Cover image courtesy of Magic Millions
At A Glance
The Sale average sits at $250,190, well up on the $139,217 across the Sale in 2020 and the $146,397 in 2019.
The overall gross is $98.56 million, already well up on the total aggregate of $57.1 million in 2020, and closing in on $104.2 million of 2019.
The median is also tracking at a very healthy $120,000, a big jump on the $67,500 last year and $70,000 in 2019.
Demand was strong across the board with a clearance rate of 88 per cent, jumping from 76 per cent last year, 79 per cent in 2019.
Quilista, sold in foal to Pierata, is headed to Cressfield and a date with Snitzel after a $1 million sale.
Kia Ora Stud made a considerable splash buying four mares for a total of $2.8 million, including Moss Trip (Mossman) for $900,000 and Moqueen (Uncle Mo {USA}) for $750,000 to go to Farnan.
The Written Tycoon Syndicate added another 11 mares to take its total spend to $15.215 million across 36 purchases.
Quilista hits the $1 million mark
Cressfield made an impression at the top end at the recent Inglis Chairman's Sale and made its mark again, when Bruce Perry Bloodstock purchased speedy Group 2 winner Quilista for $1 million.
Offered by Segenhoe Thoroughbreds on behalf of Aquis, who purchased her for $950,000 at this Sale two years ago, Quilista is in foal to Pierata, having delivered an I Am Invincible filly last year which sold for $340,000 at last week's Magic Millions National Weanling Sale.
Lot 978 - Quilista | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
Cressfield owner Bruce Neill watched closely from ringside as Perry did his bidding, eventually securing the multiple stakes winner, who is the half-sister to the talented Western Australian Listed winner Red Can Man (Gingerbread Man).
"I came to buy her. She was the pick of the ones I wanted at the Sale. I was interested in her weanling, and she was a good type, but she had some x-ray issues, and that's why he probably only made $340,000. She was a very fast mare. My strategy is to buy fast mares, clear of Danehill and she fits the bill perfectly," Neill said.
"My strategy is to buy fast mares, clear of Danehill and she (Quilista) fits the bill perfectly." - Bruce Neill
"She'll probably go to Snitzel at this stage. I think Snitzel will suit her, a fast stallion over a fast mare, it seems a good recipe."
Cressfield recently added Pippie (Written Tycoon) to its broodmare band for $1.8 million at the Inglis Chairman's Sale, and Neill said that would be the end of its investment in broodmares this season.
Bruce Neill | Image courtesy of Bronwen Healy
"I only have to top up my broodmare band. I've got nearly 25 mares. Probably 20 of them are Easter or Magic Millions quality, so I just need to top them up and keep it fresh," Neill said.
"Pippie has settled in great at the farm, she will go to Exceed And Excel, and she's already the farm pet. She was the same, a very fast mare, who won some quality Group 1 races."
End of Trip for ownership group
It was an emotional moment for the Triple Crown ownership group in Moss Trip (Mossman), when the multiple stakes winner was put through the ring as part of the Yarraman Park Stud draft and secured a price of $900,000 to Kia Ora Stud.
That was nearly a 30-fold return on the initial investment of $32,000 that Triple Crown and Snowden Racing paid for her at the 2016 Inglis Classic Sale and a massive jump of the $12,000 she attracted from Balance Thoroughbreds as a weanling.
“It’s a fairytale result, really. She was a filly we bought for $32,000 from memory and she went on to win $500,000 in prizemoney and now to cap it all off with all the owners here at Magic Millions enjoying the other side of the industry and to cap it off with a Sale like that is outstanding," Triple Crown Syndications’ Chris Ward said.
"Everyone gets really attached to their horses. They become like pets and there’s a few tears amongst the owners. It’s an emotional time, but everyone’s excited.”
"Everyone gets really attached to their horses. They become like pets and there’s a few tears amongst the owners. It’s an emotional time, but everyone’s excited.” - Chris Ward
Moss Trip's 23-start career, which featured five wins, finished in May last year and she could have easily been part of a race fillies' catalogue at last year's broodmare sales. The decision to get the Group 3 and Listed winner in foal to Widden Stud's Trapeze Artist before taking her through a mares' sale proved a canny one, much to the delight of a large group of owners in the sales auditorium.
Moss Trip
“We take it case by case with each horse we retire off the track and discuss all the options with the owners and we thought Trapeze Artist, he was an outstanding racehorse and we think he’s got all the credentials to be a great stallion and physically he was a great match for her as well," Ward said.
“I think Kia Ora will end up with a great foal who hopefully sells well for them in the future."
Moss Trip is destined to visit Kia Ora's new-stallion the G1 Golden Slipper S. winner Farnan, who debuts at $55,000 (inc GST) this year.
