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Yearling from first crop of Darley-based sire purchased by local trainer Cameron Thompson for $150,000
A colt from the first crop of Darley Stud-based sire Impending (Lonhro) was the headline act of the Magic Millions Tasmanian Yearling Sale on Monday after local trainer Cameron Thompson purchased the Armidale Stud-consigned youngster for $150,000.
Catalogued as Lot 104, the colt is the first foal out of dual-winning Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) mare Dream Food, who is herself a three-quarter sister to Listed scorer Snitz, while her half-sister is Group 2 winner I’ll Have A Bit (Smart Missile) who also placed third in the 2018 Goodwood Handicap (Gr 1, 1200m).
The colt’s third dam is Tickle My (Perugino) - the winner of the 2003 edition of the Sunline Stakes (Gr 2, 1600m).
Thompson told Racing & Sports Bloodstock that the first thing that attracted him to the colt was his pedigree and he was pleased when the physical then matched the page.
“Firstly, before we even looked at the horse we liked the page. For a Tasmanian horse in our local sale, he had a really strong pedigree,” Thompson said.
“I am a fan of Lonhro and obviously his hot new sire son in Impending, so that caught our eye straight away. When we saw him, he’s not overly big, but he’s really well put together.
“He has a really good angle to his shoulder and really nice strong hindquarters, like a good sprinting type. He’s got good legs on him and a nice bit of bone. What probably topped him off is that he’s a horse that’s got a lot of presence. Even when he had the cameras around him at the end, he took it all in his stride.”
Thompson believes that the way he handed the sale augurs well for how he will handle raceday.
“Each time we viewed him, I felt he had a smartness about him,” he said.
“He’s got a great personality, I think, and a real brain. I then thought that if he’s got everything that we are looking for physically and the brain, then hopefully he’ll be a real professional come raceday. To me he had everything that we are looking for. I felt he was the complete package.”
Thompson said that initially he thought he would have to go to around $100,000 to secure the colt but once the sale had gotten underway, realised he would have to up his budget given the strength of the market.
“We thought he would be one of the two highest priced lots at the sale but I thought more like $100,000. But, the sale was so strong today it really seemed to put cream on all the horses, even the mediocre lots, so it didn’t surprise me midway through the sale that we were going to need that sort of money to secure him,” he said.
Thompson believes the quality of the horses being bred in Tasmania has increased in recent years and this is coupled with the fact that Tasmanian horses are now performing exceptionally well across Australia.
Horses who have flown the flag for Tasmania in recent years include Group 1-winning duo Palentino (Teofilo) and Mystic Journey (Needs Further), Group 2 scorer The Cleaner (Savoire Vivre) as well as Listed winner Banca Mo (Tough Speed).
“With COVID I was shocked to see that the sale was so strong. But, in saying that, I saw every lot that was on the ground and the quality of yearlings presented across the board from every vendor was the best that I’ve seen at the sale and I’ve been coming here for the last five years. I think what is being presented has just gone up a notch and people are prepared to pay for decent horses. This is good for the industry,” he said.
“Tassie horses, which they do really promote heavily, have a good record on the mainland in the big races. For a small state, gee we breed some good horses.”
Armidale Stud sold the colt on behalf of breeders Ken and Jenny Breese and David Whishaw told Racing & Sports Bloodstock that he thought the colt would go close to topping the sale.
“I thought he was our strongest lot and the sale topper in our draft, there’s no doubting that,” he said.
“He’s been a standout on the farm. He’s out of an exceptional family who is owned by lifelong friends and clients of ours, Ken and Jenny Breese. They raced Tickle My and her daughter Take All Of Me and Dream Food, who was the dam of the Impending colt.
“It’s been a lovely family that has really kicked in recent times. I’ll Have A Bit has been Group 1-placed and is a stakes winner and Snitz is also a stakes winner. This mare (Dream Food) is a three-quarter-sister to Snitz and she also had a heap of ability.
“It’s wonderful to see a young trainer like Cameron get the support he needed to secure him,” Whishaw added.
Armidale Stud enjoyed a good day, selling 26 yearlings for an aggregate of $1,197,000 at an average of $46,038 and were responsible for selling four of the top ten highest priced lots. Whishaw admitted however, that with border restrictions only lifted at the last minute, he had been nervous heading into the sale.
“A very pleasing day, but going into the sale we were pretty nervous with the borders being closed to Victoria,” he said. “Outside our main Tassie buying bench, Victorians are our biggest buyers so having that border opened up on the death knock of the sale and then such a strong buying bench turn up was very pleasing. It was a real relief.
“I guess from our point of view, the strength of the sale was very much going to be determined by the depth of the buying bench that turned up. When border restrictions were eased only a few days ago there were a few buyers that couldn’t get down or had changed their plans and didn’t come down so I think the results exceeded expectations given the circumstances leading into the sale. In saying that the horses deserved the results that they got.”
Armidale Stud’s young sire Alpine Eagle (High Chaparral), whose first crop are now two-year-olds, was well-represented and finished the day as leading sire by both aggregate and average (for three or more lots sold) with 21 of the 22 lots offered by the son of High Chaparral (Sadler’s Wells) sold for a total of $969,500 at an average of $46,167.
“We’re absolutely thrilled with Alpine Eagle’s results,” Whishaw said. “They have sold better than they did in his first season. He had a real even line of horses and the buying bench was deep indeed for his stock. They’ve gone to Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and Tassie and some great judges bought his stock, so we are very, very pleased.”
The most expensive of the Alpine Eagles to sell was Lot 68 who was bought by John Foote Bloodstock for $110,000. The colt is the third foal out of Listed-winning Testa Rossa (Perugino) mare Testamarriage and Whishaw said he thought the colt was the nicest yearling in their draft.
“He’s an outstanding horse and I thought he was the nicest type in our draft,” he said.
“A heap of great judges were on him and it’s nice to see John Foote down at our sale again and buying him. He’ll end up in a great stable and given a great chance and for a young mare like Testamarriage, it’s lovely to see her stock now racing around on mainland tracks.”
Whishaw also believes that the Tasmanian industry has taken a step up in recent years and that it was nice to see the industry gain the recognition that it deserved.
“There is no doubting the industry has taken a step up in the last five or six years. The quality and investment in mares and I think that has been coupled with the success out of the sale and state over the last ten years,” he said.
“This has seen the industry gain the recognition that it deserves on the national spotlight. So that’s been very rewarding to see that the investment that the breeders have outlayed being realised in the sales ring.
“It’s wonderful to see the racetrack success of the Tassie horses being recognised and people coming down here and earmarking Tassie as the best value sale in Australia. The return on investment out of the Tasmanian sale has been the best year-on-year for the last ten years. We are now getting a much deeper buying bench and our horses are being spread further and I think that can only improve the reputation of our sale and the reputation of our product.”
