Hard work rewarded when Little Avondale Stud and Ridgmont sell their first million dollar yearlings at Easter

Cover image courtesy of Inglis

The 2025 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale provided plenty of big results that resulted in vendors and farms becoming overjoyed and emotional as a result of their success. It is a sale that makes stories, and this year we saw it on opposite ends of the scale as Little Avondale Stud has been selling yearlings for 85 years and Ridgmont Farm has only been in operation for three years. One thing is common, there is always a good story behind selling an expensive horse.

Little Avondale Stud - a fine celebration of 85 years

It was success generations in the making, the best sales ring result ever for New Zealand's Little Avondale Stud as Lot 297, a bay colt by Zoustar out of Belluci Babe (NZ) (Per Incanto {USA}) who set the ring alight fetching $1.7 million.

A special achievement for a stud who this year celebrates its 85th year of selling thoroughbreds.

Purchased by Hong Kong trainer Douglas Whyte, the imposing colt described by the stud’s Sam Williams as “our beautiful pride and joy” is a Little Avondale horse through and through.

We often see horses whose immediate family is the product of one stud, but it is rare to see a farm’s influence running through a yearling’s genes as much as this one, with Sam Williams’ grandmother Nancy Williams breeding with this colt’s eighth dam!

That mare being the 1933-born Haggada (NZ) (Rabbi {NZ}) who produced the first foal Nancy Williams took through the ring; a good result prompting her husband Alister to have a more serious go at breeding thoroughbreds.

Nancy was a great lover of animals and when Alister proposed her acceptance came on the condition that her horses and her dogs came with her!

Fast forward to now and Haggada is an influential ancestress of 38 stakes winners.

Amongst that impressive tally are the Group 1 winners Baraboo (NZ) (Faux Tirage {GB}), Have A Fling (NZ) (Imperial March {Can}), Candide (NZ) (Sound Reason {Can}), Marju Snip (NZ) (Marju {Ire]) and Nadeem, the G1 Blue Diamond Stakes winner who also stood at Little Avondale.

Last weekend’s G3 Carbine Club Stakes winner Evaporate (NZ) (Per Incanto {USA}) is the latest of Haggada’s stakes-winning descendants and that Lindsay Park-trained 3-year-old is a three-quarter-brother to Belluci Babe.

Which made it some week for Little Avondale who bred and raced Belluci Babe, winner of six of her 24 starts including the G3 Wenona Girl Handicap at Randwick.

A mare with Group 1 quality

Competitive in Group 1 company, beating home Overpass (Vancouver) in the G1 Galaxy quinelled by Nature Strip (Nicconi) and Eduardo (Host {Chi}), and not far behind Anamoe in the G2 Expressway Stakes won by Overpass, Belluci Babe produced this colt as her first foal.

Not currently in foal having last spring foaled a Russian Revolution colt, Belluci Babe is the best of the six winners produced by the unraced Savamour (NZ) (Savabeel) who is still at stud; a regular visitor to Per Incanto (USA).

Savamour’s Group 3-winning dam Sound Lover (NZ) (Sound Reason {Can}) did a great job with all 11 of her foals to race being winners including the stakes winners Philosophe (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}), Magnum (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}), Men At Work (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}) and Sir Lovesalot (NZ) (Darci Brahma {NZ}).

Sound Lover is one of Sam Williams’ two favourite mares of all time, the other being the G1 Railway Handicap winner Diamond Lover (Sticks And Stones) who he worked with during a three year stint at Cambridge Stud.

The third generation of the Williams family at Little Avondale, Sam, who runs the farm with his wife Catriona, is justifiably proud of the farm’s history with his grandmother Nancy forging the career of another influential broodmare in Sunbride (GB) (Tai Yang {GB}).

The dam of three major winners, she enjoyed the unique feat of producing three horses to race in the G1 Melbourne Cup, all of whom finished in the first five, including the 1957 winner Straight Draw (NZ) (Faux Tirage {GB}).

Also dam of the G1 Caulfield Cup winner Ilumquh (NZ) (Sabaean {GB}) and the G1 Sydney Cup winner General Command (NZ) (Agricola {GB}), Sunbride joins Haggada as a great influence with 27 stakes winners amongst her descendants; one of those being current star stallion Proisir.

With such a great family history, both his own and his horses, it is little wonder that Williams described the successful sale as “special.”

“The money is great but it’s not just about that, it’s about the feeling you get when a horse who foaled down, who you have watched grow, does so well in the sales ring.

“It’s about everyone at the stud, Sir Patrick Hogan said to me years ago that ‘your horses are only as good as your staff’ and I have always remembered that. We have a great team here at Avondale and they are such a big part of a success story like this.”

Sam arrived home on Tuesday, looking forward to spending the evening celebrating with a meal at his parents place where it was certain that the conversation was going to revolve around “who will we send Belucci Babe to this year?!”

He is excited about her future, looking back at the time where she so easily could’ve been lost during a stable incident that saw her put her foot through a fence.

“Luckily staff were checking on the horses and she was found, and lucky also it turned out to be only superficial damage.”

Not quite an ugly duckling!

Williams admits that he was not super impressed by her first born when he first laid eyes upon him.

“I was a bit 'hmm, really?' about him, I was expecting more! I have a ratings system I use when assessing our horses all the way through and he was only a five or a six to start with.”

“He was not an ugly duckling but he was just a bit plain, a bit gangly.”

“But the older he got the more he improved, he just kept getting better and better and better. His improvement from last winter through to Christmas through to the sales has been remarkable and it would not surprise me to see him develop into a very special horse.”

