the ring like a calm professional, a bit like her world-famous mum on the racecourse when she won 37 of her 43 starts and earning $26 million.
No one was more emotional than Kepitis - who just loves her horses.
"I am privileged to secure the filly on behalf of my family; she is staying in Australia and she's Australian forever," Kepitis said at the post-sale conference.
Like her dam, trained by champion conditioner Chris Waller, the record-priced filly will also eventually land in his stables for training.
