Odeum's (Written Tycoon) graduation from a Moe maiden in August to a G1 Thousand Guineas winner in October last year in many ways reflected how far the partnership of owners in her, spearheaded by Mills, had also come in a relatively short time.
Fast forward 12 months and there are a host of very exciting fillies and mares ready to wear the navy blue and gold with a pale blue sash representing Mills, Newton Thoroughbreds and Chesapeake Thoroughbreds, with distinction this spring.
In May, Mills stepped up to secure Group 1-winning New Zealand filly Bonham (Per Incanto {USA}) for $1.6 million through the Willow Park Stud draft at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale, with the intention of racing her on.
Bonham at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale
Now in training with Tony Gollan, she was due to resume for her new owners, which includes the trio above, plus Yarraman Park and Cunningham Thoroughbreds, in Saturday's G2 Sheraco S. at Kembla Grange, but the prospect of a hard track necessitated a change of plans.
Bonham instead heads to the G3 How Now S. at Caulfield on Saturday week, with aims for bigger races later in the spring.
"The mail around Kembla Grange is that it is going to be a pretty hard deck. We don’t really know if she handles it or not, but first-up, with the aim to give her a pretty light spring, we just don’t need to be running her on something where she might pull up jarry," Mills told TDN AusNZ.
"I would be surprised if she (Bonham) has more than three starts this spring. She's got superior wet track form and she has never been on the dry." - Sheamus Mills
"I would be surprised if she has more than three starts this spring. She's got superior wet track form and she has never been on the dry. We want to get her seasoned on these Australian tracks with her legs this time in."
Group 1 quality
A winner of four of her six career starts, Bonham was victorious in the G1 Levin Classic in January for Johno Benner and Hollie Wynyard, while she had strong form around the better New Zealand 3-year-olds of her crop.
Mills expects that to measure up well in Australia but admits she probably does need some additional stakes success on her resume to fully justify the price he paid for her in terms of her residual value as a broodmare.
"At that money, she probably does need that Aussie black type. It was the fact that she was a dual prospect that excited me." - Sheamus Mills
"At that money, she probably does need that Aussie black type. It was the fact that she was a dual prospect that excited me," he said.
"She has got form around Need I Say More and Cornflower Blue in New Zealand and they were two of the better 3-year-olds over there. She beat a pretty handy field in the Levin.
"She should measure up to stakes level here. She has been well looked after and only lightly raced."
Bonham as a yearling
Mills said the owners and Gollan will keep their options open on where Bonham goes after Caulfield.
"I feel she is a seven-furlong horse. I'm not 100 per cent convinced on the mile. There are three races which could fit well onto her radar, there's The Invitation, the Golden Eagle and the Empire Rose. Those races are 1400 metres, 1500 metres and 1600 metres, so we have got options," he said.
Bonham's spring will be used as a foundation towards her autumn-winter campaign, with the 2022 G1 Tatt's Tiara already pencilled-in as a long-term target.
"There are three races which could fit well onto her radar, there's The Invitation, the Golden Eagle and the Empire Rose." - Sheamus Mills
"To be planning almost 12 months out from a race might seem like overkill, but you don't get too many shots at these races, so you try to do everything you can to make it come true," he said.
Options abound for Odeum
The Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr-trained Odeum contested the G1 Tatt's Tiara this year and having had a spell since is set to resume at Flemington early next month.
Odeum
"She is going great. She was down the beach this morning. We gave her a nice break, four weeks off after Brisbane," Mills said.
"She’ll go first-up into the (G2) Rose Of Kingston (S.) then to the (G2) Tristarc (S.), second-up over 1400 at Caulfield and then make a call. If she wins one of those two then she is eligible for that $1 million bonus for the (G1) Empire Rose S."
Other options, like Bonham, could be the new fillies and mares' race, the $2 million The Invitation, and the Golden Eagle.
"She (Odeum) is going great. She was down the beach this morning. We gave her a nice break, four weeks off after Brisbane." - Sheamus Mills
"With these mares and the way Australian prizemoney is going, there are good options for her," he said.
Another 4-year-old mare in Mills' ownership is Night Raid (Vancouver), who is already a dual stakes winner and will also resume in the G3 How Now S. alongside Bonham.
On Thursday at Mornington, 3-year-old filly Daisies (Sebring) makes her debut, also in an ownership group headed by Mills.
A $250,000 purchase from the Widden Stud draft at the 2020 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, Daisies is a sister to stakes-placed Motown Lil. Mills said the Price and Kent Jnr stable rated her highly, and she holds a nomination for the G1 Thousand Guineas.
"We had some aspirations of running her in the Guineas. If she wins, she goes from there into a race like the (Listed) Jim Moloney S. and we will see how she goes. It may all come too much too soon, but her trials have been good," he said.
$1.5 million Queen nearing racetrack debut
The other 3-year-old filly Mills is keeping a close eye on is the unraced Queen Of The Green (Written Tycoon), the daughter of multiple stakes winner Karuta Queen (Not A Single Doubt), who cost $1.5 million through last year's Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
Now in the Tony and Calvin McEvoy stable, she has been given every chance to develop and is yet to make the trials.
Queen Of The Green as a yearling
"I have been taking plenty of advice from our vet at Ballarat, Brian Anderson, and he described her a while back as a 2-year-old filly's skeleton inside the body of a 4-year-old entire. His suggestion was that we take it easy with her.
"She has been in work for 10 of the past 12 months. It has been interesting to see a thoroughbred trained a little differently to every other one. She has had an enormous amount of grounding work and her attitude remains outstanding. She's the best tempered horse that I have ever come across.
"I have no idea how fast she goes, nor does anybody else, but we will next month, when we will trial her, everything going well."
"They say you shouldn't treat these horses any different despite their pricetag, but she is a rare animal." - Sheamus Mills
"Shes (Queen Of The Green) going really well. She looks an absolute picture. We have been very, patient with her. They say you shouldn't treat these horses any different despite their pricetag, but she is a rare animal."
Humming tuning up
Neither Queen Of The Green or Bonham are the most expensive horse in the ownership group. That honour belongs to now 2-year-old filly Humming, an I Am Invincible filly which cost $1.95 million through this year's Inglis Easter Yearling Sale.
Purchased from Coolmore Stud, she is out of the Group 2 winner Hips Don’t Lie (NZ) (Stravinsky {USA}), who has already got three stakes winners to her name, Lake Geneva (Fastnet Rock), Ennis Hill (Fastnet Rock) and Acrobat (Fastnet Rock).
Humming is now under the care of Price and Kent Jnr.
Humming as a yearling
"She had a real growth spurt and is going to end up a big horse, much bigger than I thought she'd be as a yearling. She’ll be every bit of 16 hands 1 by the time she has finished growing," Mills said.
"I have been extremely pleased by her physical development, to do what she has done. I didn't think she'd be anywhere near the size she has got to. Whether that means she will be at the races sooner or later, I don’t know, but we have been quiet with her so far."
Mills has been pleased by the way Humming has developed through her limited time in the stables.
"Being by I Am Invincible out of a Stravinsky mare, she (Humming) is probably bred to get a bit hot in life. She was a bit like that all through her early development."
"She was in with Mick Price for two to three weeks and with every gallop, she improved. She matured a lot through that. Her physical and mental development this time in is very pleasing."