The right fit for Farnan
Kia Ora Stud Manager Shane Wright said the mare was an excellent fit for the farm's star new addition.
"I love the mare, she's absolutely beautiful and she’ll go straight to Farnan this year. I think they will really suit each other this year. We were very excited about her and she was one of our main picks," he said.
"I love the mare, she's absolutely beautiful and she’ll go straight to Farnan this year. I think they will really suit each other this year. We were very excited about her and she was one of our main picks." - Shane Wright
"There was good competition for her, but it always gives you great confidence when good people are bidding on these horses because you know you are on the right ones."
Wright said the passion of the ownership group for the mare added a little bit of extra pressure when it came to managing her going forward, but he assured them she would be well looked after.
"The owners were a little bit emotional, as those syndicates sometimes get. It’s great to see it in the game. We had a chat and we assured them that she is going to the best home she can possibly go to."
Moqueen also headed to Farnan
Another Kia Ora acquisition headed to Farnan is the Listed winner Moqueen (Uncle Mo {USA}) who was purchased from the Newhaven Park draft for $750,000.
"We love Moqueen, she's another one for Farnan. She's in foal to Exceed And Excel, which is a stallion we love as well, so she was very top class, and such a good-looking mare," Wright said.
Moqueen
Moqueen carries quite a strong pedigree, with her stakes-placed dam, Money Begets Money (Bite The Bullet {USA}), a sister to blue hen mare Mica's Pride, who is the dam of Group 1 winners Criterion (NZ) and Comin' Through (Fastnet Rock).
It’s a pedigree free of Danehill (USA), while Moss Trip only featured the influential stallion on the third line of her family.
"Our two new boys, both have that Danehill line in there so with the outcross mares, it's good to pick them up and they are harder to get. You do tend to pay a premium for them," Wright said.
Sweet reward for Kia Ora
Kia Ora Stud also spent $750,000 on Sweet Sister (Snitzel), the sister to Group 1 winner Sweet Idea and Group 2 winner Showtime and half-sister to Listed winner Rush (Charge Forward), who was offered in foal to Dundeel (NZ) by Milburn Creek.
Dundeel (NZ) | Standing at Arrowfield
Sweet Sister, who was purchased by Hilldene Stud at this sale for $500,000 back in 2017, has already produced the Listed winner Supreme Idea (I Am Invincible), who secured $500,000 as a yearling.
“She is a lovely young mare with a super pedigree who has already thrown a stakes winner. We haven’t decided on a stallion yet but young mares like her don’t come around very often. I thought it was pretty good buying there and she’s from a strong family and she’s a beautiful family as well," Wright said.
“The bloodlines aren’t easy to get into. She’s a full to a Group 1 and a Group 2 winner and they’re not easy to buy. She’s in foal to the right stallion in Dundeel and we will find a mating for her this year, but we will sit down and work that out at a later stage.”
Sweet Sister was a foundation mare for Hilldene Stud, with owner Nick Wakim saying the sale of the mare and the stakes winner Meuse (Snitzel) for $1.2 million at the recent Inglis Chairman's Sale was part of a strategic change from the Victorian farm's broodmare band.
"She was a little bit close to my heart, but we are just restructuring our band and taking a position in terms of how we want our broodmare band looking going forward. It's bittersweet to move mares like that, but it is what it is and I wish them all the best with her," he said.
"She (Sweet Sister) was a little bit close to my heart, but we are just restructuring our band and taking a position in terms of how we want our broodmare band looking going forward. It's bittersweet to move mares like that, but it is what it is and I wish them all the best with her." - Nick Wakim
"We were heavily into Danehill-line originally, so we are just trying to re-apportion our position. We have sold two well-bred Snitzel mares recently. We have mares by Azamour, we have mares by Frankel, we own mares like that we want to diversify our broodmare band away from the pure Danehill-line mares."
Hilldene has a string of well-bred fillies coming through, which Wakim feels can fill the breach.
"We have an Exceed And Excel - Dream In Colour, which is a Frankel mare, we have a Written Tycoon filly out of three quarter sister to Invader. We have four or five weanling fillies at home as well. We have a Snitzel weanling filly out of Aloisia, which we will retain and race. Hence that is why we are moving on these two Snitzel mares," he said.
Wakim said the $750,000 sale price had just met reserve, but it was time to move the mare on
"I thought it was excellent buying. It was right on our reserve and I thought they bought her very well. She has bred a stakes winner by I Am Invincible, there is a full by I Am Invincible, there's a Zoustar colt on the ground, which is fantastic, and the mare has only got upside going forward," he said.
Invincible ambition for Ritchie
A long-term plan to secure a breeding right in I Am Invincible is set to come to fruition for Julia Ritchie of Bangaloe Stud, who paid $750,000 for stakes-placed mare Lady Sharapova (Fastnet Rock) from Yarraman Park Stud early on Day 2.
