At A Glance

>> The unraced Noble Privilege, who is out of Group 3 winner Queen Of The Hill (Danehill {USA}) from the family of Northern Meteor and Smart Missile, was sold to Darby Racing, getting the day's highest price of $260,000

>> A yearling colt by Lonhro provided an excellent pinhook return for Jazcom Thoroughbreds, who paid $46,000 for him last year, easily topping Book 2 of the Yearling Sale at $180,000 to Upper Bloodstock

>> The sale of the stakes-winner Haunted for $160,000 to Jack Pakis as part of the National Racehorse Sale completed an unlikely treble for Lonhro on the day, as his progeny topped all three sale sections

>> The overall National Yearling Sale average was $37,026, marginally down on the 2019 figure of $38,799

>> The overall median price of the Yearling Sale was $20,000, the same as last year

>> Despite pre-Sale concerns about the depth of the buying bench, the clearance rate of 78 per cent was higher than last year's Sale (75.15 per cent)

>> There were 292 yearlings sold across the two days of the Sale, with the aggregate of over $11 million

>> The Estate of the late Eduardo Cojuangco ended the week with just short of $2.3 million in bloodstock sold across 41 lots of yearlings and racehorses

>> Magic Millions Managing Director Barry Bowditch described the success of the National Sale, as 'remarkable'

Darby racing scoops up quality Gooree pair

The lure of accessing a quality unraced 3-year-old Lonhro colt from a Group 1-producing family proved strong for Darby Racing and Will Johnson Bloodstock, who paid the day's top price, $260,000 for Noble Privilege from the Estate of the late Eduardo Cojuangco.

It was with the recommendation of long-time Gooree Park manager Andrew Baddock that Scott Darby bid to get Noble Privilege, who will head straight to Team Hawkes with a spring preparation in mind.

"He was an absolute cracker. We had a chat with Andrew Baddock, who strongly recommended he was the horse for us, and told us he had great ability," Darby said.

"He's just a beautiful looking animal, a city trial winner and he will syndicate very well."

The colt is a half-brother to stakes-placed Sunshine Stormy (More Than Ready {USA}), with multiple Group-winning dam Queen Of The Hill (Danehill {USA}) a half-sister to the influential but ill-fated sire and Group 1 winner Northern Meteor, as well as the dam of Twin Hills Stud stallion Smart Missile.

Darby is confident that the colt has the ability to live up to his pedigree.

"It’s a terrific family, but he's probably an even better type, so we have got the whole package and we know he can gallop."

Darby Racing also picked up another 3-year-old colt from the Estate Sale in Sole Heir (Exceed And Excel), who was a winner of one of his five starts through his 2-year-old season.

"He's another one that Andrew recommended. He said he would get out to a mile-2000 metres with a little bit of time. He shows good ability, is only lightly raced and he's a sound, good looking horse and he's well-bred as well," he said.

Sole Heir is the half-brother to Smart Missile as well as stakes-winners Surge Ahead (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) and Kiss From A Rose (Encosta De Lago) and will head to Bjorn Baker.

Those two sales completed a big week for Gooree Park, who oversaw the Estate of the late Eduardo Cojuangco, and Baddock was delighted with the outcome.

"We couldn't be happier. We've had a great sale. It's full credit to our staff and Magic Millions in very tough times, they got the Sale over the line," he said.

"The tried horse market is as strong as I've seen it, It’s quite amazing.

"Darby bought a couple of lovely colts from our great families and I'm sure they will have a lot of success with them."

The racehorse aspect of the Cojuangco Sale realised close to $1 million across 16 lots, with the entire offering across the past week yielding $2.295 million.

Table: Top lots (Estate of the late Eduardo Conjuanco)

Another great pinhook result for Jazcom

Jazcom Thoroughbreds Colin Branthwaite may have been initially disappointed that his Lonhro colt was included in Book 2 of the Yearling Sale, but he was left celebrating a great result when Upper Bloodstock paid $180,000 for him from the draft of Goodwood Farm.

