Fortuna Racing acquires Yearling Filly by Alabama Express at Inglis Classic Sale

1. Early Foal and early running type, she should be making her 2yo race debut in the Spring of 2025

2. By the Young Stallion, ALABAMA EXPRESS who is really making his mark with just two crops racing

3. This Filly to be trained by Multiple tie Champion Trainer Mark Walker of Te Akau Racing Stables at Cranbourne in Victoria

4. She is to be registered for the Inglis Race Series, carrying Bonuses of several Million Dollars (see more detail below)

We are taking expressions of interest – shares available down to 1% – NZ$1700 for each 1% share and NZ$60 per month from 1 April 2025 – Click HERE to register interest

The great news is we made a purchase relatively early on Day One of the Inglis Classic Sale in Sydney today, that being Lot 92 – the Yearling Filly by Alabama Express

Some background – Mark Walker and I had been working together on a list over the last few days with Mark being over at the sales grounds and me here in New Zealand – we finished up with a shortlist of five horses on day one, one Colt and four Fillies all of whom had been vetted and passed  – the first one on our list was lot 86, a Colt by Stay Inside and he went for well over our budget as we thought may be the case  – lot 92 was then the next cab off the rank and I have to tell you that when Mark and I spoke on the phone that morning, while we would have been very happy to secure any of the five lots including lot 86, Mark kept reiterating that his number one pick of the five from the day was lot 92 – so anyway as luck would have it we secured her, we did have to stretch and we were on our last bid, but she was knocked down to us for A$100,000 and Mark and I are both over the moon as she is a real quality Filly – Click HERE to see the link to her Sales Page and at this link you will see her pre sale parade where she exhibits a great walk, a key consideration when we are working on our lists

Pedigree – She is by the young Sire, Alabama Express, a Sire Son of Redoutes Choice, and a Group One winning racehorse, whose oldest progeny are now 3yo’s. Alabama Express got his first crop off to a flyer, with (in Australia) 9 of his 18 first crop 2yo’s winning and his winner to starter ratio being the highest of the top 10 first season Sires. On this side of the Tasman he was two starters for two winners including the very talented Alabama Lass, who has continued her very good two  year-old form into her three-year-old season, with wins at Group 3 and Group 2 level to win and two Group 1 seconds. So far in this 2^ndseason at stud, Alabama Express, in Aus, has sired 18 winners from 56 starters, including the Group One VRC Oaks winner, Treasure The Moment  and on this side of the Tasman, he is two winners from five starters.

The dam, Camila Lucinda, is by Lope de Vega, whom we love as a Stallion and who is shaping as a very good broodmare Sire – she won 4 times over sprint trips and has one foal to the races (Perfect Beth, by Grunt) who has won over 1100m as a 2yo.

Physical Type, a 1^st Sept foal, she is a filly of above average medium size and is particularly well developed in her hind quarters – she is deep through the girth and impresses as a type who is already well matured and looks as if she will be an early runner – Mark just loved her big bold walk and her early maturity. Click HERE to see her parading just after we bought her with comments from Mark  – as you will hear Mark say,  he is very impressed with her physical size, her big powerful hindquarters and her lovely walk

Ongoing plans – she will now head to Victoria, where she will agist at our local spelling farm for 4 weeks or so, then get broken in after which she will have her first stable prep at Cranbourne under the watchful eye of Mark and Assistant Trainer, Ben Gleeson. A nice initial target for her in the Spring would be the Inglis Banner down the Flemington Chute over 1100m, a Listed event for A$400k, run on the last Day of the Cup Carnival in Melbourne

Inglis Race Series – this is a real incentive for us – she will be eligible to run in all of these races – see the info below;

But wait there is more – there is a really interesting bonus called the Inglis Pink bonus and any horse that has a 75% female ownership is eligible for the Pink bonus which is awarded to the first runner home 9in Pink Bonus Races) who is pink bonus qualified – to put that in perspective on Saturday at Randwick, we saw the running of the $2 million Millennium incidentally, won by a horse who was acquired at the Classic sale last year and there was only one Pink bonus qualified runner in the race. She finished about sixth and the bonus, believe it or not was A$400,000 to her connections – even if she’d run last she still would have collected this A$400k because she was the only qualfier  – so my plan as we fill this syndicate is  for our Male clients take shares in the name of their  wife or partner – that way I am reasonably sure that we can get to the 75% female threshold

Financials – She will be fully syndicated for NZ$170k, this includes her purchase price, Australian GST of 10%, Promoters fees, Inglis series fee, insurance to 31^st of January 2026 and working capital of over $12,000   –  a 10% share is NZ$17000, a 5% share NZ$8,500, 2.5% share is NZ$4,250 and 1% is NZ$1700 with monthly fees starting 1 April 2025 at $60 per month per each 1% share

Shares Filling quickly – register interest at the link HERE