Cover image courtesy of KBL Thoroughbreds
KBL Thoroughbreds is tucked into land alongside Beaudesert racecourse, a handy spot when it comes to the preparation of sale horses. Run by Kandice Pritchard and Brad Lowe, it has emerged as one of the preeminent vendors in Queensland, and it has a strong hand in Monday’s Magic Millions 2-Year-Olds In Training Sale.
The KBL draft comprises 14 horses, all colts bar one (Lot 56), by 13 respective sires. So You Think (NZ) is there, so too No Nay Never (USA), as well as Better Than Ready, Pierro and Extreme Choice.
The draft is the fifth that KBL will present for this particular Sale on the Gold Coast, and the team’s past success includes a $280,000 Nicconi colt that was the second-highest selling at last year’s event.
“I like doing the 2-year-olds,” Pritchard said. “It breaks things up from the yearling sales, and it’s good to watch their progress through breaking, pre-training and then getting to the track.”
Lot 56 - Caravaggio (USA) x Aperlai (filly) | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
Sale preparation is the bread and butter for KBL Thoroughbreds, and Pritchard said the draft this year was especially rounded.
“It’s a good, even draft with a horse for every budget and every buyer,” she said. “This Sale has enough local trainers, buyers and agents that come along for that nice racehorse to start with, and I think there is a horse among these for every person.”
The upside of COVID
Next week’s Sale will be an all-Queensland affair ringside, with interstate and international clients shut out of the sunshine state. It’s made things challenging for a lot of people, but equally, confidence prevails.
“I think the market all round has been fantastic for the last year,” Pritchard said. “Magic Millions has done a great job promoting this Sale and reaching out to buyers for these horses. They’re ringing us every day to get information about each individual horse, just to get the draft out there to show people what we’ve got.”
"They’re (Magic Millions) ringing us every day to get information about each individual horse, just to get the draft out there to show people what we’ve got.” - Kandice Pritchard
As a result of pinched attendance, KBL has diversified its draft promotion this year. It has more photos, more angles on those photos, and better videos.
“There’s nothing now that people can’t see online,” Pritchard said. “We’ve had people calling every day and asking questions, and they’ll pick out a lot and do their homework. Lots of phone calls and emails, but that’s okay. That’s the business we have, getting the horses sold.”
As a result, Pritchard likely has a stronger sense this year of the interest in each horse, even before the draft has entered the Magic Millions complex at Bundall. It’s been a unique experience in that respect for the KBL team.
Kandice Pritchard | Image courtesy of Bronwen Healy
“I definitely feel that we know the audience a little,” Pritchard said. “Trainers and bloodstock agents are ringing for a specific client, and you get to know what people are keen on before we even get there. We haven’t had that in previous years.”
The KBL draft will arrive at the complex on Friday, with three of the 14 horses breezing in the final session at the Gold Coast Turf Club that morning. Inspections will then kick off on Saturday.
The highlights
Among the horses selling for KBL Thoroughbreds, it’s likely that Lot 46 will draw a bit of attention. The colt is by reigning Champion 2-Year-Old Sire Extreme Choice, and one of only two by the Newgate sire in the catalogue.
Watch: Lot 46 - Extreme Choice x Wild Irish Song parade under saddle
Lot 46 is a chestnut colt and the seventh foal from the Magic Albert mare Wilde Irish Song, who is a half-sister to the G1 Australian Oaks winner Once Were Wild (Johannesburg {USA}). He was an original yearling purchase for Kendrick Racing on the Sunshine Coast, selling from the draft of Kitchwin Hills for $90,000 at the Magic Millions National Yearling Sale.
“There’s not a lot of these Extreme Choices around,” Pritchard said. “He’s a nice, big, strong and forward colt, and he’s one of those that’s breezing up on Friday. He’s very eye-catching, and a big individual that just looks ready to go.”
“There’s not a lot of these Extreme Choices around." - Kandice Pritchard
Equally, Pritchard is enthusiastic about the KBL-owned Pierro colt, Lot 66, which they picked up from the 2020 Magic Millions National Weanling Sale, direct from the Newgate Consignment for $30,000.
“He’s a typical 2-year-old type,” Pritchard said. “He’s ready to go on with, a lovely animal with a really good attitude and he wants to work. He’s a little champion.”
Lot 66 is the fourth living foal from his dam, the Elvstroem mare Brilliant Bisc. She won the Listed ATC Gimcrack S. and was third in the G3 Widden Stud S., all in an era of such sharp fillies as Guelph (Exceed And Excel), Slipper winner Overreach (Exceed And Excel) and Snitzerland (Snitzel).
