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Magic Millions National Weanling Sale kicks off on the Gold Coast on Thursday
The Magic Millions National Sale gets underway on the Gold Coast on Thursday, with the two day weanling session which comprises 487 lots and following on from a very strong yearling sale series, Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch is confident the breeding stock sales can continue in a similar vein.
Bowditch told Racing & Sports Bloodstock there had been a significant amount of positive feedback when the catalogue was released and the excitement ahead of the sale has sky-rocketed since people began inspecting the weanlings at the complex on Sunday.
“The selling this year has been fantastic thus far and I am confident this will carry on at the National Sale over the next few weeks,” said Bowditch. “From the time we put the catalogue out, in particular for the weanling and mares sale, we heard nothing but positivity about what they were seeing on paper.
“The inspections got underway on Sunday and there was a great vibe around the grounds and the horses are being well received by all parties and they are matching up physically to how they are on paper. It has been very busy around the place and I know a lot of the farms are having a great number of inspections and the weanlings have been very well received.”
The catalogue includes youngsters by household names in terms of stallion power with the likes of Exceed And Excel (Danehill), I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit), Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice), Fastnet Rock (Danehill), So You Think (High Chaparral), Zoustar (Northern Meteor) and Deep Field (Northern Meteor) all represented over the two days, while foals by exciting up and coming stallion’s such as Newgate Farm’s Group 1-producing stallions Capitalist (Written Tycoon), Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) and Flying Artie (Artie Schiller) will also be up for grabs.
This year there are weanlings from the first-crop of no fewer than 20 first-season sires, including multiple Group 1 winners Trapeze Artist (Snitzel) and The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice) and Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Written By (Written Tycoon).
Meanwhile, Coolmore’s unbeaten Triple Crown winner Justify (Scat Daddy) will also have his first southern hemisphere bred crop on the market as will his barnmate Saxon Warrior (Deep Impact).
Aquis Farm’s four stallions Brave Smash (Tosen Phantom), Performer (Exceed And Excel), Lean Mean Machine (Zoustar) and Santos (I Am Invincible) will all be represented by their first weanlings, while the first southern hemisphere crop of Darley shuttler Harry Angel (Dark Angel) will also be on offer.
Other first-season sires with weanlings catalogued for the sale include Eureka Stud’s Encryption (Lonhro), Prized Icon (More Than Ready), who stands at Kooringal Stud and Yulong Stud-based sire Grunt (O’Reilly).
Bowditch has described the offering by the proven stallions as the strongest the sale has been in years and he is also looking forward to seeing how the market responds to the weanlings by the first-season stallions.
“The new stallions we have are very exciting, whether this is on the domestic side with The Autumn Sun, Trapeze Artist and Written By or internationally with the likes of Harry’s Angel, Justify and Churchill - it is exciting to have weanlings by these horses catalogued at the sale,” he said.
“It bodes well the whole way through the catalogue, if you look at the stallions that have the two-year-olds running, the Capitalists and Extreme Choice there are quite a few horses by those stallions and then you go through to the proven horses.
“I don’t think we’ve ever had a weanling sale with so many good weanlings by proven stallions, whether that be Exceed And Excel, Zoustar, I Am Invincible and Fastnet Rock to name but a few. It is a really exciting catalogue and we believe people are responding well to it.”
The graduates of the sale have hit the headlines in the past, with subsequent multiple Group 1 winner and now successful stallion Pierro (Lonhro) having been purchased by David Kobritz for $115,000 at the 2010 edition, while dual Group 1 winner and fellow stallion Zoustar (Northern Meteor) was acquired by K P Thoroughbreds at the sale for $85,000 the following year.
The success of the sale was enhanced further this year by Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Stay Inside (Extreme Choice), who was purchased in 2019 by Newgate Bloodstock for $60,000, meanwhile Krone (Eurozone) - winner of the Coolmore Classic (Gr 1, 1500m) in March - was bought for $30,000 at the 2016 edition.
“Whether you are a pinhooker coming to trade back next year, or an end user, the sale has to be given a lot of attention,” said Bowditch. “There were two Group 1 winners in the autumn that were purchased out of the sale - the Golden Slipper winner Stay Inside and Krone and on top of that blue-chip horses came out of this sale, including the likes of Pierro and Zoustar.
“This is a sale that can find you the very best horse, whether you want to take globally or race it here in Australia or stand it at stud, this sale produced all of them and given the quality of horses we have on the ground this year, the CV of the sale will only be extended from the 2021 edition.”
Further interest is added to the auction this year, with 20 weanlings set to be offered as part of the Shadwell dispersal and Bowditch believes this is a unique opportunity that can’t be ignored by prospective buyers.
“This is an extremely strong lot of weanlings and they have obviously been outstandingly well managed by Yarraman Park,” said Bowditch. “The pedigrees and the physical appearance of these horses are second to none and they are obviously here unreserved.
“Whether this be the weanlings or indeed the broodmares next week, this represents a culmination of a huge investment over the several decades by Sheikh Hamdan and Angus Gold, so a lot of work and effort has gone into this. The fruits of their labour and their resources are there for everyone’s gain over the few weeks, and that is an exciting opportunity for everyone.”
The yearlings sold as part of the Shadwell dispersal were well received by buyers at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale last month, with 12 of them making an aggregate of $6,060,000 at an average of $505,000 and many of their siblings and half-siblings will be offered on the Gold Coast on Thursday.
A pair of yearlings offered last month as part of the dispersal broke the seven-figure barrier and the weanlings out of those mares will be on offer at the National Sale on Thursday.
The Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) colt out of Bulbula (Shamardal) was purchased by Rosemont Victorian Alliance, Suman Hedge Bloodstock and David Redvers Bloodstock for $1,200,000 and his Zoustar (Northern Meteor) half-brother will go under the hammer at the Magic Millions sale. The colt is catalogued as Lot 73.
Meanwhile, a colt by I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) out of the Listed-winning Redoute’s Choice (Danehill) mare Zamzam was purchased by James Harron Bloodstock and Coolmore’s Tom Magnier for $1,150,000 at the Inglis sale and on Thursday Yarraman will offer his sister as Lot 70.
Another yearling to have sold well last month was the first foal out of dual Listed-winning juvenile Madeenaty (Exceed And Excel) - a colt by I Am Invincible - who was purchased by Tony Fung Investments for $650,000 and her second foal, a colt by Arrowfield Stud-based sire Dundeel (High Chaparral), will be offered at the Gold Coast on Thursday as Lot 61.
Yarraman Park’s farm manager Matt Scown told Racing & Sports Bloodstock he was delighted with the way the yearlings sold last month and off the back of that success he is looking forward to seeing how the buying bench responds to the group of weanlings assembled for the Shadwell dispersal.
“We knew they would be well sought after, people don’t really get the chance to be able to buy into these families or the progeny of these families that Shadwell has built over the last 20 years in Australia,” said Scown. “We knew they were going to be popular, but they sold extremely well and we were rapt with the result.
“The weanlings are either all full relations or half relations to those yearlings, so a lot of people have seen how they have sold and what the mares have thrown, so this should only add further interest to the weanlings when they are offered on Thursday.
“They are a lovely bunch overall and they are by a lot of proven sires and the standouts among them are the full-relation to the $1 million yearling out of Zamzam and the Zoustar out of Bulbula, but overall they are a high-quality bunch of weanlings and will be very well found.”
The sale gets underway at 10am on Thursday.
