On Monday, there were 500 prized thoroughbred horses for sale at Riverside Stables in western Sydney as part of the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale, but only one auction caught the attention of the world.
The foal out of the legendary racehorse Winx attracted a bidding war between American businessman John Stewart and purple-haired Sydney grandmother Debbie Kepitis who eventually outbid him with a world-record $10 million, the most ever paid for a thoroughbred filly.
When the auctioneer’s gavel fell, Kepitis broke down in tears when it was confirmed that the horse she calls “a granddaughter” would stay part of her family and, importantly, in Australia.
In an industry filled with stiff tailored suits and perched fascinators, Kepitis stands out from the crowd.
As part-owner of Winx, she witnessed the iconic horse cross the line unbeaten in her last 33 races, and each time she wore the same black and purple suit, with her hair coloured to match. Tradition matters to Kepitis - and that starts and ends with her family.
Kepitis is the daughter of Bob Ingham and niece of Jack Ingham, two brothers who built Australia’s largest poultry business and, in tandem, one of the country’s biggest racing and breeding operations from their Woodlands Stud in the Hunter Valley. According to the Australian Financial Review, Kepitis is worth $320 million, making her the joint 50th wealthiest woman in Australia.
She is a director of the family company, Ingham Property, which retains 900 hectares of land across Australia with extensive interests in commercial, retail and residential properties.
Kepitis is also actively involved in its philanthropy, focused largely on raising money for medical research and hospitals, but her passion for racing developed more slowly and increased when she bought her first race horse, Woppitt, 18 years ago.
Kepitis manages Woppitt Bloodstock, named after her first horse, alongside her husband Paul and daughters Alinta, Lara and Talia, helping them to put Australia at the forefront of the world of horse racing, something she takes great pride in.
“It’s very humbling actually,” Kepitis said on Tuesday. “You put all your passion into this industry and then we’ve had beautiful horses that draw you in ... it’s like going to the Olympics, but it’s every week, every month or every season.”
Kepitis is renowned for her down-to-earth nature, as happy chatting with stable hands at the farm as she is swapping news in the owner’s pavilion at the world’s finest tracks. In 2020, Winx lost her first foal, putting her own life briefly in danger, before making a full recovery at Coolmore Stud and eventually giving birth to a healthy filly two years later.
Coolmore Australia principal Tom Magnier saw first-hand the care that Kepitis has for Winx and his staff, watching her sit for countless hours beside the champion racehorse as she came near death, and then eventually witnessing the birth of the filly she affectionately calls ‘Winny’.
“Watching Debbie [win the auction] was like watching Winx win in another group 1 [race] except there was probably more emotion from Debbie watching that filly sale than there was in any of Winx’s group 1s [wins],” Magnier said. “Just because I know Debbie, I know the family and I knew what this meant to them.”
Kepitis is currently taking stock of the record-breaking purchase of the filly, but her abiding emotion is relief that she has kept the horse not only in her family, but in Australia.
“It was very tense, very hard,” Kepitis said. “It was relief and then it was just, ‘yes she’s ours’ and she does stay here and if we’re lucky enough she can be a race horse it’ll be in Australia and she can start off in Australia. And if she’s not, she’s still got the best bloodlines in Australia and she can go on and be a mum.
“That’s a lot of chickens to be hatched before we get to that, there’s a lot of fun to be had, a lot of exciting times for her. She’s very happy now.”