Located in Mount White, Strawberry Hill is part of the Sydney ‘red-zone’, caught up in the recent Northern Beaches COVID-cluster.
To be able to make it to the Gold Coast by January 12, the first day of the Magic Millions Yearling Sale, travellers to Queensland must have spent 14 days outside of the Greater Sydney hotspot, thus presenting several challenges for John Singleton-owned farm.
In order for Gold Coast-bound buyers to continue to inspect Strawberry Hill's draft, the operation is relocating their nine Magic Millions yearlings to the Hunter Valley on Tuesday, December 22 however Duncan Grimley, Bloodstock Manager and Advisor for Singleton, could not disclose where the yearlings are going.
“We’re going to move Strawberry Hill’s horses into the Hunter tomorrow,” Grimley told TDN AusNZ. “We’ve got a farm and I can’t say where the farm is but the horses will be moved from Strawberry Hill and out of the Central Coast area.
“We’re going to move Strawberry Hill’s horses into the Hunter tomorrow." - Duncan Grimley
“The two staff that will be looking after the horses and going to Magics will also be leaving Strawberry Hill with the horses and going to the Hunter as well.”
As always, Strawberry Hill will present a quality draft of youngsters on the Gold Coast and Grimley named three fillies who he picked as his standouts of the draft.
“Probably the Fastnet Rock filly out of Dreams And Wishes (Lot 245) is the standout filly,” Grimley said. “She is bred on the Fastnet Rock/Galileo cross which has been so successful all the way through.
“And there’s another Fastnet Rock filly out of Joy Of Joys (Lot 423), and then we’ve got a Lonhro filly that’s a half-sister to The Elanora (Lot 961), and she’s a lovely filly too.”
Quality draft
Lot 245, is out of Dreams And Wishes (Galileo {Ire}), who herself is a sister to Personify, the dam of this year’s G1 VRC Oaks Personal (Fastnet Rock).
Personal is one of eight Group 1 winners bred on the successful cross between Fastnet Rock and Galileo (Ire), with others including G1 Australian Oaks winner Unforgotten and G1 Levin Classic winner Age Of Fire.
Lot 245, is out of a sister to Personify, the dam of this year’s G1 VRC Oaks Personal (pictured)
“I think she will be more of a 3-year-old,” Grimley said of the filly. “The way they’ve performed overseas as well, they seem to get better as they get older.”
At the 2020 Magic Millions Gold Coast Sale, Sheamus Mills went to $1.5 million to secure the Written Tycoon filly out of Karuta Queen (Not A Single Doubt) and this year, Strawberry Hill will offer her half-sister by Eureka Stud resident Spirit Of Boom.
“She’s a smaller more precocious type,” Grimley said of the filly. “I would expect her to be up and running as a 2-year-old quite early.
“Spirit Of Boom gets a good horse. And the quality of mares that he has covered so far is nothing like the ones that are going to go to the sales this year, so I would expect him to improve going forward.”
Written Tycoon x Karuta Queen (filly)
Glastonbury's draft
Grimley's Glastonbury Farm will offer 12 yearlings at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, highlighted by, in his opinion, a filly and a colt by Widden Stud’s Zoustar, as well as a colt by Coolmore's Pierro.
Lot 72, the filly by Zoustar, is out of winning mare Avenue Whisper (Street Cry {Ire}), who is a daughter of multiple stakes winner Avenue (Anabaa), while Lot 111, the colt by Zoustar, is from American Listed scorer Blueberry Smoothie (USA) (Giant’s Causeway {USA}).
“We’ve got a Zoustar colt and a Zoustar filly that are both very nice,” Grimley said. “And Lot 179, the Pierro colt, they’re probably the three I would say.
“We’ve got a Zoustar colt and a Zoustar filly that are both very nice." - Duncan Grimley
“The Zoustars could probably be early running horses but the Pierro is looking like he’ll be better as a 3-year-old I would imagine.”
Lot 179 by Coolmore’s star Pierro is out of Commanding Secret (Commands), a dual-winning sister to multiple Group 1 winner Appearance and Listed victor Mascareri.
Off the back of a host of on-farm inspections, Grimley said that while most people liked the three standouts mentioned, there has also been interest in Lot 715, a colt by Deep Field out of Listed Tasmanian Oaks winner Rock Robster (Fastnet Rock).
“Different people have different things,” he said. “There’s a Deep Field colt there that people have really clicked on to as well.”
Deep Field | Standing at Newgate Farm
Another two interesting members of the Glastonbury draft are Lot 830, a colt by leading American sire Into Mischief (USA) and Lot 823, a filly who is the sole progeny of Overshare in the Magic Millions catalogue.
Both are from American mares and are offered by Glastonbury on behalf of their owner.
“The owner made enquiries about whether we could take them, we’ve sold Into Mischiefs before so we have a bit of an affiliation with them,” Grimley said.
“He’s a nice big, strong colt and probably again, more of a 3-year-old type. The Overshare filly is very nice, the only one in the Sale.”
With the first yearlings by an exciting crop of young stallions set to go through the Magic Millions run next month, Grimley said there is one first-season sire that particularly stands out to him
“I haven’t got any Merchant Navys but I would hope he performs in the sales ring,” he said. “He’s got the credentials to be a very, very good stallion.”
Merchant Navy | Standing at Coolmore
The next crop
Next year’s class of first-season sires have got big shoes to fill after this year’s group have already produced a number of winners and stakes winners. With one son of Capitalist, who is currently the leading first-season sire by earnings, featuring in the Glastonbury draft, Grimley said he hopes they can continue on an upward spiral.
“I hope they continue as well as they’ve started,” Grimley said. “It’s exceptional that we’ve already got four or five of them that have got good-quality runners before Christmas, so hopefully for the future, we see at least two or three stand up long-term and become proven stallions in their own right.
“The likes of Capitalist and Flying Artie, Frosted and Shalaa, they’ve all started very, very well. It will be exciting if they can keep going and I don’t see any reason why they shouldn’t.”
One of the key traits of the Capitalists so far is their precocity but Grimley said their colt by the Newgate stallion who is out of Aiden Sea (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}), looks like more of a late 2-year-old.
“He’s quite a tall and leggy colt and he’ll probably be a back-end 2-year-old I’d say,” Grimley said.
Capitalist | Standing at Newgate Farm
Resilience the key
Nothing has been easy about buying or selling horses this year, and with internationals, and now the likelihood of residents of Sydney, unable to attend the 2021 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, Grimley said the industry will have to remain as resilient as they have throughout the whole year.
“I think around the world, people have found a way to deal with what’s been thrown at them in the horse industry," he said. “It’s been extremely resilient but still not having any internationals there will impact the Sale, and then we’ll just have to wait and see what happens with Sydney.
“Luckily a lot of people have been around through the Hunter and Southern Highlands looking at horses, so that will be a positive factor.
“But if we can’t get, for example, the Sydney trainers to the Sale that will be quite a detrimental effect.”
Despite the situation across the world, there has been a massive boom in horse syndication in Australia this year and Grimley said he is hopeful that interest will roll on into the yearling sales season.
“The interest has been greater than we’ve ever had with on-farm inspections, so if that translates to increased activity, that would be fantastic,” he said. “We’re still three weeks away and there’s probably a lot to play out in those three weeks.”
