3 minute read

Outstanding racemare Forbidden Love sold for $4.1 million and was the star act across an incredible opening day of the 2023 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale at the Gold Coast.

Forbidden Love was one of four lots to sell for $3 million or more as buyers from around the world fought for an incredible line up of race fillies and mares.

It was a full circle moment for Forbidden Love's yearling purchaser and former co-trainer Richard Freedman who was all smiles at the Gold Coast.

"Brilliant," he said, moments after the hammer fell.

"I remember standing over in the corner and buying her for $150,000. These guys (other co-owners) all came in and... $4.1 million."

Freedman expected the mare to prove popular but was delighted with the final price.

"We were thinking maybe mid-three million was possible but this is fantastic."

"I'm very happy that she's going to a great stud and she'll be looked after. That's the main thing."

"She owes us nothing. We owe a lot to her. She raced until she was five-years-old and she was sound enough for a long time."

"We owe her plenty," Freedman summed up.

The Yulong Investments team had strong competition to secure the mare with a flurry of online bids forcing them to aim high to get her.

"We always knew she was going to make a lot of money," Yulong's Sam Fairgray said. "It's always going to be tough, but she's a lovely mare to end up with."

"It was probably getting to the end (of our bidding) but to get those mares you've got to front up and buy them and Mr Zhang is adamant on what he wants to achieve."

"He's putting his neck on the line and the industry is very lucky to have him."

"We're keeping an eye on buying quality mares like her to build a broodmare band and hopefully in years to come we see the results of it."

"We're getting up there in numbers but he still wants to add a few more and keep supporting our stallions."

"We haven't decided definitely who she'll go to as yet, but after the sale we assess it all and see what we end up with and make a call then," Fairgray added.

Exceptional three-year-old filly Sunshine in Paris attracted intense interest late in the day when she was offered through the supplementary catalogue as Lot 700.

The Newgate Consignment offering was purchased by James Harron Bloodstock for $3.9 million.

"It's been something we've put together, we've got some clients and we've been working on it for a while."

"We feel like she's such a wonderful racing prospect. Very rarely do these sort of fillies come onto the market, we see the prices of yearlings these days and the prices of some of these yearling fillies."

"She's already got a big win on the board but she's only had a handful of starts and she's got a massive future ahead of her."

"We're going to enjoy racing her for the time being and then she'll be into the broodmare barn later on down the track."

"There's so many options and we're so lucky here in Australia with the amazing prizemoney we've got on offer."

"If she maintains the form she's shown and looks to even have improvement in her, I think the owners are going to have a lot of fun and potentially pick up a lot of prizemoney and we've got that fallback of that Group One already on the board."

"It's a really buoyant market, there's some very special mares and fillies here on offer and it's reflected in the prices we've seen right from the get-go from the very start of the day."

Yulong also snapped up the day's third top seller – the multiple Group One winner Snapdancer for $3.2 million from the draft of Sullivan Bloodstock, who acted as agent for her Spicer Thoroughbreds syndicate.
"Mr Zhang loves Galileo, she's out of a Galileo mare, and Choisir is going to be a good broodmare sire," Sam Fairgray noted.

"She's a big, strong multiple Group One winner, so she ticked all the boxes as they say."

"Everybody wants to try and take home these good-quality mares and we're just fortunate enough that Mr Zhang wants them the most."

Coolangatta's dam Piping Hot, offered late in the afternoon, was purchased by Coolmore's Tom Magnier for an even $3 million.

"She's in-foal to I Am Invincible, Coolangatta's a champion and she's a gorgeous looking type, so we're delighted to get her," Magnier said of the Milburn Creek offering.

"The roster at home couldn't be going any better with the likes of Wootton Bassett, Justify, So You Think, all those stallions, so we can just take her home and see what the foal looks like."

Late in the evening the Edinburgh Park Unreserved Dispersal of mares grossed $5.154 million for 40 lots sold at an average price of $128,850.

The top seller of that draft was Our Crown Mistress who sold for $425,000 to Newgate Bloodstock.

The day commenced with a Fundraiser for the Holland Family and National Jockeys Trust – comprising 15 stallion nominations kindly donated from farms around Australia.

The fundraiser grossed $323,500 with the nominations being purchased by buyers from New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania.

"It's an extraordinary outcome," AJA representative Des O'Keeffe said. "Absolutely unbelievable outcome of generosity and support from Magic Millions and from all the farms involved and, of course, from the bidders as well."

"The amount raised is just over $320,000 and for Lucy, Dean's partner, and importantly for her four children – Harley, Luca, Franklin and Lily – there's a 20-year plan that's in place for their future."

"Days like today, generosity like today, is going to play a massive part in those four kids' futures and we're very privileged to be here representing Lucy and Dean's parents Darren and Belinda as well."

"It makes you really genuinely proud to be a part of it and I'm proud to be here representing Lucy and the family," O'Keeffe added.

Across the National Broodmare Sale lots over $50 million was traded on 193 lots sold at an average price of $263,145 and clearance rate of 87 per cent.

"It was an unbelievable day, I think it was unbelievable theatre. Slightly unpredictable at times, which is never a bad thing. We had some very pleasant surprises. All in all, I think there was great participation at the top end of town.

"I think most vendors were very, very happy going off the number of inspections they had and it translated into sale prices in the ring.

"They (Yulong, leading buyer) have been great participators in the market for a few years now, and you've only got to look at other auctions – they've been participating all over the world over the last 12 months."

"Mr Zhang is putting a fantastic broodmare band together, and I think it's great that he's bought the sale topper today and he also bought a horse for $36,000 and plenty in between, so he's participating at all levels and he's giving his stallions the best possible opportunity. When you invest in this industry that's obviously the way to go."

"I thought we'd have eight million-dollar horses at the start of the day, we've had nine. I thought we'd have two, maybe three above $2 million, we've had five. They're big numbers in any horse sale around the world."

"I'm delighted with the clearance rate. I think 87 per cent is a great clearance rate, but it is a sale where you're culminating a lot of careers of horses on the racetrack, and vendors do come here very realistic."

"It's a very, very healthy clearance rate, it's a very healthy average, it's an unbelievable gross which I'd have taken and run very quickly with if you'd given it to me this morning."

"It just had a really good feel from the moment that the Dean Holland and National Jockeys Trust sale began, and Vangelic kicking it off, it just had a seriously good vibe. It was theatre from start to finish."

Click here to view the results of the sale so far or to make an offer on a passed in lot.

Day Two of the 2023 National Broodmare Sale commences at 10am local time Wednesday.