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Group 2-placed Pins mare makes $600,000.
Father and son duo Bill and James Mitchell of Mitchell Bloodstock made their presence felt on Tuesday when they purchased Group 2-placed Pins (Snippets) mare Mark Two for $600,000, who was offered in foal to I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit).
Catalogued as Lot 304 and offered by Yarraman Park, the mare was sold to dissolve a partnership and Bill and James were on Tuesday acting on behalf of Yarraman Park and Gerry Harvey, who are no strangers of going into business, having teamed up to purchase Set To Unleash (Reset) - the dam of Group 3 winner Houtzen (I Am Invincible) - for $900,000 at the 2019 edition of the sale.
"It was a partnership and the partner wanted to sell out, so the way it's fallen is that Yarraman will stay in with Gerry Harvey as the other partner," Arthur Mitchell said of Mark Two.
"She's a nice young mare with good form and a nice pedigree, so if she has a nice Vinnie or two, she'll be fine. She's a lovely mare.
"I think she's perfect and Pins is also shaping up as a very good broodmare sire, so I think it will be a fine (mating)."
Mark Two is out of unraced Danasinga (Danehill) mare Zephyr Song, making her a sister to Eulogy Stakes (Gr 2, 1600m) winner Whistling Dixie and Listed scorer Atmosphere (Savabeel).
Zephyr Song herself is out of New Zealand Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Zepherin (Zephyr Bay), who also produced dual Group 2 winner and Group 1-placed Glenview (Sir Tristram) - the dam of South African Grade 1 winner Timber Trader (Woodman).
Further afield this is the same family as Group 2 winner and Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) place-getter Zazzman (Distinctly North) and Listed-winning pair Bouzy Rouge (Snitzel) and Stay Seated (Langfuhr).
Harvey said he liked to pair up with studs to buy mares in foal and then trade the foals at the yearling sales the next year.
"I love I Am Invincible," said Harvey. "I bought a half with Yarraman and I have another two with them and I have another half with Coolmore, Global Glamour. I like the idea of having mares with good studs and good customers of Harvey Norman and Magic Millions.
"She's a nice mare, with a bit of luck. $600,000 was about the price I wanted for her, I thought we might get her for a little less.
"As soon as we bought her the online bid came through from YuLong for $625,000, but it was too late - but I could have made a quick $25,000.
"I am happy to have her though, because if you get lucky you make your money back on the foal and that's why people come to this horse sale and they gamble like that and get all their money back in one go - it's very tempting!"
Over two days of trade, Yarraman Park have sold ten lots for an aggregate of $3,050,000 at an average of $305,000 and Victorian-based operation Yulong handed them another good result on day two of the sale when they went to $575,000 to secure two time-winning Group 2-placed mare Storytime (Savabeel) - who was also offered in foal to I Am Invincible.
The Victorian operation purchased three during the opening session on Monday, including Group 1-winning mare Unforgotten (Fastnet Rock), who they parted with $2,750,000 for.
Storytime is out of four time-winning mare Authoress (Fuji Kiseki), who has produced five winners, including Storytime.
Authoress herself is a half-sister to Listed-winning trio Whitlam (Elusive Quality), Etymology (New Approach) and Dirty (Hussonet).
Yulong chief operating officer Sam Fairgray said Storytime would be covered by Yulong's new Group 1-winning Redoute's Choice (Danehill) stallion Alabama Express.
"They will all be going to our stallions and Mr Zhang is continuing a trend to buy more nice mares to support our horses,". "They are a really nice group of mares and in foal to quality stallions."
Meanwhile, Yulong also purchased Miss Imagination (Fastnet Rock) from Yarraman Park, paying $270,000 for the daughter of Fastnet Rock (Danehill) and she looks set for a date with Alabama Express' barnmate Grunt (O'Reilly).
Catalogued as Lot 318, the mare is out of Grade 2-winning More Than Ready (Southern Halo) mare More Than Real, making her a sister to Denise's Joy Stakes (Listed, 1100m) winner Miss Debutante.
During the first two days of trade, Yulong purchased 11 lots of a gross of $6,485,000 at an average of $589,545.
