By Bren O'Brien
Australia's two biggest thoroughbred operations may have only bought eight yearlings between them at the Australian Easter Yearling Sale, but when they went head-to-head on a filly from a rare family, they produced the highest price for a yearling by a first-season sire for two years.
Lot 361 was a filly by Coolmore's Vancouver, the leading first-season stallion for the season and the sale, out of Arcadia Dream (Domesday), the half-sister to Group 1 winner Arcadia Queen (Pierro).
Offered by Holbrook Thoroughbreds on behalf of Western Australia's leading breeder Bob Peters, she was a rare offering from a family which is awash from black type.
WA breeders Sandra and Bob Peters
And so Godolphin and Coolmore went into battle to secure her, with Godolphin emerging on top, with a bid of $950,000.
"It's an elite family, there's no question about that and potentially one of the best horses in the country sits right in the middle of it. I say this, slightly tongue in cheek, but she's a granddaughter of the great Medaglia d'Oro (USA)," Godolphin Managing Director Vin Cox said.
"We saw her as a magnificent type from a really good family." - Vin Cox, Godolphin Managing Director
"I believe Coolmore were underbidders on her and so they should be. She's an outstanding filly by a very good stallion of mares and we’re just thrilled to bits to get her."
"We saw her as a magnificent type from a really good family and we’ve got a bit of faith in the sire."
Lot 361 Vancouver x Arcadia Dream
It is the second highest-price Godolphin has paid for a yearling since re-entering the local market at the start of last year, a measure of the quality of both her pedigree and her type.
The filly's second dam Antique (Metal Storm {Fr}) has produced an incredible nine stakes-winners in the following two generations,
"It’s a family thick with black type, they perform in good races and they have longevity about them." - Vin Cox
"(Bob Peters) doesn't sell them lightly, and they are very sound and win a lot of races. They have tremendous residual as well," Cox said.
"I don’t know the ins and outs of his methods, but there is no doubt what he is doing, he is doing very well. It’s a family thick with black type, they perform in good races and they have longevity about them."
Godolphin Managing Director, Vin Cox
Coolmore may have missed out on the filly, but the result ensured Vancouver dominated the first-season sires' standings for the sale with 14 sold at an aggregate of $4.4m and an average of $316,071.
It was the highest-price paid for a yearling by a first-season sire in Australia since a Zoustar filly went for $1m at this sale two years ago.
Coolmore's other two freshmen Pride of Dubai (13 sold at an average of $180,385) and No Nay Never (USA) (3 at an average of $383,333) also performed well.
While Coolmore sold 35 yearlings over the two days at a total of $13.1m, they only purchased four, including the $1.4m paid for Lot 396, an I Am Invincible colt who is a full brother to recent 2-year-old stakes winner Catch Me.
Godolphin ended up with four yearlings, adding the Vancouver filly and Lot 427, a Sebring colt from Segenhoe for $550,000 to the Not A Single Doubt and Medaglia D'Oro fillies they bought on Day 1.
"It’s been very, very strong. When you have those horses at the upper end, you're not the only one there," Cox said.
"The market has been very sound, as you can see by the clearance rate. Last night it was up above 80 percent, and anything up that high is generally very strong."
"If you look at the indicators in the industry, it is very positive, prizemoney is outstanding, the value of bloodstock the world over is very strong, so it's an international commodity and it’s underpinned by the international market."
