Mannington Threatens Broodmare Record

Intense speculation surrounds the up-coming sale of Mannington (during the Vinery Dispersal at the Inglis Broodmare Sale in Sydney on Sunday April 3) & whether it will provide a new record price for a broodmare offered at public auction in Australia. (The record currently stands with former champion 2YO Burst, who fetched $900,000 at the 1996 Newhaven Stud Dispersal, also conducted by Inglis in Sydney.) Vinery's Adam White confirmed: "There has been a tremendous amount of interest in Mannington & she would certainly be an outstanding acquisition for any stud in the world. She is a magnificent mare: a Group-winning daughter of Danehill from Gr1 Golden Slipper winner Bint Marscay, in foal to Red Ransom. It's nearly impossible to buy into this family; mares like Mannington just don't come up for sale." On the track, Mannington won her initial 3 starts as a 2YO in devastating fashion, before running 3rd as a short-priced favourite in the Gr1 Blue Diamond Stakes at Caulfield; White noted: "She had no luck in that race from a wide barrier & later went on to run another Gr1 3rd in a Newmarket Handicap, so you know she was top class." Mannington's 1st foal, the promising More Than Ready 2YO Benicio (a $525,000 yearling at last year's Inglis Easter Sale), recently opened his winning account with a 4-length romp at Bendigo. White added Mannington's current weanling is "a strong precocious filly by Fusaichi Pegasus". And with Mannington's Gr1-winning half-sister Bollinger at stud in the North America (where she recently produced a filly by champion US sire Gone West), White noted: "With Bollinger & Bint Marscay both based in the US, there is real potential for this great Australian family to gain international recognition."