‘The mind boggles at what she could make in May’: Platinum Jubilee to be offered at Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale

Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything

Star filly Platinum Jubilee (Zoustar) will be offered by the Newgate Consignment at the 2024 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale.

Trained by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, the 3-year-old filly received the rare distinction as being the half-sister and stablemate to Saturday’s G1 Golden Slipper winner, Lady Of Camelot (Written Tycoon).

While being related to a Golden Slipper winner certainly adds to her appeal, Platinum Jubilee also stands on her own merits, as a stunning $600,000 yearling who would go on to a successful career headed by a G3 Gimcrack S. win.

Originally sold at the 2022 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale by Henry Field's Newgate Farm, Platinum Jubilee was acquired by Gai Waterhouse, Adrian Bott, and Bruce Slade's Kestrel Thoroughbreds.

Slade reflects on his early impressions of Platinum Jubilee: “I knew the quality of Platinum Jubilee as her dam, Miss Debutante, resides at Newgate Farm. So, I was familiar with all the foals, and the mare just doesn’t miss.

“Miss Debutante’s first foal, Queen Of The Ball, was a beautiful filly, and her second foal, Platinum Jubilee, was stunning as well. Additionally, Lady Of Camelot is just a queen.

“Miss Debutante is a medium-sized mare, and she just throws so much quality into her foals.

“I think Platinum Jubilee was just one of those yearlings that was always going to be on the list. Gai (Waterhouse) and Adrian (Bott) trained her dam and had a lot of time for her. We probably never saw the best of her on the track, so they were on board.”

Slade continued, “As a yearling, the thing that attracted us to Platinum Jubilee was her good looks, and then obviously being by a star sire in Zoustar, who Gai and Adrian have had plenty of luck with. Additionally, Platinum Jubilee just has a beautiful temperament. She’s a very sweet filly with a good disposition, and that has taken her a long way and will continue to do so.”

Magic Millions Managing Director, Barry Bowditch commented on the addition of Platinum Jubilee to the yet-released 2024 Magic Millions Gold Coast National Broodmare Sale, “I think Platinum Jubilee is a quality, ultra-fast, stakes-performing 2-year-old who arguably could have won a Magic Millions. She’s got so much going for her on just that alone, and then you look at the pedigree.

“The pedigree is probably the most current family in the Australian Stud Book. Platinum Jubilee is a daughter of Zoustar from a daughter of Fastnet Rock, who has now produced a Golden Slipper winner.

“Miss Debutante has had three foals to the races, and all have been Group winners. It is an outstanding pedigree that is very current and just getting better.

“Platinum Jubilee is an exciting filly and was an outstanding type. It was reflected in her purchase price of $600,000. She was bought by some of the best judges in Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott Racing and Bruce Slade’s Kestrel Thoroughbreds and raced by the very exciting Valerie Syndicate.

“It just shows what can happen when you invest in these blue-chip fillies on the Gold Coast.

“Before Saturday, she was a seven-figure filly, and now the mind boggles what she could make in May. Overall, she’s just an outstanding prospect.”

Classy juvenile

Platinum Jubilee made the perfect start to her racing career when she took out the G3 Gimcrack S. on debut at Randwick in the spring. The filly carried her class through to the R. Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classic in January at the Gold Coast where she finished second to Skirt The Law (Better Than Ready).

Kept in training through the autumn of her 2-year-old season, Platinum Jubilee showcased her constitution with a placing in the G2 Silver Slipper S. to the recent G1 Newmarket H. winner Cylinder (Exceed And Excel).

Slade acknowledges that the filly wasn't at her best during the spring of her 3-year-old year and had an unlucky run at Moonee Valley last Saturday. However, he and the team are confident that Platinum Jubilee has returned in good form and is on track for a start in the G3 PJ Bell.

“From a commercial aspect, I think Platinum Jubilee is as high-class a proposition as you can get. She could produce future high-priced yearlings that win Golden Slippers themselves in the years to come.

“She was a Gimcrack winner on debut, placed in the Magic Millions 2YO Classic, and then was run down late by Cylinder in the Newmarket H. So, she’s a high-class juvenile.

“Platinum Jubilee’s sire, Zoustar, sired his 50th stakes winner last Saturday, and obviously her dam produced a Golden Slipper winner and is a daughter of Fastnet Rock, who had a sensational time on the weekend as well.”

Platinum Jubilee holds significance as one of the first fillies purchased to race for the Valerie Syndicate.

“She was one of the fillies purchased in the first year of the Valerie Syndicate - the syndicate we set up to buy these high-class fillies, and she’s flown the flag for them. Hopefully, touch wood and all going to plan, the Valerie owners are going to get another nice result.

