Cover image courtesy of Rosemont Stud
Written by Paul Vettise
Rosemont Stud’s Exclusive Online Sale to be held on the Magic Millions platform next week has been months in planning and farm principal Anthony Mithen is delighted with the interest shown in the auction.
More than 90 lots featuring a selection of weanlings by an array of leading commercial sires and broodmares, including stakes winners with coverings to notable stallions, will be offered on an unreserved basis on May 25 and 26.
“The logical conclusion to jump to is that it’s a reaction to the COVID-19 situation that we are all confronted with, but it was a seed planted last year,” Mithen said.
Anthony Mithen (right)
“I had a bit of an itch to scratch that a breeding stock sale held on farm could really work and Waikato Stud did something similar over in New Zealand last year.
“It was hugely successful and I thought being a farm a little bit out of the way, we’re neither in the breeding heartland of the Hunter Valley in New South Wales or the breeding heartland of Victoria in Nagambie.
“I thought if we put on a sale high in quality and a bit of something for everyone it would make it worthwhile for people to come and have a look.
“We’ve got a bit of fresh air to work in at the moment and as a result it has been very well-received. We’ve had lots of visitors to the farm this week and all showing the discipline to social distance and managing that process effectively.
“We’ve had lots of inspections and hopefully that will lead to a successful sale.”
“We’ve had lots of inspections and hopefully that will lead to a successful sale.” – Anthony Mithen
Thirty-eight weanlings will be offered with colts and fillies by the likes of Zoustar, So You Think (NZ) Brazen Beau, Capitalist, Written Tycoon and Exceed And Excel, as well as youngsters by farm residents Starspangledbanner, Starcraft (NZ) and Nostradamus.
“We’ve always sold 30-odd weanlings each year, be it at Magic Millions or the Melbourne sale so we’re pretty consistent on that number,” Mithen said.
“There’s some weanlings there with plenty of upside. We’ve obviously been using the top stallions around the country with our mares over the last five to 10 years and if you dig into those mares they have yearlings and 2-year-olds in good stables that have been well cared for.
Ciaron Maher Racing inspecting weanlings at the farm | Image courtesy of Rosemont Stud
“Maybe there’s a few more mares to offer, but there’s more fillies coming off the track that we’ve been racing and reducing numbers will make way for those fillies and other stock.
“It’s a different way to sell and something I’ve wanted to do and it was made a pretty sound decision when COVID-19 hit and everybody faced restrictions. So here we are, a step ahead of the pack by planning this earlier in the year.
“So here we are, a step ahead of the pack by planning this earlier in the year.” – Anthony Mithen
“There’s some lovely young stakes-winning mares in the first few years of their breeding careers and they will be extremely popular and hard to part with.”
Among them is the Listed Dequetteville S. winner Split Lip (Your Song), Lot 69, who is in foal to Zoustar.
“We raced her and had a good time. She’s been a farm favourite for a couple of seasons and I’m hoping she finds a good home,” Mithen said.
Lot 69 - Split Lip
Another stand-out is the G2 Matamata Breeders’ S. winner Gold Rush (NZ) (So You Think {NZ}), Lot 40, who is in foal to Savabeel.
“We bought her at the end of her career and have a couple of foals out of her and something to remember her by. We’ll race the first foal by Savabeel and we’ll have a think about the I Am Invincible filly,” Mithen said.
“She’s an outstanding filly that would certainly make a splash at the yearling sales. We’ll get to the number crunchers in the office and see if we can afford to race her.”
