Suitably enamoured with the family of Solar Charged (Charge Forward), Tony McEvoy was not going to miss out on the latest member, a Sebring colt, when he went through as Lot 274 at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.
McEvoy-Mitchell Racing secured the colt for $650,000, $350,000 more than he paid for his triple Group 1 winning half-sister Sunlight (Zoustar) at the 2017 Magic Millions Sale and $50,000 more than he paid for Sunlight's full sister Sisstar on the Gold Coast last year.
The colt, offered by Widden Stud, was initially scheduled to sell in January at the same sale as his two older siblings, but was a last-minute withdrawal after becoming ill.
Tony McEvoy with owner Gary Lechte celebrating the G1 win of Manuel, an Inglis Easter graduate
That delay arguably cost McEvoy, who was all over the colt on the Gold Coast, with Sunlight winning two Group 1 races in the intervening months to considerably boost the value of her family.
"I was keen to buy him up there, and I thought the time to this sale really helped him physically." - Tony McEvoy
"He's a beautiful colt. I liked him at Magics and he just didn’t go through up there and they brought him back here and I think he's improved. I was keen to buy him up there, and I thought the time to this sale really helped him physically," McEvoy said.
Having not dealt well with the rigours of sale week the first time around, what McEvoy saw this time was a much more relaxed and composed colt.
"Physically, he just wasn't there at the Gold Coast and he was very upright. Through the prep at the Gold Coast, he was very straight and now he is back to normal. He's just coped a lot better with the preparation," he said.
"He just looks a fast, athletic colt and she's a superstar as you know. I can't see any reason why he won’t be as well. He's a real athlete and looks to have a lot of speed, he's going to go very fast."
Lot 274 Sebring x Solar Charged
Good shopping
While admitting he may have got this colt cheaper on the Gold Coast, McEvoy said he thought it was still good shopping at $650,000.
"In this market, where it is pretty hot in the kitchen. I was really prepared to go probably more than that because of the market. I felt he fell through the cracks a little bit. I'm so pleased to have him and he’ll continue the success with that family," he said.
"I'm so pleased to have him and he’ll continue the success with that family." - Tony McEvoy
McEvoy said that while on the surface there was not a lot of similarity between the bay Sunlight and her darker coloured brother, he feels that he possesses at least some of the star filly's attributes.
"They are different horses. This is a Sebring colt, so he's a little bit more stretchy, but he's got the fast-twitch fibre in him that she had in her. He is a fast horse and I'm looking forward to getting my clock up against him when the time is right."
"He may take a little more time than her because if his style and his shape, but he'll be a 2-year-old."
The value of that family could be added to again when Sisstar contests the Listed AAMI Dequetteville S. at Morphettville on Saturday.
Solar Charged, who was secured by Widden and Qatar Bloodstock for $600,000 in 2014, has a weanling colt by Zoustar and unsurprisingly revisited the stallion last year.
"She's proving quite a mare." - Tony McEvoy
"She's not a blue hen yet, but she is certainly on the right track," McEvoy said. "She's proving quite a mare."
Another Group 1 on Sunlight's radar
Sunlight herself is back in Melbourne after her brave third in the G1 TJ Smith S. on Saturday, with McEvoy to make a decision in the coming fortnight whether she aims for a fourth Group 1 win in the Robert Sangster S. in Adelaide in May.
"She's great. She just arrived back in Melbourne this morning and she travelled really nicely. She'll have a day or so in Melbourne, on the beach. I'm going back to Adelaide in the morning and I'll spend next week with her," he said.
"She wears her heart on her sleeve that girl and she’ll tell you very clearly if she's got something else to offer and she does, then we’ll go to the Sangster."
McEvoy goes to $900,000 for Written Tycoon colt
The Sebring colt wasn't McEvoy's biggest purchase of the day, having gone to $900,000 for Lot 426, by Written Tycoon from Victory Cry (General Nediym) from Mill Park Stud.
"Didn’t he look a running horse? He's very powerful. Gee, he has some strength behind. He's got a great second thigh, some real strength through his hocks, what a beautiful horse," he said.
"He looks like he'll make my job easy." - Tony McEvoy
"This a really running family, a South Australian family, and I'm excited to have him. Nobody does it better than Mill Park. You know that they’ll get every opportunity early and it’s now it's my turn to give him an opportunity."
"I'm excited to have him. I think he could be a stallion this colt. He looks like he'll make my job easy."
The colt is a half-brother to Listed winner Guard Of Honour (Northern Meteor), with the dam a sister to two stakes-winners out of Classic Status (Marscay), the half-sister to Group 1 winner Serious Speed (Royal Academy {USA}).