The colt, out of the winning mare Respected (Street Cry {Ire}), the half-sister to stakes-winner Federal (Medaglia D'Oro {USA}), is from the extended family of G1 Thousand Guineas winner Flit (Medaglia D'Oro {USA}).

Jazcom paid $46,000 for him at the Inglis Australian Weanling Sale last year, and secured another strong pinhook result, despite initially being disappointed that he was catalogued as part of Book 2.

"It was a bit of a mistake, but in all honesty, we had the same thing happen two years ago when we topped Book 2 at Magics in January when our Brazen Beau filly was in Book 2," Branthwaite said.

“We were all down and out about it, but I just find when Book 2 horses are able to be viewed as Book 1 horses, if you’ve got the right product they find their way.

“This horse, he made himself and the buyers don’t miss the nice horses.”

Branthwaite said he would have raced the colt himself if he didn’t make the reserve of $80,000, but that was never an issue as Hong-Kong based Upper Bloodstock secured him online.

“We always keep our reserves low and our expectations low, basically double the purchase price," he said.

“This horse had good x-rays and, most importantly for a Lonhro, he got 14 or 15 hits on his x-ray but even if you have 50, if they aren’t good x-rays they aren't going to sell. Everyone who saw his x-rays would have seen that they were good and his video scope was good.

“He ended up as the closest looking horse to his sire as I’ve seen. He was a Lonhro colt who looked like Lonhro."

It ends a very successful pin-hooking season for Jazcom, which has re-invested on 29 weanlings this year with a view to selling them.

"The worst we’ll do with our 29 horses is break even. We’re fortunate enough at the farm to be able to run our horses here through the farm and all our staff look after the weanlings the same as they do with all the spelling horses that we have,” he said.

Bids flow in Book 2

The second-highest yearling price from Book 2 was the $60,000 Blueblood Thoroughbreds/Sheamus Mills Bloodstock paid for Lot 1723, a Choisir colt from the draft of Doran Park.

He is from Financial District (Manhattan Rain), the half-sister to Group 3 winner Miss Darcey (Hussonet {USA}) out of Listed winner Miss Bussell (Danzero), which is also the family of Group 2 winner Hurried Choice (Choisir).

A colt by Deep Field, offered by Archer Park as Lot 1649, was sold to LDM Racing for $40,000.

His dam, Sweet Bucks (NZ) (Alamosa {NZ}), is out of Group 1 winner Cinder Bella (NZ) (Victory Dance {Ire}) and is a sister to Listed Canberra Cup winner Almost Court (NZ).

The busiest buyer in Book 2 was Mishani Enterprises, who purchased nine horses, while Darby Racing/Will Johnson Bloodstock, picked up four, having purchased three in Book 1 as well as the two racehorses from Gooree Park.

"It was a good sale for us," Darby said. "And they are all from mixed price ranges. The Book 1 market was quite strong, we missed on quite a few that we liked, and Book 2 we picked up a few as well."

Goodwood Farm, courtesy of the Lonhro colt, was the leading vendor in Book 2, with three sales totalling $203,000 ahead of Lucas Bloodstock, who sold nine horses on Tuesday for $152,000.

Yearling Sale defies predictions

The overall metrics of the Yearling Sale held up remarkably well in the context of the wider economic environment, with all key metrics on par with last year's Sale, something described as remarkable by Magic Millions Managing Director Barry Bowditch, in the circumstances.

"We had no Victoria, we had no Sydney and we had no international eyes looking at the horses here at the complex. I was thinking how it was going to go, when you look at the Sale for the last three years," he said.

"What the agents did is they engaged with a lot more people than what they normally do and as did our bloodstock team here. It was key for us to give our vendors the best opportunities to sell our horses.

"The only way to do that was to get in and work hard and speak to as many potential buyers as we could. What that provided was a market that exceeded our expectations and most vendors expectations as well."

