The only foal from Australia’s champion racehorse Winx has sold for a record $10 million in front of thousands of onlookers in Sydney on Monday.

Woppitt Bloodstock, which is owned and run by Winx’s part owner Debbie Kepitis, bought the filly on the second day of trading at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale at Warwick Farm, smashing the previous record of $2.6 million for a yearling filly.

The horse was the subject of intense interest from overseas buyers in Europe, Asia and the United States – as well as local interests – before being knocked down for the mammoth price.

Sales house Inglis had a security guard monitor the filly in her stall around the clock in the lead-up to the sale, which dominates the Australian horse-trading market alongside Gold Coast’s Magic Millions.

Winx won a world record 25 group 1 races as part of a 33-race unbeaten streak to finish her career in 2019. She’s the only horse to win the Cox Plate four times.

Her owners – Peter Tighe, Debbie Kepitis and the family of the late Richard Treweeke – agreed to sell her only foal at this year’s Sydney sale, prompting American private equity tycoon John Stewart to vow he would spend up to $9 million to secure the filly by champion stallion Pierro.

Winx lost her first foal in 2020 after complications during birth, but is confirmed in foal to top stallion Snitzel and is due to give birth to her second progeny later this year.

More to come