Williams certainly knows what a special horse is, also breeding the dual Group 1-winning sprinter Roch ‘N’ Horse (NZ) (Per Incanto {USA}) who is in foal to Zoustar. As well as the recent G1 Oakleigh Plate winner Jimmysstar (NZ) (Per Incanto {USA}) whose barnstorming fourth in last weekend’s G1 T.J Smith Stakes really caught the eye.

A huge thrill for Ridgmont

Another farm that had major success at the 2025 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale was Ridgmont Farm. “A huge thrill” is how Mitch Cunningham described the accomplishment of selling the Hunter Valley farm’s first seven figure yearling just three years into operation.

“To do this so early in the business is very exciting for all of us,” he said, obviously enjoying the sale as Ridgmont’s Director and owner whilst also pleased for everyone behind the scenes.

“Everything we do is about collective experience and excitement,” he said, always delighted to share the big moments with his enthusiastic family including his parents Gary and Lorilie who imbued a love of thoroughbreds into their children.

With his wife Stef, his children and his siblings all sharing the passion, Ridgmont is certainly a family affair and so when Lot 350 made his way through the ring on Monday there were many watching on.

There was a definite air of confidence around this horse, a brown colt by Wootton Bassett (GB); the first live foal for Ridgmont’s well related three-time winner Egyptian Missile (Smart Missile).

Purchased from an Inglis Digital Sale for $230,000 in July 2021, Egyptian Missile was straight off the track with Cunningham having done his research on the mare who had been a $240,000 yearling.

“Bjorn Baker trained her and told me that she had a lot of unrealised potential. He thought highly enough of her to debut her in stakes company, but she had a few things go wrong along the way.”

Drawing the outside gate in the Listed Woodlands Stakes at her first start, Egyptian Missile ended up too far back but was strong to the line. She went on to win three provincial sprinting contests and has not taken long to strike sales ring gold as a broodmare.

Sadly losing her first foal, a Written Tycoon filly, Egyptian Missile was sent to Wootton Bassett with Ridgmont always fans of that stallion.

Over a million reasons to be Wootton Bassett fans

And they are all the more so now with his colt out of Egyptian Missile attracting many admirers including Tom Magnier, whose bid of $1.2 million was the winning one.

“Coolmore saw what we saw in the colt and there were a number of others bidding as well,” Cunningham said.

“We did go to the ring with confidence given the quality of what we were offering in what was a strong sale.

“Wootton Bassett is on an exciting trajectory in both hemispheres and the colt’s family has extraordinary sprinting form throughout. Marry those things with the style of colt and we knew that we were in for a big result.”

Cunningham said that the colt had been special from day one.

“He was always lovely, always leader of the pack, always a farm favourite,” he enthused.

Cunningham said it “makes sense” to consider a return visit for Egyptian Missile to Wootton Bassett.

“He is not going to be cheap, but he has earned his place in the highest tier of stallions,” he said.

“He is such a quality stallion and the mares being bred to him have been high quality which just sets him up for success.”

Egyptian Missile is currently in foal to Home Affairs with her latest foal being a So You Think (NZ) filly who Cunningham is excited about.

“She is a lovely filly who at this stage will go to the market. We expect her Wootton Bassett colt to be up early which is going to make her a very commercial horse.”

Egyptian Missile is one of the 11 winners produced by the wonderful mare Our Egyptian Raine (NZ) (Desert Sun {GB}).

Winner of the G1 Railway Stakes and four other Group races during a 48 start career that saw her first past the post on 10 occasions, Our Egyptian Raine is also dam of the dual Group 3-winning sprinter Egyptian Symbol (Stratum) and the classy Hong Kong-based Strathmore (Fastnet Rock).

Massive week in the ring and on the track

The sales ring result was part of a massive few days for Ridgmont who last Saturday cheered home Stefi Magnetica (All Too Hard) to G1 Doncaster Handicap success.

It was the second elite level victory for the Bjorn Baker-trained mare who was purchased by Cunningham Thoroughbreds (Ridgmont’s racing arm), Clarke Bloodstock FBAA and Bjorn Baker for $140,000 at the 2022 Magic Millions. She now turns her hand to the G1 Queen Of The Turf Stakes as she backs up in an attempt to claim two major Group 1 races within the week.

Cunningham looks back fondly on the day the family purchased the daughter of the G1 Stradbroke Handicap (a race Stefi Magnetica also won) winner Mid Summer Music (Oamaru Force).

“She was a close coupled, neat, well minded yearling,” he recalled.

“We had her out five or six times and every time dropped her head and powered along. She struck us as a tough little lady and that is what she has proven to be. She is not big, she is not particularly pretty to look at but she is the toughest horse we’ve had anything to do with.”

And so it was a big few days for Ridgmont, a reward Cunningham said, for “lots of investment, work and time".

“The feeling you get with a big win or a big sales result is what it is all about. There are more lows than highs but those highs are incomparable!”

Ridgmont will continue to invest in quality bloodstock, also appearing in the buyers list at the sales; teaming with Clarke Bloodstock to take home a $850,000 I Am Invincible filly (Lot 75), a full sister to the Listed winner Garza Blanca from the prolific Gold Vink (NZ) (Gold Sovereign {GB}) family.

The farm works in conjunction with the racing part of the business with stakes-performed fillies retiring to Ridgmont; Stefi Magnetica to be one of those.

“She will be an outstanding addition to our broodmare band,” Cunningham said. “We race her in partnership with people who are already breeders and we are all in for a very exciting ride with her.”

Maybe a yearling out of Stefi Magnetica could become the farms next seven figure result, but one thing is for sure, Ridgmont will be investing and building their portfolio, with the aim of gaining more success through the sales ring.