“Platinum Jubilee wasn’t herself in the spring. She was over-racing and just doing things wrong in the spring, and she had been so tough as a juvenile. She won the first 2-year-old race of the season, ran in the Magic Millions, and followed a Golden Slipper path.

“So, she was up for a long time and didn’t come up in the spring. I feel she’s really going well this preparation, and anybody who watches last Saturday’s race at Moonee Valley where she unfortunately copped a massive check on the turn knows that it knocked over any chance of her winning the race.

“Platinum Jubilee will come back to Sydney for the PJ Bell on April 6th. I think she’s going better this preparation, and just with how everything is lining up with her pedigree, it was good timing to put her on the market.

“From a racing point of view, she hasn’t got much to prove. It wasn’t just one race she was excellent in throughout her 2-year-old season; she consistently put herself in the running.

“I think people are going to be very taken when they see her in the flesh. She’s beautiful. A lovely sort of liver chestnut with the most beautiful head and lovely proportions. She’s a filly that's going to be very easy for people to see potential as a broodmare.”

Blue hen dam

Platinum Jubilee is the second foal from the Fastnet Rock mare, Miss Debutante. She was acquired for $430,000 by Paul Moroney Bloodstock at the 2015 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale on behalf of Sir Owen Glenn’s Go Bloodstock.

Although she displayed talent on the racetrack, Miss Debutante fell short of realising her full potential. She secured victories in four races spanning distances from 1110 to 1150 metres, notably winning the Listed Denise’s Joy S. and finishing fourth in the G3 Glenlogan Park S.

Upon retirement, Miss Debutante was paired with Yarraman Park’s Champion Sire, I Am Invincible. This mating resulted in the classy Queen Of The Ball, who achieved success with wins in the G3 Widden S. and the G3 Furphy Sprint among her four victories.

Following Platinum Jubilee, Miss Debutante’s third mating with Yulong’s Champion Sire Written Tycoon produced none other than the G1 Golden Slipper winner, Lady Of Camelot.

Miss Debutante’s remarkable record sets her apart as a potential ‘blue hen’ in the making. Arguably, it is rare to find a mare whose first three foals have all achieved stakes victories, accumulating a total of seven stakes wins.

Steve O’Connor of Go Bloodstock provided additional insight into Platinum Jubilee’s dam and her progeny, shedding light on the decision to offer her for sale.

“Miss Debutante is a daughter of Fastnet Rock that Paul Moroney purchased for Sir Owen (Glenn) at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.

“Paul’s a Kiwi like Sir Owen and has been one of the first people to work with Sir Owen and Go Bloodstock. Paul helped Sir Owen get into the game, and he’s been very successful for us buying horses such as Pure Elation, Heatherly and Miss Debutante.

“Sir Owen has been very loyal to Paul over the years, and Paul reciprocated. We were still building the broodmare barn at the time, and Paul would buy us a yearling along the way. We would target well-bred fillies, and Miss Debutante was one of them. She was very talented, winning a stakes race, but we always thought she was better than she had achieved.

“So she was retired and in our minds as an elite broodmare prospect, even though maybe her race record wasn’t as elite as some others, we have retired over the years, but we always held Miss Debutante in the highest regard.

O’Connor described Miss Debutante as a physical, “She’s a neat, strong Fastnet Rock mare. Miss Debutante is not one of those big Fastnet Rocks he can throw; she’s more of a tidier, refined style of filly. So, we always bred her to a stallion with strength and size - I Am Invincible, and Miss Debutante produced a very strong, fast mare in Queen Of The Ball, and then she was sent to Zoustar (Platinum Jubilee) and Written Tycoon (Lady Of Camelot).

“They’re all generally stallions that work with Fastnet Rock and also give a bit of size and strength to complement the mare herself. We always wanted to ensure Miss Debutante visited elite stallions because we always had the faith in her that she was better than what she showed on the racetrack.

“As I said, we always held her in high regard and hoped she could produce the goods; by God, she has.”

O’Connor explained it was a commercial decision and a twerk in the operation’s model that saw Platinum Jubilee sold.

“We retained Queen Of The Ball and Lady Of Camelot and sold Platinum Jubilee. It had nothing to do with the quality of the stock, as all were all very nice fillies. The year Platinum Jubilee was sold we made the conscious decision to build up our ranks of colts.

“We wanted to get more colts and opportunities to create stallions. That was the goal that year, so as a result, to balance the books on that occasion, we sold nice fillies, and Platinum Jubilee was one of those. However, we retained ownership of the ones we really liked, and she was one of them.

“Platinum Jubilee was a really athletic filly, who, in my opinion, was not too dissimilar to her mother, and she was always a precocious-looking filly.”

Slade added, “Platinum Jubilee has a great top-end commercial profile. I believe what the dam has done is something no other mare in history has done. The Valerie Syndicate has enjoyed the journey, and hopefully, they’ll be rewarded on the Gold Coast."