Lot 849 - Lady Sharapova
Lady Sharapova is already in foal to I Am Invincible and produced a colt to him last year, and will be headed back in that direction again, with Ritchie keen to double down on the Yarraman Park Stud resident, utilising her breeding right in the stallion.
"I am in the throes of upgrading my breeding stock, so she totally fits the bill for what I was looking for being in foal to I Am Invincible. She will be going back there because I have a breeding right. That is actually a very affordable mare," she said.
“I think I spooked the Mitchells about four years ago when I bought in when he was much cheaper than what he is now. We’ve all grown up together, so I’ve known the Mitchells since we were kids. Arthur, in particular, I think he was quite taken aback that I did it."
“I think I spooked the Mitchells about four years ago when I bought in when he was much cheaper than what he is now. We’ve all grown up together, so I’ve known the Mitchells since we were kids. Arthur, in particular, I think he was quite taken aback that I did it." - Julia Ritchie
Lady Sharapova was an $800,000 yearling and was stakes-placed on three occasions before heading to stud where she has produced fillies by Snitzel, I Am Invincible and Pierro and now a colt to Vinnie last year.
Her dam, Perfect Persuasion (Encosta De Lago) is a stakes-placed sister to champion filly Alinghi, and closely related to ill-fated Arrowfield Stud stallion Beneteau.
“You can’t go wrong with that family. Everything she breeds is successful and they say the foal on the ground by I Am Invincible is amazing, so when I go up there I will have a look at him," Ritchie said.
Refreshing the band
Lady Sharapova was the third mare secured by Bangaloe Stud this week, with Ritchie also paying $350,000 for multiple stakes-placegetter Vegas Jewel (NZ) (Shocking), who hails from the family of the great Winx (Street Cry {Ire}) , and $100,000 for Itz Lily (Snitzel).
Julia Ritchie
“Yesterday I bought the relation to Winx and I thought I got good value out of that one and then I bought Itz Lily for $100,000. She has got a great race record, she’s a Snitzel mare and you can’t go wrong with her and we will race her for a bit longer and then go to stud later in the year," she said.
Matings for the two mares purchased on Tuesday will be determined in the future.
Ritchie, the Vice Chair of the Australian Turf Club, also owns Wild Oaks and Oak Ridge Spelling and Agistment Farms, said she is looking to ramp up the quality of her broodmare band.
“I have been born and raised in this industry. I’ve been involved since I was five, so it would take a major catastrophe to be ever put off it. My family has been breeding horses since the ‘60s and ‘70s and, for me, I’d let my broodmare band get a little bit too non-commercial and in this market, you have to be clear about being commercial and that’s where I am going with it now," she said.
“I’ve retired some of my older mares. They’ve done right by me. I’ve got horse farms of my own so they are in a paddock.
“I’ve retired some of my older mares. They’ve done right by me. I’ve got horse farms of my own so they are in a paddock." - Julia Ritchie
“The team I’ve got there now have got the horses at the level that I want them to be at.”
Big buyers still spending
While it didn't match the $12.2 million spent on Tuesday, the Written Tycoon Syndicate, buying mares to go to Yulong's new stallions, still spent $3 million on the day, on 11 more mares.
That includes Miss Barley (Fastnet Rock), the dam of multiple Group 1 winner Gytrash (Lope De Vega {Ire}) for $300,000, who is headed to new stallion Lucky Vega (Ire).
Miss Barley
Rosemont Stud added another six mares taking its spend to $10.565 million, while Suman Hedge Bloodstock has now purchased 10 mares for a total of $5.075 million.
Market expected to hold record pace
Magic Millions Managing Director Barry Bowditch, remains very pleased with how the Sale is progressing.
"We set a huge benchmark yesterday but it was just good, solid trade with good momentum throughout the day which flowed right to the last lot. To hold a $250,000 average and a clearance rate of an exceptional 88 per cent and a gross ticking towards $100 million is sensational. I couldn’t be happier," he said.
Magic Millions Managing Director, Barry Bowditch
“As I said last night, I think everyone will get a turn from here on in and that was evident today. There was value to be found if people kept their lists long and did their work. Most vendors would walk away happy with how their horses sold today and we’re delighted with how the Sale’s travelling with one really strong day to go tomorrow."
The Sale concludes on Thursday with action to start from 10am AEST and Bowditch expects the market to be strong again.
“I am sure there will people going home tonight and growing their lists for tomorrow. I think tomorrow has an exceptional lot of mares on a whole. There’s some real stars tomorrow from really early in the day through to the supplementaries. I expect more strong bidding tomorrow. The depth in the catalogue is fantastic. You’d suspect there’s still money out there,” he said.
