Gilgai Farm on-song for National Broodmare Sale in wake of weanling fame

Cover image courtesy of Magic Millions

Rick Jamieson’s Gilgai Farm headed into the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale on Tuesday behind a $2.5 million gross across eight weanlings last week. The farm sold the top lot of the National Weanling Sale, an I Am Invincible colt that fetched $1 million from trainer Ciaron Maher, and Gilgai opened its broodmare account on Tuesday with the first of three mares to sell.

Lot 719, Shahzade (Sebring), appeared in Julian Blaxland’s Blue Sky Premium Consignment. The mare is a daughter of the Listed winner Maloose (Redoute’s Choice), and she sold for $40,000 to Canon Bloodstock.

Gilgai will also offer Cafe Scientific (More Than Ready {USA}) this week, who is from a full sister to Redoute’s Choice in Monsoon Wedding (Danehill {USA}).

The broodmare Lenience (Ire) (Oasis Dream {GB}) whips in the trio, arguably the best of the small bunch. She is from a half-sister to super sire Invincible Spirit (Ire), and closely related to the current globe-trotting John Gosden star Mishriff.

Amazing Grace

The 8-year-old mare Lenience had three unplaced runs in the UK before she arrived in Australia in April 2017. She was purchased at the Goff’s Orby Sale by bloodstock agent Dermot Farrington, a moderately priced filly at just €65,000 (AU$102,511).

At the time, her pedigree was very useful, but it later became very hot.

Lenience is from the mare Acts Of Grace (USA) (Bahri {USA}), who is a half-sister to Invincible Spirit, as well as Group winner Sadian (GB) and the brilliant producer Massarra (GB) (Danehill {USA}), dam of Champion Italian filly Nayarra (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire}), Ballydoyle Group winner and now sire Gustav Klimt (Ire) and the good filly Wonderfully (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}).

The 2010 daughter from Acts Of Grace, Contradict (GB) (Raven’s Pass {USA}), a half-sister to Lenience, is the dam of Mishriff, who made headlines globally with wins in the G1 Prix du Jockey Club and G1 Dubai Sheema Classic, as well as a win this year in the rich Saudi Cup and a second in the Saudi Derby in 2020.

Acts Of Grace is at Fernrigg Farm these days, imported in 2016 and now owned by Gerard Lazare.

Peace be with you

Kelly Skillecorn is the long-serving manager of Gilgai Farm, and he said the time was right to put Lenience on the market.

“Dermot Farrington sourced her for us,” Skillecorn said. “Rick loved the bloodline, and that was even before Mishriff came along. Now it’s become a good time to trade her, and I’d imagine that someone will buy her and take her back overseas.”

Lenience is in-foal to All Too Hard, and Skillecorn said she was a good opportunity to foal down in October, wean and then transport north in time for the Northern Hemisphere breeding season.

The mare has had three foals for Gilgai Farm – a colt by Divine Prophet in 2018, and two fillies by Toronado (Ire).

“We sold the colt as a weanling, and he made $75,000,” Skillecorn said. “The first filly was a bit small, and she made $50,000 as a weanling in Melbourne. We’ve got the second Toronado filly on the farm, and we haven’t decided what we’ll do with her yet.”

The Divine Prophet colt, now named Peace Be Upon Him, is with Rowella trainer Dylan Clark, and the 2-year-old is unraced but promising. He has had three trials in Tasmania for a win and two thirds.

Getting it right

Both Lenience and Cafe Scientific will be offered through the draft of Milburn Creek this week.

“Cafe Scientific has a big pedigree,” Skillecorn said. “She is the family of Redoute’s Choice, so she’ll be looked at. We can only have about 30 mares on the farm, so once we go over that we have to try to cull a few. It’s a hard selection to make because they’ve all got a lot left in them. When it comes time to sell them, we haven’t seen the bottom of them.”

Jamieson has always been an astute breeder, and Gilgai is constantly mentioned among the best handful of breeders by results.

The farm is responsible for the family of Black Caviar (Bel Esprit) and All Too Hard, as well as new Vinery sire Ole Kirk.

Gilgai also has the exciting juvenile filly Gimmie Par (Not A Single Doubt), who was second on debut in the Listed Talindert S. this year, and first last-time out at Caulfield.

“We’re breeding 20-odd foals a year, and every generation there seems to be a good one among them,” Skillecorn said. “It’s the way Rick breeds them, I think. It must be, because we’re feeding them the same as everyone else. He’s a quirky guy, but he gets it right more consistently than most.”

Gilgai will also be shopping this week for new blood at the National Sale.

“We’ll be trying to buy a few mares,” Skillecorn said. “We’ve got 20 per cent of Ole Kirk, so we’ll be looking to buy mares for him.”

Ole Kirk was announced as a new sire at Vinery Stud earlier this year, with a race-record behind him that included the G1 Golden Rose and G1 Caulfield Guineas, as well as the Listed Talindert S.

By Written Tycoon, the horse is a valuable outcross for the Danehill (USA)-line, and will stand the upcoming breeding season at $55,000 (inc GST).

Weanlings the new yearlings?

A week is a long time in horse trading, but not long enough for the fairytale results of the National Weanling Sale to wear off.

Ciaron Maher’s million-dollar weanling (Lot 109) came from Gilgai mare Ocean Jewel (Ocean Park {NZ}), an I Am Invincible colt that Skillecorn said was unforgettable.

“There were good judges on that colt, guys like Craig Rounsefell telling me he was the best colt they’d seen in 10 years,” the farm manager said. “Everyone wanted to tell me he was the best colt in the Sale. I think Ciaron had sold him out by the next morning. We tried to take 20 per cent, but we only got 10 per cent. He could have sold that horse out two or three times over.”

Gilgai also sold an Extreme Choice colt for $650,000, whom Skillecorn said was as close to resembling Stay Inside (Extreme Choice) as he’d seen.

Between them, the two colts filled two of the top three highest-prices of the National Weanling Sale, a dream come true for any small farm, but also a tactical rethink.

“We’ll be back at this Sale next year,” Skillecorn said. “All being well, we’ll have full siblings to Ole Kirk and Masked Crusader, and they could well come up here. It just makes sense. There are so many good-looking colts at the yearling sales, and in January there might have been 20 good-looking I Am Invincibles, so why not bring our best stock to this Sale where they’ll stand out?”

It’s a new line of thinking when it comes to this Sale, one that has occurred because of the bountiful results of last week.

The National Weanling Sale has, in its past, unveiled the likes of Stay Inside, Zoustar and Pierro, but Skillecorn said that this year, Victorian trainers were on-hand.

“There were a heap of southern trainers up here,” he said. “Troy Corstens, Ciaron Maher, Matt Laurie. Victorian trainers don’t often get the opportunity to train horses for the big Hunter Valley farms, so they have to source horses from somewhere. I think more of them will be coming to this Sale in the future to get horses earlier.”

Last week was the first time Gilgai Farm had a presence in the National Weanling Sale and, if debuts are anything to go by, Jamieson and Skillecorn will be back.

“We brought some good horses here,” Skillecorn said. “We brought eight good ones and obviously got rewarded, but trainers are coming here with clean books looking for stock.

"They’ve sold all their yearlings since January, so how can anyone deny those trainers coming back next year in droves, because if they’re going to sell everything they’ve already bought, why not buy weanlings instead of waiting for all the competition buying yearlings?”