Haunted tops Racehorse Sale

The top result for the Magic Millions National Racehorse was the $160,000 local businessman Jack Pakis paid for Godolphin's stakes-winning 6-year-old son of Lonhro, Haunted.

Pakis has purchased Godolphin horses through Magic Millions before, notably the now Diane Murphy-trained Astoria (Medaglia D'Oro {USA}).

Haunted is a winner of seven races in the Godolphin blue, including the Listed Village S. at Caulfield last October, while he has been second his past three starts, including the Listed Ramornie S., last time out at Grafton. He is the brother to two other stakes winners in Renaissance and Sessions.

Australian Bloodstock paid $140,000 for the Godolphin import Wren's Day (USA) (Medaglia D'Oro {USA}), a winner of three starts, including a recent race at Ipswich.

All in all, there were 14 horses sold through the National Racehorse Sale for a gross of $833,500 and an average of $59,536.

"Whether it be the Estate of the late Eduardo Cojuangco or the Godolphin Racehorse Sale, what coming here to Magic Millions provides you is the best of both worlds," Bowditch said.

"We got people here to participate as well as the virtual interactive participants as well. Having the best of both worlds is the way to go, and I’d say going forward, that will be very important very relevant. We think we have a great blue print for the Sales to going forward."

Table: Top lots Racehorse Sale

Vendors rewarded for patience

Bowditch praised both the vendors and his staff for the effort of just getting the Sale completed in such trying circumstances.

"It's remarkable really. It was a success in itself to be able to go ahead and create a COVID safe environment where we could have all our vendors and buyers here that we could possibly have," he said.

"It was a long road for our vendors, given that the Sale was put back from May and then put back again. For them to stick solid and be patient and wait for the right time to hold this Sale and then meet the market with us selling well over 75 per cent of the produce of the entire Sale, we are delighted.

"I'm just really proud of the team at Magic Millions, who have worked so hard for a long, long time to get to this point."

Magic Millions will host the Mungrup Stud Complete Dispersal Online Sale beginning on Thursday, while it’s next physical Sale will be the Gold Coast 2YOS in Training Sale in November.

Top lots

Top buyers

Top vendors by aggregate

Top vendors by average (3 or more sold)

Top sires by aggregate

Top sires by average (3 or more sold)

Certainly this point in racing history has proven a high-point for stallions which have been bred in Australia, with the Top 10 sweep a culmination of a decade-long plateau of relative dominance. Since Danehill's (USA) final Australian sires title in 2004/05, 14 of the past 15 Champion Sires have been Australian-bred.

The exception is the Darley shuttle stallion Street Cry (Ire), who on the back of his superstar daughter mare Winx, was able to claim the 2015/16 title. In fact for the past six seasons, Street Cry is one of only two internationally-bred stallions to feature inside the Top 10 on the Sires table, having done so on five occasions. The other one is High Chaparral (Ire), who finished seventh, fourth and eighth in three consecutive seasons: 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19.

The 2013/14 season was the last time Australian stallions came close to a Top 10 sweep, with Waikato Stud's O'Reilly (NZ), finishing ninth.

The merit of Snitzel's fourth Australian title, a feat which even outshines his own remarkable sire Redoute's Choice, is more significant in the context of an era of competition from shuttle stallions as well as the depth of the locally-bred stallion offering.

His success has come in the face of substantial competition from Yarraman Park's I Am Invincible, whose record over the past three seasons would be enough for him to be crowned Champion in any other era.

History will reflect well on these two stallions, and their legacy will be assisted by the quantity and quality of mares they have been able to serve. The past decade has been a particularly prosperous one for the Australian thoroughbred industry, with an explosion in prizemoney leading to a surge in yearling prices, and a considerable investment globally.

That success was sewn in the previous era of investment, with the shuttling of capital to Australia through the likes of Coolmore and Godolphin/Darley, as well as the global vision of local powerhouses like Arrowfield, just as important as the shuttling of stallions. That global trend flows on through the likes of Yulong, Aquis, Spendthrift and Sun Stud.

