John Stewart's Resolute Racing continued its world-wide buying spree in Australia Thursday when going to A$3.2 million to acquire multiple Group 1-placed Tutta La Vita (Aus) (The Autumn Sun {Aus}) (hip 87) at the Inglis Chairman's Sale. The 3-year-old filly, the second-highest priced lot at the sale, had been campaigned by Kevin and Vikki Payne, who purchased her for A$300,000 as a yearling in 2022. She will continue to be trained by Chris Waller.
“We are really excited about buying Tutta La Vita,” Stewart said. “We met Chris Waller when we were in Australia a few weeks ago and knowing that Chris was training her and having a relationship with him and knowing how he felt about the horse was one of the reasons we were looking at her. We are constantly evaluating the top fillies and mares globally. It's something that we are really dedicated to understanding. There were a lot of impressive horses in this auction. We thought that Tutta La Vita fit with our breeding program long-term a little bit better than the other fillies that were for sale. So we decided to wait and put all of our focus on her. We were lucky to come away owning her.”
Lot 87 Tutta la Vita sells for $3.2m @inglis_sales Chairman's pic.twitter.com/kXihQsGUf7
— TTR AusNZ (@TTRAusNZ) May 9, 2024
Coolmore's Tom Magnier made the highest purchase at the auction, going to A$3.4 million to acquire She's Extreme (Aus) (Extreme Choice {Aus}), but Stewart said the operation was underbidder on Tutta La Vita as well.
“We have a good relationship with Coolmore and Tom texted me after we bought her and that's how I found out that they were actually on her as well,” Stewart said. “That makes me even more confident in the purchase because I view them as a very good judge of horses, especially of this caliber and on the breeding side.”
Tutta La Vita was most recently 10th in the 2400-meter G1 Australian Oaks in April and is expected to cut back to 2200 meters in the G1 Queensland Oaks next month.
“Right now, we are just excited to have her continue to race in our colors,” Stewart said. “We are organizing getting our silks down there for races coming up and excited to have her continue her training with Chris Waller. We look forward to being in Australia and being able to see her race. We are going to try to work it out so that we can be there for the Queensland Oaks in June and be able to see her in person.”
Of long-term plans for the filly, Stewart said, “We haven't really talked about breeding yet. Everything is on the table. We have breeding operations in America, of course. We are a breed-to-race operation and we are looking to make a long-term investment in Australia. It's very possible she could end up staying in Australia as well. We are just really excited about this purchase and excited to make more of an investment in Australian racing. We hope the Australian racing fans will join us in cheering her on when she races next.”
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
