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The operation snap up pair of colts for $140,000 on day two

Having purchased yearlings at all major sales in Australasia this year, Breeze-Up Bloodstock continued their spending spree at the Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale on Wednesday leaving the complex with four yearlings for a total outlay of $420,000. 

Breeze-Up Bloodstock spent just short of NZ$1 million on ten horses at Karaka and $1.1 million on 15 horses at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale and Inglis Premier Yearling Sale and former New Zealand jockey turned trainer Quinton Cassidy, who is employed by Mr Tao Gu, said he was pleased with the purchases for the season. 

“We are very happy with our purchases. We’ll be hitting the 40 mark [currently 38] with the yearlings all up this year, so it’s been very busy,” said Cassidy. 

The operation paid $140,000 for a pair colts by Widden Stud-based stallions, Zoustar (Northern Meteor) and Nicconi (Bianconi) in Adelaide over the two-day sale. Cassidy said he was not sure what the future held for the Nicconi colt, having initially thought they would breeze him, but that plan may now be re-thought. 

“It will be a tough decision with what we actually do with him. Initially, we did have plans to breeze him up but looking at him two or three times, we might have to re-strategise our plans,” said Cassidy. 

“We do plan on getting a racing team up, which is under way, and we have some there that will be racing. There will be some that will be re-offered and the ones we think are suitable for China will go back there later on.”

Offered as part of the Balcrest Stud draft and offered as Lot 364, the Nicconi colt is the first foal out of dual-winning Choisir (Danehill Dancer) mare Life’s Zerprise. 

Life’s Zerprise is out of five time-winning mare Zerprisal (Zerpour), who produced six winners, while the colt’s fourth dam is Listed winner Prima Cornice (Prime).

Of the Zoustar colt, Cassidy said he thought they had picked him for good value considering Zoustar’s fee had shot up to $154,000 (inc GST) in 2019. 

“I thought it was a great pick up. He is a very nice horse and, considering (his service fee of $154,000 in 2019) I thought it was a very good buy,” Cassidy said.

“We are very pleased. He was magnificently turned out from Leneva Park - they did a great job preparing him, so full credit to them. He is a very athletic colt. We loved everything about him and the good thing is, the boss loved him, too. That makes the job very easy,”

Catalogued as Lot 324, the Zoustar colt is the first foal out of three time-winning Starcraft (Soviet Star) mare I'm A Flying Star - a half-sister to the dam of Listed winner Lady Jivago (Beneteau). 

I’m A Flying Star herself is the daughter of Flying Single (Flying Spur) - a half-sister to Listed winner and top-class sire Not A Single Doubt (Redoute’s Choice) and Hanky Panky (Anabaa), who in turn produced Group 3 winner Master Ash (Sebring) and Listed winner Come Hither (Redoute’s Choice). 

Meanwhile, Flying Single is also a half-sister to Natural Is My Name (Naturalism) - who produced Listed scorer Zizou (Fusaichi Pegasus). Among the mare’s other sibling is Bella Sunday (Sunday Silence) - the dam of Flight Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Oohood (I Am Invincible) and stakes-placed filly Breakfast In Bed (Hussonet) - the dam of Group 3 winner King’s Legacy (Redoute’s Choice). 

The Zoustar / Flying Spur has proven successful with the cross generating seven winners, off just ten runners, and the most successful of these is McLachlan Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) winner Sun City and Ronstar, who has earned $272,300 in career prize-money. 

Sarah Beaumont, operations manager at Leneva Park Thoroughbreds, said she had expected the colt to realise that figure given his popularity during the inspections. 

“We were sort of expecting him to make that money - he made his reserve in quite a tough market. We were very happy with the way he sold,” said Beaumont. 

“He really developed throughout the prep. He is a big colt with the biggest overstep and he was extremely busy throughout the parades, he was never in his box and paraded beautifully and very professionally throughout the week. I think the real selling point with him was his walk, he used every part of his body to walk and just improved and improved and I think in six months time we will see an even bigger and better colt.”

Leneva Park Thoroughbreds opted to offer the yearling at the Adelaide sale hoping he would prove a standout at the auction and the decision to target this sale with this colt paid off. 

“He had all the presence in the world and had a Zoustar head on him, so even before you knew who he was by you could tell he was a Zoustar,” said Beaumont. 

“With his pedigree as well, we bought him here as we thought he would be a big fish in a small pond and thought he would really standout here rather than being up against a lot of other Zoustars at other sales, he really stood out here. He  was in the top ten here rather than being in the middle.”

Leneva Park Thoroughbreds sold all four of their offerings for an aggregate of $330,000 and Beaumont said she was happy with the results, but admitted the middle market at the sale was tough. 

I think the good horses made their money, but that middle market was very tough,” said Beaumont. “If you had a good quality horse it sold well, but that middle bracket was quite a tough one to be in.

“We managed to sell all ours pretty well and considering the market we are pretty happy with the results.”