Zoustar filly creates waves on the Gold Coast

Cover image courtesy of Magic Millions

Kelly goes to $750,000 for Zoustar filly

Kelly’s Newhaven Park enjoyed a brilliant result as vendors on the first day of the Magic Millions Sale on Thursday when they sold a filly by The Autumn Sun for $600,000 and he was thrust into the spotlight once more on Friday when he fought off fierce competition to secure a filly from the Segenhoe Stud draft.

Kelly, who did his bidding via Magic Millions Managing Director Barry Bowditch, said he would most likely bring the filly back to market next year.

“She is a lovely filly and she is out of a very good race mare who has turned into a very good broodmare by a champion stallion - they cost what they cost,” Kelly said.

“She was a lovely mover and she had a great head and she was just a very nice filly. She will go out in the paddock and run with the other fillies and hopefully grow and mature into a beautiful yearling. She will come back here next January maybe and we will see how we go.

Catalogued as Lot 333, the filly is out of Listed winner Members Joy (Hussonet {USA}) and she has already tasted success as a broodmare, producing three winners from three runners and they are headed by Group 2 scorer Pure Elation (I Am Invincible).

The mare enjoyed a good result at this same Sale last year when Andrew Williams and Silverdale Farm bought this filly’s brother for $350,000 and he was subsequently bought by China Horse Club, Newgate Bloodstock and Trilogy Racing for $550,000 at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale earlier this year.

Members Joy herself was snapped up by Shen You Holdings for $800,000 on the Inglis Digital June Early Sale and she was carrying this filly in utero at the time of the Sale.

Peter O’Brien told TDN AusNZ while he was confident the filly was a standout, he never imagined she would realise the pricetag she did.

“We knew she was a nice filly, but I didn’t expect her to make that. She had 20 vets which is a lot for a weanling. We were pretty sure she would make around $500,000 but that was great money.

“She is a weanling that could make anything next year, she has all the right credentials; she is out of brilliant mare by a Champion stallion.

“We have Pure Elation on the farm and she has a beautiful Snitzel filly and the family has been bred up to the best stallions - she has a lot of upside.”

Members Joy is out of Group 3-winning Flying Spur mare Rosa’s Spur and she is herself a daughter of fellow Group 3 winner Rosa’s Joy (Rory’s Jester) - the dam of Listed winner Rosarino (Perugino {USA}) and she in turn produced Listed scorer Indian Pacific (Zoustar).

Over the two-day Sale, Segenhoe sold seven weanlings for total receipts of $1,248,500 at an average of $178,357.

Frankel mania hits Magic Millions

Two colts by the pierless Juddmonte Farm sire Frankel (GB) proved popular on Friday, with the Coolmore Stud-consigned pair making an aggregate of $1.210 million and the most expensive of the duo was purchased for $650,000 by Tony Bott, who was bidding online on behalf of Evergreen Rich.

Evergreen Rich have enjoyed success with the progeny of Frankel with the outfit having bred and raced this year’s G1 Randwick Guineas winner Converge (Frankel {GB}).

Catalogued as Lot 356, the colt is the sixth foal out of 2012 G1 Coolmore Stud S. winner Nechita (Fastnet Rock) making her a three-quarter sister to Group 3-winning pair Harpo Marx (Galileo {Ire}) and Forbearance (Galileo {Ire}).

Progeny of Frankel are rare offerings in the Australian market and Bott told TDN AusNZ they decided to take the plunge into the weanling market given they don’t know how many yearlings by Frankel will be offered in the Southern Hemisphere next year.

“You don’t know how many Frankels will be offered at the yearling sales next year, so you have really got to deal with what you’ve got at the moment and this bloke is probably one of the better bred Frankels that has been available in his part of the world, so we thought we would roll the dice now,” said Bott.

“He has a wonderful pedigree and the cross seemed to have worked in the past and it looks like a family which is on the improve. The horse himself was a nice individual who carried himself well and didn’t have too many faults conformation-wise and he was clean on x-rays, so he ticked a lot of boxes for us.

In terms of similarities to Converge, Bott said the colt had a lot of the Fastnet Rock shining through from his damside.

“He has a bit of Fastnet Rock about him through the damline and maybe he was a bit more of a solid type than Converge. We are hoping that lightning can strike twice for us,” he continued.

Coolmore’s Farm Manager John Kennedy told the TDN AusNZ the colt was the perfect mix of his sire and damsire.

“He was a very balanced colt with a lot of quality about him and had a great action,” he said. “He had a lot of Fastnet Rock coming through and a lot of power behind. He was very popular throughout the inspections and we were very happy with the way he was received by the buyers.”

Earlier in the day, another colt by the dominant sire caught the attention of Jim Clarke, trainer Bjorn Baker and Cunningham Thoroughbreds, leading the trio to stump up $560,000 for the flashy colt.

The youngster is out of the multiple Group 3-winning mare Fix (NZ) (Iffraaj {GB}) and she has proved a good match with the Frankel’s sire Galileo (Ire), with the mare having produced two winners by the late Coolmore Stud stallion, including Know Thyself (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) who finished second at Group 3 level in France on April 10.

Revered the world over, Frankel has produced 95 stakes winners which fires at a stakes winners to runners strike rate of 16.2 per cent, while in Australia his statistics also make for impressive reading, with the stallion having sired 37 winners from 59 starters and 10 of those winners are stakes scorers.

Seldom do progeny of the stallion appear in a weanling catalogue and Clarke was over the moon to secure the ‘rare commodity’.

