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‘Filly of a generation’ looks set for a date with Justify.
Another chapter of the extraordinary Sunlight (Zoustar) story came to a close in the very same ring where it all began, when the three-time Group 1-winning mare sold to Coolmore's Tom Magnier for a record-breaking $4.2 million at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale on Monday.
The Sunlight story started at 2014 edition of this sale when Widden Stud and Qatar Bloodstock paired up to buy the mare's dual Group 3-winning dam Solar Charged (Charge Forward) for $650,000 with the intention of mating her to Widden Stud's then exciting new stallion Zoustar (Northern Meteor) and Sunlight was the product of this first cover.
Widden Stud sold the four-year-old to trainer Tony McEvoy, Aquis and Blue Sky Bloodstock for $300,000 at the 2017 Gold Coast Yearling Sale and she would on to win 11 of her 24 starts - including three at Group 1 level - which saw her amass $6,575,950 in career prize-money and is generally regarded as one of the best sprinting mares in recent times.
Magnier described Sunlight as 'the filly of her generation' and said the mare would now visit unbeaten American Triple Crown winner Justify (Scat Daddy) - who he dubbed as 'the horse of his generation'.
"We are very lucky to have gotten her," said Magnier. "She is a lovely looking mare and she was unbelievable on the racetrack, not only did she beat her own age, she also beat the boys. She is a filly of a generation and we are very lucky to have got her and there were a lot of good people involved in her and there were a lot of people around the world who had their eyes on her, so to take her back to Coolmore in the Hunter Valley is exciting and she will visit Justify.
"We really wanted to have her. She is so good-looking and we are trying to build a really serious broodmare band at Coolmore and if you are serious about that, you have to have mares like that in it. We are delighted to have got her and hopefully we will have a bit of luck along the way."
Justify will have his first Australian-bred foals on the ground in the next few weeks and Magnier said Coolmore had been sourcing top-class broodmares to support the son of Scat Daddy (Johannesburg).
"We are committed to Justify - he is the horse of a generation as well," said Magnier. "He won the Triple Crown in America and retired unbeaten. We have spent the last year, year and half to try and find the best mares to go to Justify and we will support him in the breeding barn, in the sales ring and on the racetrack.
"His foals in America have been outstanding and hopefully next week we will have the first Justify foals on the ground in Australia. If we can follow through with more exciting progeny next year, it will be very exciting for Justify."
The filly - who was catalogued as Lot 80 and offered as Widden Stud - showed her brilliance as a two-year-old, landing two of her first three starts en route to her fine victory in the Magic Millions 2YO Classic (RL, 1200m), before taking out the Silver Slipper Stakes (Gr 2, 1100m) and Magic Night Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m).
On her penultimate start as a juvenile the filly ran a brilliant third behind Estijaab (Snitzel) and stablemate Oohood (I Am Invincible) in the Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m).
But it was at three Sunlight really thrived, taking out the highly coveted Coolmore Stud Stakes (registered as Ascot Vale Stakes) (Gr 1, 1200m) - leading home a famous trifecta for her sire.
Sunlight's second Group 1 came when proving too strong for her older rivals in the Newmarket Handicap (Gr 1, 1200m), before beating the older generation again on her next start in the William Reid Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) at Moonee Valley.
Raced as part of the All Girls syndicate, Sunlight is one of four winners out of Solar Charged, making her a sister to Group 3 scorer Sisstar and half-sister to Group 3-placed Sheikha (Sebring).
Solar Charged herself is a half-sister to Listed winner Causeway Queen (Giant's Causeway), while further back this is the family of Listed winner Aretha (Sir Dapper) and Sir Linford (Last Tycoon).
Widden Studprincipal Antony Thompson paid tribute to the special mare Sunlight and said she was integral in putting her sire Zoustar on the map.
"What do you say? A real life changing mare for everyone involved," said Thompson. "She has been so special for everyone associated with her and it's great to see her go to Coolmore, which is such a magnificent farm and a great home and I'm sure they will do very, very well with a mare like that for a long time.
"We would have loved to have taken her home and I am sure everyone that has been associated with her would love to buy the foals out of her and we will follow her second career closely.
"But it is a credit to Coolmore they have made a point of buying the best mares, not just in Australia, but around the world recently, and she is a great addition to any farm. Coolmore's commitment to Justify is well known and it's been very evident in the quality of mares they have bought for him and have continued to buy for him.
"She put Zoustar on the map and kicked off his career and she is just a great advertisement for an amazing young stallion and we will always be grateful to her for that."
Thompson said he would have loved to have taken the mare back to his farm, but was unable to match the firepower of Coolmore.
"We were certainly interested to try and buy her and we would have loved to have taken her back to Widden, unfortunately we didn't have the group at that level.
"Not only is she an incredible race filly, but certainly as a physical, she was just a stunning, stunning type. She really just blew everyone away here on the ground with what an amazing physical she is. Everyone who looked at her could tell why she was so good and she was much admired by everyone who saw her.
"She's the sort of mare that can be mated to so many stallions. Justify this season, but she could go to Galileo or any of their other top stallions in the future. They have got a lovely blank canvas to work with and I am sure they will breed some very nice horses out of her."