Lot 66 - Pierro x Brilliant Bisc (colt) | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
Brilliant Bisc, herself, is from the Group 1 winner Stella Cadente (Centaine).
“The thing with this colt is that he can really move,” Pritchard said. “He’s got a good walk and a lovely purpose about him, and obviously a pedigree that really supports him.”
Breeze-up data
The KBL draft is largely done with the breeze-up sessions, but it was unlucky. Along with all horses that were catalogued to gallop in the first Gold Coast session on October 19, it ran into a wet, heavy track, with 73mm of rainfall in the 24 hours before.
As a result, a number of the times logged for the KBL racehorses, and horses in plenty of other drafts too, aren’t as sharp as would have otherwise occurred, and Pritchard is hopeful that buyers will take this into account next week.
Watch Lot 97 - Reward For Effort x Fudge Delight breeze up
So far, the draft’s fastest time was logged by Lot 97, a Reward For Effort colt that got 10.31s across the Seymour surface. It is the third-fastest of all the breeze ups to date and, interestingly, not a single Gold Coast breeze up in that first session came within the top 17 of times logged so far.
Selling points
Through the rest of the draft, Pritchard points out her earlier point, that there’s a horse here for everyone.
Lot 47 is a bay colt by the one-time shuttler Dawn Approach (Ire) and, from the Exceed And Excel mare Wind Shift, he has a unique advertisement to his page. He is a half-brother to Deep Blast (Deep Field), who sold last year as one of the most expensive breeze-up results in Australia at $610,000.
He (Lot 47) is a half-brother to Deep Blast, who sold last year as one of the most expensive breeze-up results in Australia at $610,000.
Deep Blast was bought at the 2020 Inglis Ready2Run Sale by Louis Ho and the Macau Jockey Club, direct from the draft of Lime Country Thoroughbreds.
“In my eyes, this horse is special, and he’s ready to go,” Pritchard said of Lot 47. “He’s going to improve as a 3-year-old, and his breeze up was effortless. So with a horse like him, when he’s got a good pedigree page and the stallion is starting to get some winners, and the physical elements are all great, you can look at them and think, yeah, that’s a definite breeze-up horse.”
Also on that list is Lot 103, a Harbinger (GB) colt and second foal from the winning-Japanese mare Heaven’s Choice (Jpn) (Manhattan Cafe {Jpn}). This is a dazzling chestnut colt with showering good-looks, a must-see according to Pritchard.
“He’s a lovely, lovely horse that is so well put-together,” Pritchard said. “He’s out of a Japanese mare that won races in one of the toughest jurisdictions of racing in the world, and he’s got beautiful action too. He looks ready to go, but he’ll be better in time over and over again.”
The Coolmore pair
Among the remaining horses of the draft, KBL has a pair of colts by Coolmore sires No Nay Never (USA) and So You Think (NZ). They are Lots 36 and 17 respectively.
Pritchard said the No Nay Never (Lot 36) was the speedster of the bunch.
“He looks fast,” she said. “He’s the pocket rocket of them, a little ball of muscle. I think he’s inherited a lot from his mother’s side (Snitzel mare Sweetheart Lass) because he looks like a Snitzel.”
“He’s (Lot 36) the pocket rocket of them, a little ball of muscle. I think he’s inherited a lot from his mother’s side because he looks like a Snitzel.” - Kandice Pritchard
On the other hand, Lot 17 by So You Think has a very credentialled page, one of the strongest among the KBL draft. The dark colt is from the Giant’s Causeway (USA) mare Satirical Lady, who has had five foals to race to date, all winners.
“This is one of the best-related colts in the Sale, being a full brother to a Listed and multiple Group-placed mare in Smart As You Think,” Pritchard said. “He’s also a full brother to Satirical Glory, who was placed fourth recently (behind Profondo) in the G1 Champion S. at Randwick.”
Pritchard is enamoured with Lot 17, saying he was your typical 3-year-old type, which so many have done well with through So You Think progeny.
“This (Lot 17) is one of the best-related colts in the Sale." - Kandice Pritchard
“On saying that, this colt has come a long way, and he has improved so much through this ready-to-run prep,” she said. “He’s a magnificent horse to look at, and I think when we get him out of the box, people will be impressed. He’s by a stallion that is certainly doing the job, and he’s probably the best-paged horse we’ve got here.”