“I think he is a lovely colt and this guy is out of a very good Kiwi mare in Fix and he certainly took our interest,” said Clarke. “I phoned Bjorn Baker who is a very good client of mine and I told him I thought we needed to stump up the money because he is without a doubt the best stallion in the world.

“He is one of those rare ones in that he is as good here as he is in the Northern Hemisphere and I think more than 25 per cent of his horses get black type in both hemispheres, so that’s a pretty amazing feat.

“They are rare commodities and when you find one you have to stump up to buy one, but if he came back here and tried to buy him at a yearling sale we would have had to pay a bit more for him, so we took the opportunity to buy him at a weanling Sale.

“We will race him and I am about to get on the phone and find some owners so that will be the next thing, but with a pedigree like that I don’t think it will be too difficult because there are a lot of people keen to jump on the Frankel bandwagon.

“It is hard to say what a colt like that will make as a yearling, you have to take a punt and workout how much will change between now and a yearling Sale and thankfully with this colt we don’t have to worry about that because one thing I do know is that he has a great frame, great physique and a great action and I think in six-12 months' time we will have a pretty smart colt on our hands.”

Kennedy was equally effusive in his praise for the colt: “He was a very straightforward colt to deal with. He was a real athlete who was very light on his feet and he looked the image of the family.

“He had a great pedigree and was by a great sire and he backed it up with his conformation. He was a very, very popular foal and we were overwhelmed with the demand we had on x-rays, every person in the auditorium wanted to bid on him and it was a great result.

“It was a great result and we are delighted for Jim Clarke and we wish Bjorn and the team the best of luck with him going forward.”

Coolmore Stud enjoyed a brilliant two-days on the Gold Coast, selling 14 weanlings for a Sale-leading aggregate of $2,160,000 and an average of $154,286.

Longwood and Morgan take home Vinnie colt

Longwood Farm’s Michael Christian and former trainer turned bloodstock adviser Peter Morgan saw an opportunity to secure the only weanling on offer at the Magic Millions National Weanling by I Am Invincible and seized it when they paid Yarraman Park $500,000 for the colt.

Catalogued as Lot 229 and offered on behalf of breeders Jamieson Park, the colt is out of dual Group 1 winner Faint Perfume (Shamardal {USA}) and she has produced five winners headed by Group 2 scorer Good Idea (So You Think {NZ}) and Chains Of Honour (Redoute’s Choice), who landed the G3 Grand Prix S.

Peter Morgan - who trained Yarraman's resident superstar I Am Invincible - said he was delighted to secure the colt for that figure.

“We thought we’d have to pay more, so we’re tickled pink, actually,” said Morgan. “We thought he was going to bring about $650,000.

“He’s off to Victoria and to Longwood. We’re not sure where we will sell him yet. He is a typical Vinnie and, as you know, I trained Vinnie, so I am very happy to buy one. He will come back here or at Easter, one or the other.

“The only thing I had against him was that he didn’t have a head like a Vinnie but he had the rest of the body, so we’re very happy with our purchase.”

Jamieson Park and Bruce Perry snapped up Faint Perfume for $800,000 at last year’s National Broodmare Sale when carrying the colt in utero and Yarraman’s Harry Mitchell told TDN AusNZ he was delighted with Friday’s result.

“He was a very nice horse,” said Mitchell. “We thought he would make between $500,000 to $600,000. The owners were very satisfied with the result and they were happy to take that money now. He was the only Vinnie colt here and I think they wanted to make him a bit of a standout.”

Strong trade

At the close of trade on Friday, Magic Millions reported that 247 weanlings sold for an aggregate of $22,250,500, while the average was $90,083 and the median sat at $55,000.

Comparisons with last year, because of the Shadwell Dispersal, are difficult, but this year’s Sale has seen growth across the board compared to the 2020 edition of the Sale, albeit when fewer lots were catalogue. During the 2020 Sale, 195 weanlings sold for an aggregate of $8,041,000 at an average of $41,236, while the median closed at $24,000.

Magic Millions Managing Director Barry Bowditch was very happy with the day's trade and said vendors who bought quality foals to market were very well rewarded.

“I thought today was a very strong day's trade and any weanling of any quality sold well above most vendors expectations, it was incredibly strong and incredibly buoyant. I thought the vibe out there and the competitive nature of the market was there for all to see,” said Bowditch.

“I think the market tells you that quality horses do come to weanling sales and given that you are getting that end user coming and playing their part here and buying these horses to take home, look after and get to the racetrack.

“That is good to see, because they are an important part of the market. To end up with an average of well over $90,000, which if you take last year’s equation, which was something pretty one off, it is well and above any average we have had in the past.”

After the two-day Sale, the leading vendor by average (with three or more lots sold) was Telemon Thoroughbreds who sold three weanlings for an average of $240,000, while Coolmore Stud were the leading vendors by gross, selling 14 youngsters for $2,160,000.

Justin Bahen finished the Sale as the leading buyer by aggregate, having purchased six foals for $1,485,000, while Trilogy Racing signed for seven weanlings - more than any other buyer - parting with $924,000 to secure the septet.

Progeny of Coolmore’s So You Think (NZ) proved the most sought-after stock at the Sale and he finished the week sitting atop of the leading sires’ tables by both aggregate and average (with three or more sold), having been responsible for eight youngsters selling for a gross of ​​$2,045,000 at an average of $255,625.

Top lots

Top buyers

Vendors by aggregate

Vendors by average (3 or more sold)

Sires by aggregate

Sires by average (3 or more sold)