Beans won’t be spilled by Aquis

6 min read
Aquis Farm is such a big fan of the progeny of its young stallion Spill The Beans that it will retain all of its own yearlings by him to race, offering just one, via a client, at the upcoming Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.

There are seven of the first crop by Spill The Beans, a son of Snitzel, who stands for $11,000 at Aquis' Canungra farm, on offer in the 2019 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale catalogue. He looks to continue a successful recent run for Queensland-based sprint sires.

The Fung family have made no secret of their love for fast Australian horses and this season stood two other sons of Snitzel, Invader and Jukebox, for their first seasons at their Hunter Valley farm.

Aquis' Bloodstock Manager Aaron Bott told TDN AusNZ that the 30 or so yearlings by Spill the Beans that Aquis has bred from his first crop were too good to put to market.

Spill The Beans

"What we've done is that we've backed the horse. We like what we see that we have supported him with good mares. So we will be racing everything we've bred to him that we own 100 per cent of. We will be racing 30 of his progeny," Bott said.

"So we will be racing everything we've bred to him that we own 100 per cent of." - Aquis Bloodstock Manager, Aaron Bott

"He is a very exciting young horse. He was undefeated as a 2-year old. Being a son of Snitzel, he's certainly putting speed into them."

Following the Queensland boom

The impact of Eureka Stud's Spirit of Boom and Lyndhurst Stud's Better Than Ready on the Queensland breeding scene has been massive over the past 12-18 months. Spirit of Boom finished second on the first-season sires table last season, while Better Than Ready, who claimed his first stakes win with a double last Saturday at Doomben, is a runaway leader this season.

"What's even more exciting is after the weekend, looking back across the past two seasons with Spirit of Boom and Better Than Ready, in terms of numbers, Spill The Beans will make a huge impact," Bott said.

"In terms of numbers, Spill The Beans will make a huge impact." - Aaron Bott

"Spirit of Boom covered 138 mares in his first year and then Better Than Ready was 150, whereas Spill The Beans covered over 200 mares. So in terms of pure numbers, he will make quite an impact."

Watch: Spill The Beans

"He got good quality mares, obviously the ones we put to him, and they will be given the best of opportunity by us through top grade trainers, so he's an exciting young horse."

Bott expects the seven lots at Magic Millions to be well received by the market.

"Everyone knows the horse. He raced up there in Queensland (winning the G2 QTC Cup). A lot of people have been out to see him and they have been very impressed with him as a type," he said.

"They’ve seen a lot of his stock too. He had some good sales with his weanlings and I'm sure that will flow onto his yearlings as well."

An impressive Spill The Beans foal

One to market

Lot 1103 in the Spill the Beans colt Aquis is offering on behalf of a client. He is out of Tiptoe (Viscount), who is a half-sister to Group 1 winner Crawl as well as Treppes, the dam of multiple Group 1 winning sprinter Trapeze Artist (Snitzel).

"He's quite a nice flashy horse. Everything you want in a horse. He's well-balanced and a good moving horse. He'll have his admirers," he said.

"He got good mares in his first year and this is a good example. A Viscount mare with, good depth being from the family of Crawl and Marching and the connection to Trapeze Artist, which makes this colt a close relative in blood."

Lot 1103 is a close relative in blood to Golden Rose winner, Trapeze Artist

The Aquis draft

Aquis has 23 lots in total catalogued, with Bott particularly excited about Lot 177, a colt by Exceed and Excel out of Group 1 winning mare Star Shiraz (Sequalo).

"He is certainly going to turn heads and be an early horse and a good horse," he said. "A lot of people will like him and like what they’ve seen."

"He is certainly going to turn heads and be an early horse and a good horse." - Aaron Bott

He is also excited about the two colts on offer by I Am Invincible, with the Yarraman Park stallion's progeny on fire on the track at the moment.

Lot 264 is out of the speedy Group 2 winner Varenna Miss (Redoute's Choice), the half sister to Group 1 winners Criterion and Comin' Through.

The other I Am Invincible, Lot 540. is out of Eimhis (Al Samer), which is the family of County Tyrone, Samaready and Almalad.

Aquis has several lots on offer from other first-season sires, including a filly by No Nay Never (USA), who has made a huge impact in Europe in his first season. That filly, Lot 166, has made excellent progress in her preparation heading towards the sale according to Bott.

Lot 679, by Press Statement out of Incredulous (Keep The Faith) boasts a physique to match her pedigree according to Bott. Her dam is a half-sister to Faith Hill out of the black-type winning mare Simply Believe (Kenmare {Fr}).

"She's a very forward type and another well balanced horse with good bone. There is a lot to like about her."

An important sale

Aquis will be active as both a vendor and a buyer at the sale, with Bott expecting the burgeoning operation to make a significant impact.

"It’s a very important sale to us and very important to the Fung family. We are still young in the game and young in the industry but we've already had success with Magic Millions through Houtzen, Dubious, Lean Mean Machine and Spaceboy," he said.

"It’s a very important sale to us and very important to the Fung family." - Aaron Bott

"We are very much looking forward to the sale. It’s the first sale of the year and it’s always a good buying and selling sale."

Aquis CEO Shane McGrath with Aquis owner, Tony Fung

Bott said the Fung family was also looking to further build its partnerships with others in the industry through Magic Millions.

"Mr Fung is all about the enjoyment of racing and loves racing with partners. We are very happy to open the gates and let people in and race with us. We like doing things together and creating partnerships," he said.