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Great-granddaughter of one of agent’s favourite horses justifying Magic Millions punt

Nostalgia rarely comes into it when Sheamus Mills compiles a shortlist at a yearling sale, but the prominent bloodstock agent concedes it played a part in him buying Australasian Oaks hope Daisies.

Vivid memories of Tycoon Lil came flooding back when he got to Lot 872 in the 2020 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale catalogue.

Tycoon Lil is the granddam of Daisies mother, Tigress Lily, and Mills fondly recalls the daughter of Last Tycoon slugging it out with some of the all-time greats early in his time as a racing fan.

"She's one of my all-time favourites, Tycoon Lil, and a big part of why I bought Daisies in the first place," Mills said.

"She was a little bit left-field for what I was looking to buy at that sale but she made the initial shortlist because Tycoon Lil was the third dam."

Tycoon Lil, who was trained by Colin Jillings, won the New Zealand Horse of the Year award as a three-year-old filly in 1998.

After Group 1 wins in the 1000 Guineas (1600m) and New Zealand Oaks (2400m) in her homeland, she came to Australia where she won the Canterbury Guineas (1800m) before being nosed out by Tie The Knot in the Rosehill Guineas (2000m).

Later that year she beat home all bar Might And Power in a gripping Caulfield Stakes (2000m) and two weeks later finished third in the Cox Plate (2040m).

"I wouldn't say she doesn't get the credit she deserves, because she's pretty highly-regarded, but she's run into Might And Power and Tie The Knot, horses that are absolute household names," Mills said.

"You get horses that resonate with you for some reason and she was one of them for me."

Tycoon Lil was retired after finishing down the track in the 1998 Hong Kong Cup (1800m) and her first two products at stud were by Zabeel, the latter being Empress Lily.

She won just once in 15 starts but placed in the G1 VRC Oaks (2500m) and three other times at Group level before being retired to the breeding barn, where her first foal was Tigress Lily, the result of a visit to Snitzel.

Tigress Lily won four of 24 starts with one of her best performances in defeat a fifth placing in the G3 The Roses (2000m) in Brisbane.

Tigress Lily's first foal was Motown Lil, a Sebring filly who won four races at 1000m, before producing two-time winner Talladega Knight and Passionate Lass, who won two of her three starts.

Talladega Knight and Passionate Lass are also by Sebring and while Mills said the Tycoon Lil connection was what kept drawing him back to Daisies on the Gold Coast, he considered her a good buy for $250,000.

"I just thought that at a Magic Millions sale, where everybody is looking for something to win a Golden Slipper or a Magic Millions (race), she was a horse who stood out as something we might be able to buy at reasonable value given she was a Guineas, Oaks type rather than an out-and-out two-year-old," Mills said.

"If you're not looking for the exact same thing that everyone else is looking for, which is what I go to that sale for – and I'm not suggesting anyone else is looking for the wrong thing – but you can find yourself a bit of value."

Daisies finished fourth on debut in a 1200m maiden at Mornington in September last year before fifth and sixth placings at Group 2 level in the Thousand Guineas Prelude (1400m) and Edward Manifold Stakes (1600m).

She then won the G3 Ethereal Stakes (2000m) before finishing runner-up in the G2 Wakeful Stakes (2000m) before a fifth placing in the VRC Oaks.

An eye-catching first-up fourth placing at Flemington on March 12 was followed by a win in the G3 Alexandra Stakes (1600m) before one of the few disappointing runs of her career, a third placing in the G3 Port Adelaide Guineas (1800m) at $1.85.

That was Daisies' first trip interstate, which Mills and co-trainers Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr hope explain the below-par showing, as indications are she is back to her normal self.

It has raised hopes that she can go one better than Empress Lily's half-sister Estee (Redoute's Choice x Tycoon Lil), who finished second to Gallica in the 2006 Australasian Oaks.

"She normally carries on and is at least on her toes but she was uncharacteristically quiet in the mounting yard before her last start," Mills said.

"All the signs since are that she's the same horse that we've always known, which is a playful quirky sort of filly."