With a prize of $500,000 Saturday’s Inglis Nursery (1000m) at Randwick will provide connections of the winner an early Christmas present but it will have extra meaning for those in the ownership of Encountabull.
Sharing in the ownership of the $80,000 Inglis Classic purchase is the colt’s breeder Matthew Sandblom and trainer John Sargent.
Sandblom stands Encountabull’s sire Bull Point at his Kingstar Farm at Scone and Encountabull is his sires only runner to date.
A hugely talented if a frustrating son of Fastnet Rock, Bull Point won four races including the Group III MRC Manfred Stakes but he had some notable placings none more so than his third to Zoustar and Dissident in the Group 1 Golden Rose when he came from a tailed off last on the home turn.
With earnings of over $550,000, Bull Point earned a sizeable amount back from the $960,000 he made as the sales topper at the 2103 Magic Millions Yearling Sale. Making that sought of money is a good indication that the son of Fastnet Rock is a good-type and you would go a long way to find one better.
His son Encountabull cost considerably less but he is built in the same mould as his sire.
At his career debut in the $500,000 Inglis Banner at Moonee Valley on October 26, Encountabull may have been slightly unlucky not to have given Bull Point the best possible start when a fast-finishing fourth behind the winner Idea’s Man.
After being well back early, Encountabull stormed home to finish just half a length from the winner.
He is the fourth live foal but just the second named foal of the Encosta De Lago mare Countess Delago who has some ground to make up her sister De Lago Mist.
While Countess Delago could number just a maiden win at Geelong in 11 starts, De Lago Mist won the Group II VRC Sires’ Produce Stakes and Group III SAJC Breeders’ Stakes and was fourth in the Group 1 AJC Sires’ Produce Stakes and the Group 1 AJC Champagne Stakes where Mentality upset Miss Finland.
Bred by the Liston family when they were running the Lakewood Stud in South Australia, De Lago Mist was purchased by Peter Katelanis for $105,000 at the Lakewood dispersal in 2004.
She has proven to be a goldmine at stud.
Her first foal, the Exceed and Excel colt Instinction, made $300,000 at the 2010 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale. He was a triple Listed stakes-winner before earning his chance at stud.
Peter Katelanis elected to keep a Redoute’s Choice filly out of De Lago Mist and it proved a wise decision. Named Into The Mist she was a 5-time winner including the Group II SAJC Queen Of The South Stakes.
Into The Mist has been given an opportunity to succeed at stud. She has a 2yo colt by Lonhro named Limited Vision, who was a $300,000 Easter Yearling, and has a yearling filly by Written Tycoon.
In 2015 De Lago Mist’s Foxwedge filly fetched $440,000 at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale last year. Named A Mist Opportunity she won three races in Melbourne and Sydney and was exported to France last year.
De Lago Mist has a yearling filly by the champion Snitzel but a few weeks after foaling a Russian Revolution colt in October, De Lago Mist died.
Both Countess Delago and De Lago Mist are out of the tough-as-teak Southern Appeal (USA) mare In The Mist who won 10 and placed in 13 of her 44 starts.
A 5-time Listed Stakes winner In The Mist is a sister to the Melbourne winner Southern Sprinter who is the dam of the stakes-winning Snippets mare Fragmentation who has been the backbone of Ron Gilbert’s Highgrove Stud.
A perennial powerhouse in the sales ring, Fragmentation is the dam of the Group 1 VRC Newmarket Stakes winner Wanted and the Group II winner and Group 1 placed Shrapnel (Charge Forward).