Of course, both Snitzel and I Am Invincible owe their existence to a previous generation of shuttle stallions, with Snitzel a grandson of the great Danehill and I Am Invincible by the influential Invincible Spirit (Ire). Australia's champion first-season sire, Pride Of Dubai, is a son of Street Cry, while the leading second-season sire, Rubick, is a grandson of Fairy King (USA).

Four of the Top 10 sires in Australia in the just completed season were sons of shuttle stallions, while another four were great grandsons. Only third-placed Pierro and seventh-placed Zoustar had their paternal grandsires bred in Australasia.

The power of the hybrid

Pierro is an interesting example, as he represents a dominant Australasian sireline which stretches back to Sir Tristram (Ire) but he is also out of an imported mare, Miss Right Note (Ire) (Daylami {Ire}). His emergence as the next star of Australia's stallion ranks lends weight to the concept that the mixing of local and imported bloodlines is key in achieving success. 'Hybrid vigour' as it is often referred to.

A quick analysis of the maternal bloodlines of the best performed horses by the top stallions in Australia appears to confirm this influence.

Snitzel had 18 stakes winners in 2019/20, and nine of them were by mares with sires bred outside of Australia and New Zealand. Included in that list are three horses, Wild Ruler, Letzbeglam and Akari, whose dams were also bred outside of Australia.

That impact is not as pronounced with I Am Invincible, who had 13 stakes winners, five of which had broodmare sires who were shuttle stallions, but it nonetheless is a pointer to the manner in which international stallions are influencing successful pedigree on both sides of the page.

A look at the individual Group 1 winners from 2019/20 further shapes that argument. There were 45 sires who had Group 1 winners in Australia last season, and 18 of them were bred outside of Australia and New Zealand.

Breaking that down to the broodmare sire stats, and of the 47 mares who produced Group 1 winners in Australia last season, 27, or 57.4 per cent, were by stallions sired outside of Australasia.

What those stats indicate is that the influence of these international bloodlines is far stronger than a cursory look at the Sires Table would imply.

How you cut the stats

Due to the volume of racing in Australia, sires tables, while a good comparative guide for Australian stallions' performance, don’t really provide a level playing field for shuttle stallions to be measured by.

Statistics from Racing Australia tell us that over the five years between 2013/14, between five and six per cent of stallions in Australia were considered shuttle stallions. They were responsible for around 18.7 per cent of covers of mares in Australia.

With that numerical disadvantage, added to the fact that due to commercial and other reasons, shuttle stallions often have shorter careers in Australia, hence fewer runners, it is difficult to assess the relative performance against Australian or New Zealand stallions based on total prizemoney alone.

Table: Top stallions by winners to runners (50 runners minimum)

Measuring the performance of the Top 100 stallions based on percentage of winners to runners produces a very different looking table, with shuttle stallions occupying five of the top 10 spots, including the top two with Camelot (GB), who stood for one season in Australia, having 64.7 per cent of winners to runners and Street Cry having 57 per cent.

Another way to cut the stats is by average prizemoney per runner, which of those with more than 50 runners, sees Declaration Of War (USA) top of the charts ($146,020), Street Cry fourth and Lope De Vega (Ire) sixth.

Table: Top stallion by average prizemoney (50 runners minimum)

The pattern of dominance all comes down to how you assess the stats.

That is not to deny that Australian-bred stallions are enjoying an unprecedented period of dominance. The research we undertook took us back to the 1930s, without finding a season where Australian sires swept the Top 10 position on the sires table.

It certainly stands in contrast to the same table from 2000/01, where six of the top 10 stallions were shuttlers, led by that season's champion Danehill, who led an internationally bred trifecta ahead of Scenic (Ire) and Brief Truce (USA).

The leading Australian-bred sire that season was Zeditave, a living embodiment of the term 'colonial speed', but of course with considerable international influence pedigree on both sides, being a grand-son of dual Australian Champion Sire Showdown (GB) out of a mare by American stallion Crowned Prince (USA).

Table: 2000/01 Australian Sires Table